Scott & Duncan MacRae at Yesterdays Columbia S.C.

Darrell Barnes, Scotty and Duncan MacRae at Yesterdays, Columbia, South Carolina





Duncan and Scott MacRae, from Lancaster, Pa., worked at Mack & Manco's on the Boardwalk in Ocean City (NJ), where I first met them. Duncan had worked there in the early 60s before I came along, and was a USMC helicopter pilot in Vietnam. After he got out of the service he got his old job back making pizzas, and his younger brother Scotty came in to work as a waiter.

One rainy Sunday afternoon when there was nobody on the boardwalk Duncan made three pizzas, and when we got done the 12-4pm shift he said "Let's go!" We got in his little sports car (a Corvette I think), and he drove us over the causeway to Bay Shores, where he parked right next to the front door. He instructed me to give the doorman one of the pizzas and that got us in the door. The next pizza went to the bartender at the first bar, Buddy Tweill, and the third pie went to the band, Malcolm and Hereafter (or was it the Bonnivilles?). Malcom were also from Lancaster, and a few of the band members were from West Virgina area.

I was only 17 and the drinking age was 21 but it didn't seem to matter to anyone. Buddy served me a long neck bottle of bud. It had to be around summer of 1967-68.

A few years later Joe Trechek and his wife Barbera Corneglia hired Scotty as a bartender at the Anchorage Tavern in Somers Point, while Duncan worked as a cook in the kitchen at the Crab Trap.

Then around 1976 Scott and Duncan and their friend Darrell moved to Columbia, S.C. to open their own place, Yesterdays, with a nostalgic down home Americana motif.

The next winter Brian O'Keeny and myself stopped by Columbia to visit them on the return leg of our first of our three cross-country expeditions, and found them expanding Yesterdays from a small corner joint to a larger place. The following year they had taken over the whole block. Although a hard core Scotsman, Duncan started the first Columbia St. Patrick's Day Parade, which ended at their bar at Five Points.

Hootie & the Blowfish were a local band who often hung out at Yesterdays, and Prince of Tides author Pat Conroy visits a special booth reserved for writers, and his younger brother worked there as a bartender.

Once when I visited my Ocean City neighbor Gay Talese he mentioned that his wife Nan, an editor and publisher, had wonderful writer, Pat Conroy, who included Yesterdays as a setting in his book. When the protagonist of Tides is called in to play for an injured starter in a Gamecocks football game, he scores a few touchdowns to win the game, and to celebrate, has dinner with his parents and girlfriend at Yesterdays. While the book is fiction, Yesterdays is not.

Yesterdays, Columbia, South Carolina http://www.yesterdayssc.com/history.php

A colorful past. A tasty future.

Experience Yesterdays’ hospitality and it will come as no surprise that the restaurant was born of friendship.

In 1976, 20-somethings Duncan MacRae, Scottie MacRae and Darrell Barnes set out to create a restaurant concept that was unmistakably their own. Rather than settling for the usual Italian, French or Chinese faire so popular at that time, the trio decided to open a made-from-scratch American restaurant, featuring regional classics from around the country.

Significant in the restaurant’s design is an onsite prep kitchen, in contrast to the microwave-crazed chains with whom they would be competing. “From the beginning, we’ve done everything from scratch, starting with what is fresh and in season,” said Darrell. “It’s always been that way.”

Each day begins with a selection of farmer’s market vegetables, to which the freshest chicken, beef and seafood are added. The menu has grown significantly since the early days and now offers a wide variety of international dishes and southern favorites. However, many patrons routinely order from the daily specials menu which features a changing selection based on seasonal availability.

Also of interest is Yesterdays location. The three of them made a trip to Columbia, South Carolina in 1976 and drove by the unusual flatiron building that housed Lombardi’s restaurant. They thought the building would make a great location for their new venture, located close to both the University of South Carolina and many state government offices. After seeing an ad in the paper the next day for a restaurant for sale, Duncan called the number and the person answered “Lombardi’s.”

The area surrounding the restaurant, called Five Points, was struggling, but the partners believed in the location and their concept. They bought the building, moved to Columbia and Yesterdays was born. Today, the restaurant remains in the unusual “flatiron” shaped building and serves as the hub of Five Points, now a landmark of shopping, dining and entertainment.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years,” said Duncan. “We’ve grown up right along with this restaurant—as have many of our regulars and employees.”

Then he laughed, “If we’d known we’d last this long, we’d a partied less!”