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On the high end of N Pleasantburg.. After you pass over Wade Hampton.. There used to be some kind of televangical ministry or something there.. Does anyone remember what the name of that was and when it closed up shop?
I remember around 1995 or so, I was working on Pelham Rd.. Next to the Elk's Lodge (Which is still there).. That whole area was a big bunch of nothing.. It started to grow right around 95.. Right around then is when Regal opened the 16 screen theater (which closed within 5 years).. Restaurant row was nothing other than the Hungry Fisherman.. I think they had removed the paddle boats by that time.
Charlie's BBQ used to be across the street from where it is now. It moved once they built that new center.. As I recall, the old center that it was in used to have a gas station on the end. FedEx was directly across the street. Computer Dynamics at the time was locally owned.. I think they're still there on Pelham, but part of a much bigger company now.
Labonte
If memory serves, and the location you describe is adjacent to the cemetery, that would have been Gospel Hour Printing. They printed tracts, church bulletins and such. Religious based but the place had a really sketchy feel about it. Further down Pleasantburg dr. There used to be a "prayer tower" located on the hill above the sweeping left hand turn, before you reach Poinsett.
The only thing at the junction of Pelham and was a Sunoco station, where the Waffle house and Best western now sit. The only industry out that far was Davis Mechanical, where the machine tool dealer moved in recently. Hwy 14 had a Union 76 truck stop / diner and a small drive up beer store Where the Citgo is today. Bonus points if you can remember the Old Mill Stream Fish Camp, before it became Fatz. The mill dated back to the civil war and made broadcloth for confederate uniforms. It disappeared in a mysterious night time tire that remains an open case, today. Lots of whispers and rumors.
Ah, yes.. I forgot to mention that fire.. I was actually working out on Pelham the night that happened. As I recall, the rumor was that the owner of Fatz at the time (pre-cafe enterprises) set the fire intentionally. I actually ate there a couple of times when it was Fatz.
Wasn't there a big to-do about that guy, when he sold Fatz, taking the calabash chicken recipe and opening up Calabash Express in Greer? Which, according to Yelp, is now closed.
There was a craptastic greasy spoon there as well.. What is now, I believe, a Corona Mexican restaurant.. But, it was a place named Brady's.. Truly awful.
Skin's hot dogs used to be a pretty good Pizza place.. Whatever is on the end there, used to be an Amoco station..
Labonte
The Calabash Express was owned and operated by a former floor manager, from the Fatz on 14. The place just finally ran its course and the owner shut it down. The term calabash is a regional thing that seems to have originated around the Myrtle Beach/ coastal area and was adapted to describe a style of fried food preparation. As far as I'm aware, no one gave him any problems.
Jimmy Rogers was the driving force behind Fatz chain, before it was sold. Like I said... lots of whispers and rumors, but no one was ever charged. Jimmy made his bones in the night club business, on US 29, going back into the 60's He used Fatz as a vehicle to go eventually legit, as well as Copper River Grill and J.R.'s Garage which was on Congaree. I understand Jimmy recently passed away, so I guess he will forever remain technically innocent.
Brady's was always good for indigestion at best and a long day on the throne at worst. I don't think they ever killed anyone, but repeat customers had solid cast iron intestinal fortitude.
Hear are a couple of quick tidbits....
The triangle formed by Church St, Stone Ave and Wade hampton was originally the home of PET Dairy. Local elementary schools used to make field trips to tour the facility. Free PET ice cream was offered up as a grand finale for the tour.
The brick building directly across Stone Ave. was the Sears store, up until they moved over to Haywood Mall.
Cleveland park once had a public swimming pool right where the tennis courts are now. When it was closed, the facility was modified to house seals and sea lions. They were amazing to watch and ..... if you were short on cash and had an understanding date, free entertainment I'm unsure when they were removed. Personally... I'd take the seals over tennis courts... but that's just one old guy's opinion.
A Skating Rink inhabited the Cleveland Park Community building, just across the Reedy, from the Seal pool. I'm told insurance considerations killed it, but I could be wrong.
Couple of other things that I can think of.. I know this is hijacking the topic from its original intent.. But.. It is called "Thinking back a few years"..
There used to be a 'fun park' in the mold of Frankie's on Wade Hampton.. Demolished and a church built in its place.. I'm thinking sometime around 2000.. Basically right around the time that Frankie's opened. It was.. Not exactly the safest place in the world from what I remember.
When I moved back to SC in 91 to attend college.. I lived in Crossroads apartments.. At the time, it was a decently nice place. From what i've heard, it went way downhill and, of course, now it's been rebuilt into condos it appears, in the vein of Riverplace(?) across the street from it.
There was also a Wendy's beside the Pantry on Faris across from Greenville Tech. It burned to the ground in the late 90's.. That Pantry closed and remained closed for quite a while as well before reopening.
When the whole 25/I-85 interchange was redone in 95 or so.. I believe a Texaco and a Hardee's were lost in that.. Along with Triangle Amoco. Of course.. The number of former Hardee's locations in the upstate is staggering if you think about it.. If I recall.. The numbering system, when I worked for the computer subcontractor for them.. I think the one on Pelham Rd was Greenville #14.. The closed one from Hwy 25 @ I-85 was #5..
