Forgotten Small Towns In South Carolina - Empty Main Streets & Southern Backroads Over State Line
South Carolina Small Towns
Transcript
0:03
welcome everyone Adam the woo here as a
0:03
recording of this Sunday November 13th
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am I correct on that yes you are I'm
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here with nerd locations Hey hey YouTube
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Zone nerd locations yes we are on the
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North Carolina South Carolina line right
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now here at Momo Momo's Donuts is it
0:18
Momo Donuts or Momo's plural
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Momo Donuts Momo Donuts
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piping hot caffeinated beverage you are
0:26
more of an iced coffee kind of guy yep
0:28
but they don't have iced coffee here no
0:29
Team warm
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piping warm that's I just dripping it
0:35
out of my mouth
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we're gonna go to a couple of desolate
0:38
towns that you have in mind yep and
0:41
maybe even pepper and some movie
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locations I'm a movie location guy
0:44
you're a movie location guy but we'll do
0:46
that after we do kind of the desolate
0:48
towns that you have in mind yeah sound
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good yes sir let's do it all right let's
0:52
do it I'm inviting you to join me and
0:54
nerd locations
0:56
shall you
0:58
and even though they have Tasty Donuts
1:00
in there I only got coffee
1:03
got a little get a little caffeine to
1:04
get the day started
1:06
All Right Moving On
1:12
I think Billy Idol
1:12
has ever eaten here zipping along in the
1:15
nerd locations mobile at the moment
1:18
we're technically in South Carolina now
1:21
both these towns we're going to in South
1:23
Carolina right beside each other they're
1:24
right beside each other in South
1:27
Carolina
1:28
we're on our way
1:30
we've got another half hour Southbound
1:32
have arrived in historic
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Chester now I wouldn't really say this
1:37
is an empty town there is a population
1:39
of between five and six thousand people
1:41
that live here but from what I'm hearing
1:44
the downtown area
1:46
something kind of uh similar to like a
1:48
ghost town or something I like The
1:50
Walking Dead
1:52
take a look at the side of this Deluxe
1:54
pools this almost looks like one of the
1:57
arches in Utah kind of right here yeah I
2:00
don't even know what that is it's like
2:02
somebody just decided we're making
2:04
something but we have a beach scenery
2:06
going on right now oh it is a beach okay
2:08
A little beach scenery maybe maybe the
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Karate Kid inspired who knows yeah you
2:14
can see Miyagi over here without a doubt
2:17
the best name for a fuel stop
2:21
gas
2:22
no mystery no myth just gas
2:25
they do accept major credit cards gas
2:29
I like that
2:31
no real
2:32
no real theming or marketing just gas no
2:35
trickery no nothing
2:38
and where we're headed the downtown area
2:40
is right over there you kind of see it
2:41
off in the distance but this Deluxe
2:43
pools has no roof I'll show you what I
2:46
mean in a minute but here's another
2:47
mural that's pretty awesome which
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represents
2:51
the Town of Chester affected downtown's
2:53
kind of pictured over there
2:55
you got the church building here with
2:56
the steeple looks like a wedding's going
2:58
on in front of the church you see oh
3:01
there is a wedding yeah
3:05
yeah there's a wedding happen in front
3:07
of this
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kind of old-timey church here as a
3:10
picnic
3:11
going over here on the side this is all
3:13
kind of sun bleached and faded out
3:16
but you can kind of make make out a
3:18
little bit of what's going on here
3:20
people swinging on them
3:23
oh yeah they're on like a rope swing
3:24
there swing
3:26
we got some picnic look we got
3:29
looks like a Mexican violin player going
3:31
on right here yeah
3:38
there's a lot going on on this mural
3:38
there's a horses on the other side
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this thing has been here a while no
3:51
telling when this was painted look at
3:53
this step to nothing
3:55
it's like a step to nothing like Harry
3:57
Potter you gotta go through the
4:12
oh you know what look there is a door
4:12
here ah take a look you could see where
4:17
the door used to be and there's like the
4:20
archway so there really was an entrance
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into the back of this building
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wonder what this was before it was a
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pool place I'm thinking maybe a theater
4:28
of some sort now along the front windows
4:32
they have placed these pictures of some
4:34
sports players through here and that is
4:37
to disguise the fact that the roof is
4:40
caved in up there you see the little
4:41
Sunburst going off
4:43
but the roof and the entire inside of
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the building
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in there
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has seen better days okay here is an old
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house
4:54
a church bell ringing off in the
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distance a little classic car alert
4:58
parked over here no one's living here
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anymore at the moment at least doesn't
5:02
appear to
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and there is quite a bit of traffic
5:05
going through town
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so it is an act of town there are people
5:09
that live here it's not like completely
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desolate but there are some hidden gems
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well not hidden but in plain sight gems
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over here including this barber shop
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where that church bell oh it's just
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they're just ringing the church bell
