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Figured a single topic for this might work well.. This somewhat can bleed over in the New retail and closed businesses topic.. Keep some of the questions out of those.. Not that anyone was complaining, but.. There's several places that I'll have questions about at times..
One that I'm wondering about.. Henry's Smokehouse Wade Hampton location.. What was that originally? It looks like it's a converted gas station, perhaps? Or maybe it was originally a restaurant.. The old "Bathrooms outside" design was favored by Hardee's back in the 70's.
Labonte18
I can't recall what was there before Henry's, but if you look at the layout, it positively screams of local Greek restaurant influence. Compare it to the Clock, up the street and it's a nealy perfect clone. I'm guessing that it might have been one of the "Clock/Pete's/Coumo's restaurants, purely based on the building's floor plan and the footprint of the parking lot.
Building design kinda reminds me of those minnie pearl chicken shacks from the 70s
That one I know was on Pleasantburg. 343 S Pleasantburg to be exact. I think the building is gone, but it was right around where Pumpers and the title loan place are now. It was there about 2 years.. '68 and '69.
Two notorious chains that were in the Greenville area.. Minnie Pearl's Chicken and Jerry Lewis Cinema.
One that I'm wondering about.. Henry's Smokehouse Wade Hampton location.. What was that originally? It looks like it's a converted gas station, perhaps? Or maybe it was originally a restaurant.. The old "Bathrooms outside" design was favored by Hardee's back in the 70's.
From Tiger, one of Henry's owners:
"In the early 40’s there was a meat market next door in the empty lot, you may remember it as an antique store. The Wade Hampton store was built soon after to help supply the market with smoked meats. Though out the years it’s been several bbq places. It was even a sushi place at one point. Henry’s opened up in 1991 and we’ve been here ever since. If you’ve ever been in the store you have probably noticed the fireplace. That’s the original pit for the smokehouse."
"In the early 40’s there was a meat market next door in the empty lot, you may remember it as an antique store. The Wade Hampton store was built soon after to help supply the market with smoked meats. Though out the years it’s been several bbq places. It was even a sushi place at one point. Henry’s opened up in 1991 and we’ve been here ever since. If you’ve ever been in the store you have probably noticed the fireplace. That’s the original pit for the smokehouse."
Wow.. That's kinda surprising. In a way, at least.. Just looks like the building was reconfigured to be a restaurant.
I'm trying to think of other places.. But.. If anybody has similar questions.. Toss 'em in
There used to be a bar next to the peddlar in that little valley between peddlar and lowes. There also used to be an auto shop there. anyone remember that bar? This had to have been the early 70s when my grandparents moved to Buxton.
Wow a sushi place in 80's Greenville? Weird. Labonte18 - What can you tell me about jerry lewis cinema? Never heard that story.
Greenville specific.. I can't tell you much.. There was one in Greer and one in Mauldin in "Winn Dixie Plaza", which I presume would be where Publix is now at Butler and 276.. Though, if someone knows more, I'll defer to them.
There are good articles about the overall chain that are out there. I'll try to link a couple. But, the idea was to provide a sort of turn-key (And automated) theater ownership at a fairly low cost. This is back in the 60's and 70's when the norm was a 1 to 3 screen theater with each auditorium holding 100-300 people. I always think of The Oaks in Laurens and the exact same design that was in Greenwood as being what these places would have looked like.
The company required theaters via the franchise agreement to not show any R rated movies. As I remember reading, in a twist of irony many of the theaters went under, were purchased out of bankruptcy and wound up being Porn theaters.
It was a real mess and a real black eye for Jerry Lewis. Though, I think he actually tried to help these people as much as he could, doing appearances and the like.
Ah.. Ok.. Confirmed on the address for Mauldin.. You can see a small writeup about it at Cinematreasures.com (A wonderful site for old theater information)
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