Domino's, which I worked for in college.. Used to have a location on Augusta Rd, situated right beside the Spinx station. And used to have a location on Haywood at the corner of Haywood and Pelham.. That one, I believe, moved to N Pleasantburg.. I had left by the time all that happened, so I don't fully know the story there.. Figure that the location just sucked so far as getting in and out of.. Especially around Christmastime. Last I saw, there was a Pebble Creek Pizza location there.
And then.. The area across from McAlister Square on Antrim.. Vince Perone's and the City Club.. Those haven't been gone that long.. 10 years maybe?
Cash America pawn on Pleasantburg used to be a Po Folks.. Across the street from it was an Arby's, which has been 100 different things since. 2 Pizza Hut's on Pleasantburg closed down.. One on South, which last I saw was a motorcycle place and one on North near.. Nationwide insurance, I think, was demolished.
Well since you won't write a book (I understand) Greenville's Heritage by Judith T. Bainbridge is pretty good. She goes back further than you do, therefore I really like your memories as they are from your rememberings, not research.
Do you remember Krispy Kreme ever being in a different location? Some say yes & some say no. Just curious.
You've seen part of the ongoing evolution firsthand, so you just might have some sense of the acceleration in the rate of change that I'm seeing.
I can't recall which Main St. movie house it was, that would allow you to see a Saturday matinee for the princely sum of one RC bottle cap. If you knew someone who sold RC products, you could usually secure enough bottle caps to get every kid in the neighborhood in for free. If you managed to find a RC bottle cap with a red diamond, under the cork, you could trade it in for an ice cold RC cola, at any store that sold RC products.
Tanners Orange on Main St. was almost a pilgrimage when I was a kid. The front windows were filled with plastic oranges that severed as spill proof "sippie" cups for the kiddies. They offered 5 hotdogs for a dollar. 5 hotdogs, an orange drink and Cleveland park zoo made for a perfect day. Option two was 5 hotdogs and orange drink and McPherson Park for a ride on George the train in its original home. The bus ride back home was just part of the fun.
I read recently that the old Conastee Mill was being considered for future renovation to loft condos. In the 60's that would have totally astounded everybody. Not only was the Conostee Mill considered the bottom of the mill employment barrel, the place smelled horribly, from the chemicals used in the dye house and the down river proximity to the sewer plant, located on Mauldin rd. I've seen water flowing over the dam in colors that have never been seen in nature. If times in Conastee were hard when the mill still operated, they became a touch of of hell, when the mill closed its doors. It might seem odd, but Conastee had just as much sense of community and "Mill Pride" as any of the larger, better paying mills in the upstate.
I attended school with many of the children from Conastee, at Mauldin Elementary, from 1st - 6th grades. These were children of true soul crushing poverty and often times, severe abuse. Even at age five or six, most of us naturally understood that making fun of a kid from Conastee was beneath contempt. We knew instinctively that their life was filled with misery enough, that adding to it was akin to picking wings off flies. I made friends with some of them and it didn't take long to learn to greatly appreciate my own life. Teachers performed discreet duty as distribution points for donated clothing and food. There were some fights among the more well to do kids, often drawing a significant toll of blood, for picking on these kids. Even the most strict teachers turned a blind eye, when such a lesson was delivered. This usually befell some new kid who had yet to discover the unwritten code.
Even in the poorest and most desperate times, dignity and self pride predicated that NO ONE, wanted to have it known they were in need of charity. I saw a boy wear a had me down shirt, that had been mine, for two solid school years. I felt pride that he wore it and a sadness that I couldn't directly give him more of them. The poor were allowed to maintain their pride and dignity by an unspoken mutual understanding.
It was much better to take an ass whipping from a non Conastee kid. These guys, male and female were tough as shoe leather, some with pain tolerance thresholds highly honed by regular beatings that we couldn't magine. When a Conastee kid smiled, it seldom included their stone hard eyes. If you were unlucky enough to find yourself in a fight with one of these kids, it usually went badly for you. They could unloaded a truck load of pain, for the the unspoken pity they lived with and a chance to get some back for past beatings you had nothing to do with. As mentioned above, violating that sense of "Mill Pride" was a quick and easy way to stir a kid and quite often, an adult to just such violence.
I was once invited to spend a weekend with one such friend, in the second or third grade. Mom was dubious, but she was somewhat trapped into approving the visit. I can honestly say that I absorbed more real life lessons in that one weekend than I can recall ever learning at any point since. My Friend's life was a Huck Finn/ Tom Sawyer reality. At 7-8 years old, he helped hid dad with rebuilding old cars and was trusted with an axe. His playground was the woods around his home and he sometimes slept in the fort he'd built in those woods. His whole bedroom was hardly larger than my own double bed and that odd smell that he always wore was finally identified as coal smoke.
I quickly was convinced that his whole existence was defined by coal smoke. Food tasted of it, clothes and bed linens smelled of it and My Friend always had a skin patina that came from handling it for cooking and heating. If it didn't smell of coal smoke, it was endowed with aromas of kerosene or old automotive grease.
