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Columbia Mystery
If it weren’t in Columbia, South Carolina, I’d almost think it had been a Safeway in an earlier life. I have no idea what this used to be, and I’m not even sure it was a supermarket. It’s located on Beltline Boulevard near Devine Street. Ideas?
And while I’m at it, how about this one from Camden, South Carolina. It’s on US 1 just east of downtown. It may have been an independent from day one. Or not. I sure don’t recognize the prototype…
That Brady Bunch Store
From a 1971 episode of “The Brady Bunch”. I’ve finally made a definitive ID of this store, which was the subject of a message board thread several months back…
It’s the Mayfair Market at Franklin and Bronson in Hollywood, just as I suspected. I’d guessed this before because of (1) the Victor’s Liquor van shown in one shot and (2) the fact that this store is very close to Paramount Studios where the show was filmed. It’s also interesting that this Mayfair Market is the last one of the chain still operating under the Mayfair name…
Tonight, I looked again after watching it on the just-released DVD set, and then I had the brilliant idea to look at the intersection on the Terraserver website, where a newer, higher resolution photo had been added since last check. And it was a perfect match to all the shots in the episode, including the strip mall across the street…
Mystery solved…
Beachs
From an episode of “Monk” I caught out of the corner of my eye last night, this is a store called “Beachs Market” (no apostrophe) at 7900 Imperial Boulevard in Downey CA. Does anyone have any info on what it might have been in its former life? It almost looks like it has some A&P-like features to me…
Some more pictures:
Ingles in Asheville
Cool site here on National Tea stores in the St. Louis area, if you’re so inclined…
I felt like I’d died and gone to Brady Bunch heaven when I walked into the Ingles store above in Asheville NC last weekend. It’s in a semi-dying shopping center on Tunnel Road and was the most wonderfully orange and brown beauty (inside and out) that I’d seen in years…
And there’s another one just like it a few miles north in Hendersonville…
In the News
Yer humble host is cited in an article in today’s SF Chronicle, in case you care…
About the South
2 August 2005 | Link this
In case there was any doubt, I am most definitely living in the south again.
There are no more Safeways in my world, and nothing resembling an Albertsons or a Ralphs. I’m finding groceries to be considerably cheaper and the whole experience of shopping to be much more pleasant than in California. Stores are big, and properly stocked and staffed. You can actually find bread even on Sunday nights.
The downside is that there are very few older stores still open and available for me to check out. There are plenty of abandoned A&P and Kroger and Colonial stores around if you know where to look and what to look for, but almost none of them are still selling groceries. It’s too bad, really…
But I promise to find any interesting ones and let you know where they are soon.
Charlotte and Stuff
I’ve been trying to shoot lots of Winn-Dixie stores before there aren’t any in the area anymore. The one pictured above is in King’s Mountain.
I’ve also done the first bit of my Charlotte research and have compiled the list of addresses. If you’re really interested, I’ve put up a quickie HTML version of the spreadsheet here. It’s going to be interesting to see what is and isn’t still here in Charlotte, a city notorious for destroying almost everything old.
I’ll keep you posted…
Safely in Charlotte
I’ve arrived in Charlotte and I’m looking forward to documenting my new hometown. Saw a few interesting stores along the way, including the oldest continuously-operating A&P in New Orleans. Pictures and more news soon…
Interesting, though, that I seem to have driven out at least one supermarket chain after only a week in town…
Big Move Ahead
Sorry, I just thought this was a really cool picture when I saw it hanging in my favorite diner this morning…
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. It will probably continue over the next month or so, as I’m well into my cross-country move. We’re leaving San Francisco for good on Friday and will arrive in Charlotte NC about two weeks later, stopping along the way in Fresno, LA, Phoenix, Austin, and New Orleans, among other places…
Hope to have some nice pictures when we land…
Alma Plaza Lucky
It’s officially all over for the Alma Plaza Lucky now, I suppose. It was scheduled to close on Thursday, and I made it by for a few final photos last Sunday. I’m definitely sorry to see this one go.
I’ve been busily organizing all my assorted newspaper and magazine articles into a Filemaker database lately, which means I haven’t really been working on the site very much. But it should make later updates (and the long-pondered book) much easier.
In addition, I’ve been trying to get all the Northern California photos I can before leaving the Golden State forever at the beginning of June. Suggestions are welcome, as are pointers to things I should see on the road back east. Our stops are tentatively planned for Palm Springs, Phoenix, Austin, Houston, and New Orleans. We may also take breaks in El Paso, Atlanta, and/or Jacksonville before arriving in Groceteria’s new home of Charlotte NC.