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letting you know the congregation is
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about to meet
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because as a recording of this it is a
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Sunday
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look at this Relic
5:36
Mayfield's barber shop
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looks like Mayfield Mayfields
5:39
hopes hopes Mayfield barber shop and
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drink Coca-Cola that is awesome that is
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a super antique right there
5:50
is a thing of beauty
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all rusted out
5:59
that is a relic
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and then over here there's an electronic
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store
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so you can see the downtown over there
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again there's a lot of traffic
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through here
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yeah that church Bell's been going on
6:11
for five minutes now
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TV and VCR repair
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that is good
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Chester Electronics service
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prayer box
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where if you have
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one
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you can write it down and slide it into
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this little slot
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oh wow
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I was not expecting to see a prayer box
6:44
at the bottom of the electronic store
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door
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and there's somebody behind this
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colorful curtain that will
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honor your prayer request I guess I mean
6:54
I've seen prayer boxes before but never
6:56
on a the bottom of a base of an electron
6:59
former electronic store door
7:03
hmm
7:04
that was I didn't even notice that glad
7:06
you saw that I said very interesting
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and this door was open there's a TV over
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there kind of classic TV a drug floor
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tom there's a whole drum kit oh there's
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a hole Yeah there's a whole drum kit
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here look at these telephones over here
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against the wall
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probably not structurally sound being in
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here but yeah it's just the door was
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open
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I don't think that Bell's ever gonna
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stop ringing
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this is great
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this is like a guide map on the side of
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this wall so you got Westchester you got
7:45
leads you got Cornwell okay the other
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this okay this is kind of good
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good base too because we're going to
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Chester but then we're also going to go
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over to Great Falls
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what do you think the distance is
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between Chester and Great Falls
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15 minutes so those are the two towns
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that we're gonna go to so this is kind
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of good this is like I've never seen
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I've seen a lot of murals on the side I
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don't have ever seen a guide map up the
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way just a bit this building is being
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utilized or was as a tax preparation
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place and here is some sort of like a
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non-horse drawn oh it is a horse-drawn
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carriage here's the carriage you see the
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gentleman up here with the the horses on
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the reins and then the horses were faded
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out we're right there
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into downtown
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ah there's a Napa Auto Parts over there
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a couple of landmarks here Catawba Mill
8:47
Fishing Creek old Catholic Church
8:51
Burrs Rock
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former temp tracker mustache doesn't
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have a mustache anymore but every time I
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think of that
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guy hard at work up there holding this
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cinder block
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oh I just stepped in that ant bed
9:18
I just stepped in that ampad
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ooh Hidden Cat alert
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in 1979 according to this yeah
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People's Bank People's National Bank had
9:33
this painted back in 79.