I can recall taking baths in a large galvanized tub, by the wood stove, where Grandma heated water for the purpose. It was a treat to be greatly enjoyed when visiting and something she did to entertain us well past the time of the wood stove. That weekend at My Friend's place brought home the stark reality of a cold water home, without indoor plumbing, where daily bathing was accomplished with a basin of water, harsh soap and pure endurance and determination, during cold weather.
A hot bath was truly a weekly event in his home and the water was shared well past gray. Slop jars hid under the beds, for night time use when nature called. His day, every day, began with My Friend hauling those thundermugs to the out house privy, before a breakfast of grits and toast or oatmeal....Sundays meant biscuits and molasses. Coffee was cheaper than milk so he drank coffee, saving the milk for the younger kids. I discovered that I really liked biscuits and black strap molasses, that weekend. Unfortunately mom considered it to be poor folk food, on the level of poke salad or no name peas, and refused to allow it.
It might sound like I'm describing a far distant rural setting, but My Friend lived next to what is now the Mini Cooper Dealership, behind the old location of Gore's Corvette World on Laurens Rd. As bad as the picture I've just painted would seem, My Friend's existence was at least a couple of solid rungs up the ladder from that of the typical Conastee kid. Between weak diets, sanitation issues, household stresses and the all too common abuse, some of these kids, even in the early grades, had a hard look almost akin to early onset of geriatric aging.
The good news is that My Friend went on to be successful and surpassed even his own expectations. I've encountered several others who managed to fight their way out of Conastee to make a good life. Sadly far more perpetuated the same existence for following generations. Hell.. we were all poor but, we didn't know it. What we did know is that there there were worse levels of existence than our own.... some far worse.
Pat
I had to consult with an older member of the family, but I think I got you an answer. The original Krispy Kreme was apparently located on the right side of the street, just as you turned left onto Augusta St. from Main street. I'm not sure when it moved to Pleasantburg Dr.
I can vaguely remember it being at a "downtown" location, but could not properly place it in my mind. our church youth group would go there very early on Saturday morning and buy a huge number donuts to sell door to door, in order to raise money for activities. Perhaps someone else can pin point the specific building, assuming it still exists. It gets a little blurry when I try to tap the memories of the 7-9 year old kid that was me, back then.
Labonte...
I can't recall the fun park where a church now sits, but there was a water slide and miniature golf on Wade Hampton in Taylors, at Reid School Rd. just across from the liquor store. This was one of Jimmy Roger's early moves at getting out of the Night Club gig in the early 80's. There was also an official Putt-Putt franchised course, where the Mekong restaurant is located, and a full fledged par 3 course at the corner of Wade Hampton and Pleasantburg, where the public storage is now.
Don't sweat a hi-jack. The memory jogging effect is much appreciated. Answering questions is far easier than coming up with my own content...LOL
Bonus....
Until the mid to late 80's there was a Crown Gas station located at the intersection of W. Lee and Wade Hampton, that had a fountain. This fountain was located at the extreme point of the property, nearest the red light. It was a thing with us kid from the area to bombard the fountain with laundry or dish detergent. Many were the times that the intersection was covered in foam, sometimes several feet thick. It was something no one openly talked about, but everyone seemed to know who last succeed without getting caught. Not that I know anything first hand.... that would just be wrong.
Anyone else know what lurks beneath the present day Greenville Tech Campus.
Pat
Labonte...
I can't recall the fun park where a church now sits, but there was a water slide and miniature golf on Wade Hampton in Taylors, at Reid School Rd. just across from the liquor store. This was one of Jimmy Roger's early moves at getting out of the Night Club gig in the early 80's. There was also an official Putt-Putt franchised course, where the Mekong restaurant is located, and a full fledged par 3 course at the corner of Wade Hampton and Pleasantburg, where the public storage is now.
Cedge
Oh, yeah.. I remember the putt-putt place.. I wound up having a couple of semesters at college where I had classes until 1pm or so, then a night class at 7pm.. So, on days I wasn't working, I had 6 hours to kill (I had moved to Clinton at the time as my grandfather was ill and my grandmother needed someone available at nights to help with him).. So "going home" wasn't really an option. I'd sit there any play video games for hours on end.
The son of the person who owned it worked there, and we were both huge Phillies baseball fans.. So, I vividly recall us sitting there watching the Phillies clinch the 1993 NL East pennant.
There was also a course in Spartanburg.. And I think one in Anderson.. All gone now. Most people don't realize that putt-putt is different from 'mini-golf'.. Putt-putt involves real skill. All holes on it are par 2 or 3 and all of them make a hole in one a legitimate possibility.. Not just random luck. Mini golf is like what you see at Frankies. There's probably only 40-50 actual Putt-Putt courses left in the US.
The fun park on Wade Hampton was far enough down to officially qualify as Taylors, not Greenville.. According to Google Maps, and based off my memory.. It was right around 4375 Wade Hampton. Wish I could remember the name of it.
Laser Tag comes to mind, once you shared the location.
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