Historic Columbia country bar teases grand reopening under new ownership
Angie Cook was handed the keys to a World War II-era landmark in Lexington County this week. She hopes to revive it as a haven for the Columbia area’s country music lovers better than ever before.
If all goes to plan, local cowboys will be welcomed back to the previously longstanding Skyline Club, where line dancing and live country music will again be the emphasis.
The planned revival comes at a time when line dancers have been left with few options. The Vista’s Carolina Western Pub, then the area’s only remaining dedicated country bar, shut down in May.
But it seems the void will be filled by a club that longtime local country music lovers remember fondly.
The 14,000 square-foot Skyline Club, located at 100 Lee St. near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport holds relics of decades of country music revelry. Photos stacked on a countertop recall performances from country legends such as Blake Shelton and Brooks & Dunn.
The historic spot was known for decades for offering line dancing lessons and live country performances before closing in late 2023.
Cook plans to hold a grand reopening event on a Saturday in mid-August. Bands will play inside and out, and local community vendors will be invited to advertise their businesses.
“We’re just going to have a big party,” she said.
In complete darkness, with electricity not yet installed, the club looked frozen in time when Cook unlocked the door on Wednesday. Neon beer signs, half-empty liquor bottles and mounted game heads, their antlers adorned with glow stick necklaces, remain untouched.
Thousands of locals have recalled fond memories on Facebook since Cook began teasing the reopening, including one woman showing off a matching tattoo of the club’s coordinates that she shares with her best friend.
“This club has touched so many people,” Cook said Wednesday, standing on the porch with a good friend, who went on her first date with her now husband at Skyline nearly 30 years ago.
Cook is originally from Tennessee, so country music is in her roots, she said, but she’s been a Columbia resident for 38 years and has fond memories of the club.
Speaking to her approach with getting the club back up and running, she said that while “you have to keep the original Skyline the original Skyline,” she also has bold plans to expand and hopefully draw more people in from far beyond Columbia.
She wants to add a restaurant component and an in-house cowboy boots store. Where that store will go is still being decided, but vendors Arriat and Corral have been chosen to be on sale.
Cook has a menu for the planned “Chuckwagon Trail Restaurant,” working with a North Carolina crew that will roast their meat and make their own butter. The club will be a place for people landing in Columbia at the nearby airport to experience their first taste of the city, she said.
Cook intends to keep most of the club’s key features after a previous owner did a full renovation. The iconic grand line dancing floor, popping as loud as ever, will remain the focus, she added.
She said she values the longtime memories held in the space and has asked Facebook users to share their stories and photos from days gone by. She plans to put them into a “generational mural” by the line dance floor. That post has received over 500 responses.
The VIP area built in place of the original front stage is the only thing she plans to remove.
“This is not a VIP club,” Cook said. “The thing about Skyline was it didn’t matter how much money you had or didn’t have. When you come in and you pay your money to get in this place, we’re all the same.”
Live music will be another focus, she said. The bands, some of which are already booked, will range from Columbia locals to country acts from Nashville, Arkansas, even Ohio. It’s important to her that Skyline has “a new sound.”
Her plan is to relocate the main stage, which had since been moved to the right side, back in sight of the front door. People online have been “screaming about wanting that old stage back,” Cook said.
“I remember when I used to come in here in my younger days,” Cook said, “When I hit [the front entrance], seeing that band on that stage was the greatest part of the night because of that anticipation as you stood in line.”
As she readies the club for its August re-launch, she’s making her ambitions clear.
“Let’s show the next generation why this place is ready to shine again,” Cook said on Facebook.
This story was originally published July 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