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that Bell was still ringing
9:38
it's just like 15 minutes now 50 at
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least 15 minutes
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and down the to the downtown strip if
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you will
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this is it there's a bail bonds
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advertisement right there on the side of
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that bench there's a picnic table over
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there
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another park bench
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this is downtown Chester South Carolina
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in all its Glory I love it
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there's an old Credit Union this is very
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peculiar so there is a desk here and
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then there's some old like school desks
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in here as well except it's not an
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active facility it's just just sitting
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in this empty window
10:22
and they are decorating for Christmas
10:23
there's a snowman over there a very
10:25
Monumental building here
10:28
possibly a bank the pillars out front
10:31
quite an incline Steep Hill very Steep
10:34
Hill here
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and this was a furniture store
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yeah
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there used to be one in every little
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small town down here for a long time
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crumbles
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this is definitely a very unique
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downtown
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got a beauty salon over there it's kind
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of interesting how it kind of goes up
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the side of the hill and then looking
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down the hill
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keep in mind it's also Sunday so
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probably during the week there might be
11:44
a few of these tours open
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so it kind of adds the Desolation a
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little bit that you know being a Sunday
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as a recording of This everything being
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close to right here on the corner of
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Columbia and Maine
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is where the city hall is and a
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laundromat down there at the at the end
11:59
that has a mural of a clothesline and
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some clothes down there on the bottom of
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that Hill
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laundry and cleaners this is something
12:08
I've never really never seen it's an old
12:10
horse barn
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where the horse stables is a storage
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unit
12:16
this is an active storage facility
12:20
inside here
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inside this old horse barn
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so where the horses used to be is where
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you could store your stuff they look
12:44
close so you can see the water tower
12:46
popping up over the top of the
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laundromat here
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the laundry facility
12:51
it's a pair of socks right there on the
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line I did not notice this
12:55
until now
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oh yes I love a good Coca-Cola mural on
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the side of a small town wall
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Coca-Cola delicious refreshing sold
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everywhere for only five cents
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it's about twice that twice that cost
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now
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at least at least 10 cents now for a
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bottle of icy cold Coca-Cola in a bottle
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the old Street Lamp there
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Diamond up there in the top left
