The site of a longtime Five Points bar could find new life as an Asian restaurant called Chicken Boom and Luna Kitchen.
The Shotgun property at 724 Harden Street has been home to a number of college-oriented establishments over the years, most recently the Horseshoe Bar.
Perhaps most notoriously, it was also the site of the former Jungle Jim’s Bar, the last place Dail Dinwiddie was seen before her alleged kidnapping in 1992. When it was still Jungle Jim’s, there was also a Chinese restaurant on the property.
The Horseshoe closed in 2019 as part of a series of bar closures led by local resident and state Senator Dick Harpootlian. During that period, at least half a dozen college bars closed, partly out of concern that they were serving underage patrons and partly due to complaints from older neighbors.
The Horseshoe property has since sat derelict and unused. Currently, at least two pigeons have made their home in the broken Horseshoe bar sign above the ceiling.
But restaurateur Yu Sing Tam hopes to breathe new life into the space by opening an Asian restaurant at the site, according to an application submitted to the City of Columbia’s Zoning Board of Appeals.
A banner reading “Chicken Boom and Luna Kitchen” already hangs at the rear of the property, and work is currently underway inside.
The restaurant hopes to serve alcohol until 2 a.m. seven days a week, in addition to offering food such as chicken lettuce wraps, laksa noodles, fried rice and more, according to a menu attached to the application.
Attempts to reach Tam were unsuccessful at the time of publication. It is unclear if the applicant is the same Yu Sing Tam who operated the bar Jungle Jim’s and who was fined in the past for serving underage patrons, according to the South Carolina Administrative Law Court.
In his zoning application for Chicken Boom and Luna Kitchen, Tam wrote that Five Points has lost many college bars in recent years and that this restaurant will serve alcohol to fill a void.
The eatery’s floor plan shows space for nearly two dozen tables filling the entire building. In the past, the building housed both a bar and a Chinese restaurant, but according to the city’s application, this business would be exclusively a restaurant that also serves alcohol.
The Columbia Board of Zoning Appeals will consider Tam’s application at a meeting on Thursday.
