Hunter-Gatherer's last stand

George Fetner and wife, Laura, as Marty Dunn tends bar on Fridayt night at Hunter-Gatherer in Columbia, SC. Photos by Sean Rayford

George Fetner and his wife, Laura, had their first date at Hunter-Gatherer on Main St.

On the final Friday night of 2024— and the final Friday night for this Hunter-Gatherer, the couple were among the first to take their seats in the former firehouse. They came early to get the corner seats at the bar. The same ones they occupied on that first date.

Opened in 1995, Hunter-Gatherer was where you went to explore beer in town before anybody else was exploring beer. It was where you went for dates, birthdays, graduations, solo dinners, bar nights, debates about life and theory — and late night jazz and loud rock. In what seems to be a continuing trend in town, December 28 and 29 marked the end of an era for the block sandwiched between the University and the statehouse.

My college suite-mate, Myers Truluck, who came with his family on Saturday night, remembers a sign in the early days about HG not serving Bud Light.

“I don’t like change,” laments Myers.