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old neon the neon's been removed this
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was called Runyan Jewelers Jewelers
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I have trouble saying that we got the
13:33
old Diamond at the top
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that's a that's a relic right there
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now I was wondering if there was going
13:42
to be an old theater down here we have
13:44
found the old theater Dreamland
13:48
a thing of beauty here the name on the
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side of the brick wall you got these
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side entrance doors you got the Marquee
13:54
and what'd you say earlier and wait
13:56
there's more and wait there's more the
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theater there's actually an old mural
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right down the side of it to celebrate
14:04
All Things Hollywood
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this could be used you could oh you
14:13
could like if you were filming a movie
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you could film through here look at this
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glass
14:20
this ominous
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alleyway
14:22
yeah we got some old Hollywood style
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paintings on the side here not
14:27
recognized it's probably locals
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little red carpet
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little red car we see the red carpet
14:34
little no carpet oh no carpet
14:40
so you got the theater here you got the
14:40
stage
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performances
14:43
oh yeah here's the light coming down
14:49
tucked away in this
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kind of creepy alley is this guy holding
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a lightsaber yeah it looks like a sword
14:55
makeshift with a lights I think it might
14:57
be a Jedi
14:58
all right I'm recognizing this one it's
15:00
Annie and daddy Ward Box
15:06
right there Daddy Warbucks
15:06
maybe a stage performance of Andy Annie
15:09
took place in here
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is that the orphanage is that Miss
15:13
Hannigan this is great too the star
15:16
where the
15:18
celebrities or the guests or the actors
15:20
I should say would be go actors and
15:22
actors would be going in this door
15:24
right here inside the theater so this is
15:27
you just think of a who's who
15:30
here in Chester have walked through this
15:32
very door this is really interesting
15:34
Gene's restaurant this old kind of 70s
15:36
early 80s style sides a real side
15:39
but it fades in with the fake signage of
15:43
the metal holder at the top
15:46
so you see how it kind of Puffs out a
15:48
little bit
15:49
but then you have the fake painting of
15:52
what it's being held onto
15:59
check it out Adam Max the cat oh Fred
15:59
McCall Max the cast States it right
16:02
below there's Max the cat
16:13
oh this Pooch down here is looking at
16:13
Max the cat
16:15
so this is where the customers enter
16:16
over here
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and Max the cat is up top and out
16:20
through another alley at that Napa that
16:23
I showed earlier
16:29
all right that was downtown Chester now
16:29
we're going to head over to Great Falls
16:30
but we're doing a u-turn
16:32
going back to this place called G Mart
16:35
as the mobile sign up there
16:38
beer wine groceries and Ice all right I
16:41
have never seen Cherry RC before I know
16:43
they make it but Cherry art RC has like
16:46
started rooting itself in the Cherry
16:48
industry now so this was an old gas
16:50
station we were talking to the gentleman
16:51
in there who was selling crickets
16:54
for fishing and he said he's lived in
16:57
this area since the 60s and this place
16:59
used to be a gas station back in the 60s
17:02
now it's called G-Mart
17:04
and he was saying
17:06
that up top used to be Apartments
17:09
there were apartments at the top of this
17:11
and the building the condition of the
17:14
building to hide the apartments modern
17:15
day they put up that tent around it
17:18
it's pretty interesting and how many
17:21
times they try to sell us hot dogs in
17:27
walked in what do they say a hot dog
17:27
Adam yeah they have hot dogs and then we
17:29
were leaving and then they tried to sell
17:31
us a hot dog two different two different
17:33
employees tried to sell us up they like
17:34
they got the hot dog and this was only
17:36
like a bucket they said they used to be
17:37
99 Cents but it went to like a buck 20.
17:40
and they thought you were complaining
17:41
and they were like and you were like no
17:43
this would be like 250 somewhere
17:45
else
17:47
I was like a buck 20 and they're like oh
17:49
we're sorry the price went up and I was
17:51
like no that's actually really
17:52
inexpensive in comparison oh I've been
17:55
traveling for a little bit I think we're
17:57
