Five Points In A New Light

What do you think about when you think of Five Points in Columbia, SC? Drunkenness, college kids, an endless row of bars, gang activity as of late, all of the full parking spaces perhaps? For anyone who has ever been down there, it's obvious that there is much more than that, from the independent retailers to the eclectic mix of restaurants. There is also a lot of history down there, and I discovered a great wealth of knowledge from taking a walking tour of Five Points courtesy of the Historic Columbia Foundation.

I met the group at the main fountain at 5:30 after work yesterday and we took a big loop around Five Points, stopping to look at things I'd never noticed before, especially about the architecture in the area. A lot of miniscule details still remain, though most were stuccoed over through the years.

This is the former Five Points theater, or Red Hot Tomatoes as it is now known. It closed when Five Points transitioned from a family oriented area to a college oriented area as the university grew larger through the years.

This intersection is where the five points, or streets, meet that gave Five Points it's oh so original name. After this picture we stopped at Bar None, which is actually the opposite of a typical Five Points bar. It's very clean, and very much a place where people stop for a post work happy hour drink more than it is a WOO DRUNK YEAH! type place. I like.

And this is part of the Hootie and the Blowfish monument that Columbia decided to erect in their honor oh... say 10 years after Hootie was the hot ticket (aka the 90s). It's a good idea to honor them, it's just the timing that baffled me and well, most of Columbia too, to be honest.

And lastly, this is the current Claussen's Inn, which used to be Claussen's Bakery as you can still see from the sign on the front. Despite the sign, I had never known this building's former roots until last night! Then we stopped for another drink and appetizers at the Salty Nut, a place I had never been to before last night either.

Going on this tour really showed me to stop and look around these parts of Columbia and beyond because there really is a lot that you don't see when you're rushing through the city everyday getting to work or running errands. According to our awesome guide Henry, there is supposed to be another walking tour series in the spring that goes through Main Street and one for the Vista. I can't wait to do the Vista one, because I know there's all sorts of hidden history there that I've never stopped to consider before, but I am betting a lot of it has to do with trains!

There are also self-guided tours of the neighborhoods surrounding Columbia available too. For more information of all things historically Columbia, check out the Historic Columbia Foundation's website!