A more cultural Five Points
Five Points could be the cultural heart of Columbia, but that’s not what we have. Five Points does one job well: getting people drunk. The rest of it — the odd shops and mostly decent restaurants — is more window dressing than anything else, and that’s not how it has to be. Look at Atlanta’s Little Five Points — it has two theaters, two bookstores, a music venue, a diverse set of restaurants and clothing shops that aren’t marketed to middle age men. Five Points has Papa Jazz. It’s not that Five Points can’t have its bar scene, it’s just that it could easily support more.
Diversity on restaurant scene
Sure, Columbia has some good ethnic restaurants. We somehow have two Ethiopian places, after all. But the sad truth remains that the vast majority of Columbian dining is American food: burgers, steaks and a sparse seafood selection. Our offbeat dining opportunities are niche establishments, while the majority of our restaurants offer nothing revolutionary or even unusual. What Columbia needs isn’t even higher quality restaurants, it’s an identity. The city is perfectly positioned to be a mid-budget fun dining alternative to Charleston’s high-budget fine dining, and it’s time to seize the opportunity.
Television and film production
It's not the fastest way to jumpstart the local economy, but a TV or film crew can be a big bet. Charleston got the TV shows "Reckless" and "Army Wives" shooting in its streets, Detroit lured in "Hung" and "Low Winter Sun" but Columbia has nothing. If you're thinking, "What does Columbia have to offer for films?" then think again, because we've had movies shot here before. The Gary Oldman vehicle "Chattahoochee" and Kevin Bacon revenge flick "Death Sentence" were filmed in Cola, taking advantage of some of our sweet, sweet urban decay. If more crews come here, then a working community of filmmakers and engineers could surface around the productions, and we'd have a new scene of our own.
Music Farm Columbia getting bigger acts
It was like a gift to Cola's music scene — Music Farm announced it was opening a branch in Columbia, finally giving the city the mid-sized music venue that it so desperately needed. The idea was that it would court acts too big for New Brookland Tavern but not big enough for Township Auditorium, the known but not huge indie acts that music lovers treasure. And then, after bringing Washed Out for the premiere, the drought came. Music Farm Columbia has been getting decent acts, but most of them are small or local, when what it really needs are some events. They just announced Tune-yards, Future Islands and Son Lux, so they're already on their way to achieving their destiny, but they need to stay on that track.
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