probably about two or three miles away
17:59
from the next spot have arrived in Great
18:03
Falls
18:05
into the downtown area
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quaint little community
18:15
with a little downtown strip peeking in
18:15
the storefront window see the
18:18
paneling in the back but then also this
18:20
wallpaper
18:30
this is interesting peeking in this
18:30
window here the storefront window
18:33
that is not structurally sound if you
18:35
were to walk up that
18:36
now it's Bowing in
18:44
there has effort to decorate the door
18:44
then there has been two keep the inside
18:48
I think maybe they're doing that to like
18:50
maybe block anyone from going in that
18:52
door maybe it's a disguise an old
18:54
restaurant of some sort
19:00
signage has been removed but the
19:00
skeleton of the sign
19:01
still up there
19:03
maybe an old Steakhouse
19:05
first impression would be like maybe an
19:07
old restaurant
19:13
tough to tell there's a Phillips 76
19:16
off there in the distance retro Phillips
19:18
76 or Phillips 66 I should say that's
19:21
76. this pole is like bent upward the
19:24
side
19:26
see how the pole comes down and it bends
19:29
in and then it's kind of stanching into
19:31
the ground here's a closed down car wash
19:34
there's an 18-wheeler over here too with
19:37
an advertisement on it
19:39
they really do not want anyone smoking
19:58
or whatever's inside oh here we go
19:58
no discharges of 300 feet what is in
20:00
there discharge of fireworks look at
20:02
this calculator right here
20:04
just for random calculator is that
20:06
supposed to be a security
20:08
take a look at this this is like an old
20:10
pantyhose sign
20:12
we go does it say pantyhose over there I
20:15
could see the why hose
20:17
the whole thing's right here okay
20:21
silkies
20:23
silkies pantyhose yep just a car just
20:26
like here completely engulfed
20:29
and these plants are then the foliage
20:31
here
20:33
same better dice now this is awesome
20:35
holy cow look at this classic
20:40
look at this car this is awesome
20:43
four-wheel drive what kind of car is
20:45
this
20:54
this thing is a this is awesome
21:04
you see an emblem on it anywhere or what
21:04
kind of car it is
21:16
that's great has like the towing hitch
21:18
on there to pull someone out of a ditch
21:23
foreign
21:23
's all original it's amazing what you
21:26
find
21:27
sticker on the front last time it was
21:30
registered was back in 1996
21:32
now we got in the car and drove to the
21:34
other side of Great Falls about a half
21:36
mile went too far we could have walked
21:37
it but we got in the car and drove over
21:39
to the technical downtown side
21:42
got this old gas station over here
21:45
this Thrift Shop
21:47
and there is a car driving through
21:50
definitely not a beehive of activity
21:53
down here
21:55
I do like the storefronts quite a bit oh
21:57
there's a big building down there we got
21:58
to walk all the way over there see what
21:59
that is Sassy Scissors Hair and tan
22:03
with two ends
22:15
this is kind of an interesting formation
22:15
of a shop here so you got the windows
22:18
here this one's been busted out but just
22:20
look at this little alcove of brick that
22:23
leads into the shop itself you don't
22:26
really see that too much with little
22:28
downtown shops where the brick goes all
22:30
the way around it looks like they
22:32
bricked over where the window used to be
22:34
absolutely no roof in the side of this
22:41
so even if you were to rent or purchase
22:41
one of these areas there'd be no point
22:44
because all these shops there's nothing
22:46
behind these walls these fake walls that
22:48
are here
22:50
the roof has been torn out and there is
22:53
a department store over here
22:56
Francis Department shop or Francis
22:59
department store
23:05
and the post office off there the
23:05
distance to looking through here
23:07
there's a stage down on the end
23:11
kind of gutted out with the stage is
23:12
still down there that's awesome
23:15
wow
23:22
I really want to know what this building
23:24
next to the post offices Belks
23:39
there's no one down here
23:39
there's some bags of some soil
23:47
soy lint greenest people
23:47
now earlier we were in the other side of
23:50
town we were looking at that classic
23:51
unique classic car that we couldn't
23:53
figure out what it was
23:55
someone with a convenience store came
23:56
over and said go to over to this area
23:58
look for the old jail
24:01
so we have found
24:03
the old jail
24:07
no signage
24:08
or anything letting us know where this
24:11
is
24:12
but it was behind all the soil bags
24:20
bags of soil
24:20
see where they had the bars up
24:28
yeah is that what that is
24:28
I don't know what that would be for like
24:30
the bolts where they had but they had
24:31
bars I think they had double bars so
24:33
bars here and bars here yeah this is
24:35
like would be just probably the gate
24:42
wow look at this
24:42
there's the commode
25:00
there's the cells two cells
25:00
oh there's an old bed frame in there
25:13
this has not been used in ages if you
25:13
can just imagine someone being locked in
25:16
inside one of the cells
25:19
this is where the doors the doors have
25:21
been right there
25:23
slam shot
25:28
you can still see the hinges where they
