It’s official: Landmark Columbia bar and restaurant Rockaway Athletic Club has closed
On Thursday there was finally a sign on the building at Rockaway Athletic Club on Rosewood Drive.
It said “Closed.”
Rockaway, the laid back bar and grill that has been a familiar haunt for Columbians for four decades and famously never had a sign on its building at 2719 Rosewood Drive, has officially closed its doors. The closure comes a day after the announcement that Columbia’s Cason Development Group had purchased the property and building at 2719 Rosewood.
“Wow Columbia! We are so grateful for you!,” Rockaway said in a Thursday Facebook post. “For over 40 years, we have had the pleasure serving you and now we look forward to being on the other side of a bar! Originally, we planned to stay open til January 21st, but so many people came out to show their support, that we ran out of food and supplies (on Jan. 17) and are unable to continue.
“We are excited to see what Cason Development Group does with this location in Columbia’s coolest Micro Urban district. Cheers to all!”
Originally opened in 1982, the Rockaway business has long been owned by members of Columbia’s Whitlark family. The State has left messages for co-owner Forrest Whitlark this week.
On Wednesday, Columbia developer Frank Cason confirmed that Cason Development Group and Baker Commercial Properties had bought the Rosewood Drive building and property where Rockaway is located.
Details about what comes next are unclear, though Cason said the developers’ early plan is for the property to ultimately continue to be home to a restaurant. The developers are in discussions with a group of local restaurateurs about the possibility of continuing a restaurant at the site.
“The current plan is for it to be a restaurant,” Cason told The State on Wednesday. “That will be our hope and our initial target. It’s a great piece of property, and there are other uses that could go there. But our current plan and focus would be on getting a new restaurant in there.”
Cason indicated some initial upgrades will likely be done to the building’s exterior.
At lunchtime Thursday, customers were streaming into the Rockaway parking lot, hoping for one last meal at the bar and grill. Alas, the gates at the brick building were padlocked, with a paper sign saying simply “Closed” posted at the main entrance. There were also “Closed” signs on the restaurant’s porch, where a Galaga arcade machine sat idle. A TV on the porch was still turned on, frozen on a commercial for the Lourie Law Firm.
Rockaway became known through the years for its pimento cheeseburgers, pimento cheese fries, expansive liquor menu and beer so cold it could almost be called polar. In 2021, Food & Wine magazine dubbed the pimento cheeseburger at Rockaway the best burger in South Carolina.
“Just as there is pimento cheese all over the South, so too are there pimento cheeseburgers, but most can agree that the spiritual home (of the latter at least) is Columbia, South Carolina’s capital city,” the Food & Wine piece noted. “You’ll find a very good example at the fun-loving Rockaway Athletic Club, which is neither athletic nor a club, but rather, an entertaining indoor-outdoor bar and late-night hang.”
The Rockaway pimento cheeseburger hasn’t only been enjoyed by University of South Carolina students and residents of the nearby Shandon and Rosewood neighborhoods. It’s also been a delicacy for dignitaries. In April 2005, President George W. Bush stopped into Rockaway in an unannounced visit during a trip to Columbia. The president had a pimento cheeseburger and bought some for members of the S.C. Congressional Delegation.
The original Rockaway building on Rosewood Drive was destroyed in a raging early morning fire back in March 2002. The tavern was rebuilt and opened again in early 2004.
