Five Points (Columbia)

Five Points in Columbia, South Carolina is a shopping, restaurant, and nightlife area that attracts customers from the nearby University of South Carolina and throughout the Columbia metropolitan area. It is the center for the city's annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival.

It was Columbia's first neighborhood shopping district, named for the intersection of Harden Street, Devine Street and Santee Avenue. It was home to Columbia's first supermarket (an A & P), first Chinese restaurant (Kester’s Bamboo House), and the first bar in South Carolina to serve a cocktail (the Stage Door, which claimed to sell the state's first mixed drink after the South Carolina General Assembly approved the use of minibottles in 1973).

When streetcars ruled the roads, Five Points was a hub (rotating circle) for moving between downtown Columbia and the residential area of Shandon.

In 1993, Five Points was the site of the death of Senator Strom Thurmond's daughter Nancy Moore, who was hit by a drunk driver only feet from the limousine of South Carolina's lieutenant governor at the time, Nick Theodore.

External links

* [http://www.5pointsmall.com/ Five Points Mall : Local area business and community guide] , celebrating the 5 Points business community
* [http://www.fivepointscolumbia.com/ Five Points Association] of Columbia
* [http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/11102570.htm Five Points: Looking back. Looking ahead] , a March 2005 article from "The State"