25:28
would lock the doors yeah
25:32
I mean the walls are so thick
25:35
be tough to break out she got the bars
25:37
on there
25:55
the old Great Falls South Carolina jail
25:55
what's back here
26:02
this would have been your only View
26:03
out of the forest behind you
26:51
Caster news these two active papers I
26:51
don't think so yeah look at that's the
26:53
news and reporter
26:59
and a little Lancaster
27:00
both of which oh here we go
27:03
Lancaster News is not sold at locations
27:05
in Great Falls anymore
27:37
all right back in the vehicle now got
27:37
about a half hour commute to the next
27:39
spot I promised a filming location at
27:41
the beginning we're gonna hit up a
27:43
filming location about a half hour
27:45
commute to get there
27:48
paper tag during the commute saw
27:51
something really interesting here off
27:53
the side of the road there's a homestead
27:54
over there
27:56
well I hear a train
27:57
but we're on this road
27:59
take a look at this
28:14
whole Barn here almost looks like it
28:14
could have been like a convenience store
28:15
or something but it wasn't
28:17
but it's just right here along the road
28:33
found a parking area here in historic
28:33
bratonsville b-r-a-t-t-o-n-s-v-i-l-l-e
28:41
and this house over here was used
28:41
prominently the Mel Gibson movie The
28:43
Patriot and we just talked to the guy at
28:45
the gift shop
28:48
and it was eight dollars
28:49
to walk around the property because
28:51
there's a lot more here than just the
28:53
one spot we have this little map here as
28:57
well and he was saying a couple other
28:59
things we're using the Patriot number
29:00
three which was known as The McConnell
29:04
which probably was this right here so
29:06
this is used for one scene in The
29:08
Patriot as well it's all fenced off here
29:11
this was used on three or four occasions
29:13
at the front of this home is under a
29:15
preservation
29:16
right now but a lot of this property
29:19
was also used and a fun fact he was
29:21
saying over here this building was used
29:23
quite a bit but not the front of this
29:26
the back of the house
29:28
was used the porch or sitting on the
29:30
porch and all that
29:32
over there as well and there's a parking
29:34
space over here
29:35
which has the little
29:37
admission area and all that that's where
29:39
we parked over across the way here in
29:41
brattonsville
29:47
I could definitely see why they utilize
29:47
this area
29:49
very historic
29:51
Pine pieces here
29:53
the back of this house was used
29:57
not the front
30:12
it's good there's enough orange too
30:12
a couple Bulls out here a couple cows
30:17
sheep this is great
30:38
all right we have made the commute back
30:38
into Charlotte North Carolina
30:41
and we're gonna stop over here for a
30:44
very late lunch early dinner
30:48
at a place called pinkies it was almost
30:50
like a tradition last time I was in town
30:53
just got on tape was with us
30:54
and the three of us
30:57
ate at pinkies and the sign over there
30:59
says Triple G Automotive
31:01
specialists in Volkswagens
31:04
there's a Volkswagen on top of the roof
31:06
here at Pinky's West Side Grill
31:10
which was an old Volkswagen mechanic
31:13
shop of some sort right and they just
31:15
converted the Volkswagen on the roof
31:17
but they have
31:19
they got some food here so I've just
31:21
created a tradition they say when you do
31:22
something twice or at least I'm saying
31:24
it you do something twice it becomes
31:26
this tradition so pinkies is now
31:28
a Charlotte
31:31
tradition for me Pinky's West Side Grill
31:35
now I ended up getting something at the
31:37
menu has quite a few options but I ended
31:39
up getting the same thing I got last
31:41
time when I was here how many how long
31:43
ago was it when I was here
31:45
February so it's been
31:48
eight months nine months nine months
31:53
I got basically the same thing I got
31:55
last time which is the pterodactyl
31:57
Burger did you say think about the
31:59
pterodactyl Burger
32:00
I added pimento cheese oh my grandma
32:03
when I was young you saw I was a big fan
32:05
of cheese sandwiches but I got a
32:07
hamburger added to the regular
32:08
traditional pimento attack fact we both
32:10
got pimento cheese pterodactyl burgers
32:13
and a few sides
32:15
and a few sides as well inside peakies
32:18
are some very interesting Decor in here
32:20
and of course on top of the roof is a VW
32:23
Bug painted with the American flag
32:25
Pinky's West Side Grill here in
32:28
Charlotte North Carolina
32:30
our tradition because I've now eaten
32:31
here twice if you look up top
32:35
still has the Triple G Automotive
32:37
specialized in Volkswagen size right
32:40
here on the corner of the road all right
32:41
that's gonna do it for today make sure
32:44
you check out on YouTube Nerd locations
32:47
nerd locations very simple two words
32:50
nerd oh you probably spell it all
32:51
together probably show up yeah nerd
32:53
locations on YouTube I think Evil
32:55
Knievel is behind us here right
32:57
Pinky's evil knee pinky IS Evil Knievel
33:00
and look over here there's some classic
33:02
car alerts in here we had a full fun day
33:05
absolutely do you want to do the outro
33:08
I always say I'll see you in the next
33:11
video
33:12
the Vlog is over