Talking Business: Carini's to take downtown hiatus

By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer | Wednesday, October 05, 2005

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Carini's Italian Food, perhaps the oldest Italian restaurant in the Rapid City area, is closing its doors — for a while, anyway — owner Keith Brink confirmed.

But in the meantime, he said, Carini's Italian menu items will migrate to the Gas Light in Rockerville. Brink and Steve Zwetzig are partners in the Gas Light, which is primarily a steakhouse.

What happened? Brink said ownership of the Carini's building at 324 St. Joseph St. has been up in the air. He said that it has been sold and that Carini's was losing its lease. Then, the sale fell through, and the building went back on the market.

With the real-estate market uncertainty, Brink said he decided to move. He hasn't been able to find the right location. He's still looking, however, and he hopes to reopen somewhere in the Rapid City.

Carini's is a family-style Italian restaurant featuring lasagna, pastas, stromboli, pizza and weekday noon buffets. It started out in Black Hawk 15 years ago and moved to downtown Rapid City more than a decade ago.

If you want to dine at the St. Joseph Street Carini's, you'd better get down there. Keith said the last day will be Oct. 22.

Big Thunder gets big exposure

Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone could be getting national exposure in January. It's expected to be part of a History Channel show, tentatively titled "Tunnels."

The tourist attraction owned by the McClain family of Keystone, recently provided tools, mining equipment and the underground location for a segment of the History Channel's "Tool Box" series.

The program will feature the historic tools and methods for digging tunnels used for mining and transportation. Dale Baity, Black Hills historian, was interviewed for the program and demonstrated the equipment during a day of taping on Sept. 14.

Hugo Soskin flew from New York to produce this segment for the History Channel, Baity said. Otherwise, it was a local project. Linn Productions shot the footage. Karen Boland supplied items such as the safety lamp and the antique bird cage used in the shoot. The Big Thunder Company Store served lunch for the crew. Old Fashioned Fudge of Keystone provided fudge and sweets. Pet Paradise loaned them a canary.

Miners kept canaries in the mines to warn them of deadly gases. A dead canary meant it was time to get out.

No plans for Omaha, not yet

A reader asked me last week to find out what is going in at the corner of La Crosse and Omaha streets, where the Stables Motel used to be.

I got a hold of Mark Mollers, the former partner in nearby Rapid Motors. He owns the tract of land along Omaha between Racine and La Crosse streets.

Mollers said he doesn't have immediate plans for the property.

He said he just wants to clear the buildings for now.

The Stables Motel, as I reported earlier, has been moved to Kyle. Kathy Stover and Rusty Puckett are turning it into Medicine Root Motel & Campground. The house is for sale.

Chimney Canyon has new home

Chimney Canyon 4X4, a business that specializes in parts, accessories and service for four-wheel-drive vehicles, has moved to a new location.

The new address is 747 Deadwood Ave. "We gained quite a bit of space," Charley Rupp said. He and his wife, Barb Rupp, own Chimney Canyon.

They started the business seven years ago on West Main Street. At the time, Charley said, they were living on Chimney Canyon Road near Piedmont. That's where they got the name.

In recent years, Chimney Canyon 4X4 has been on Sturgis Road.

The shop sells and installs a variety of parts and accessories for four-wheel-drive vehicles. On the maintenance-and-repair side, Rupp primarily works on transmissions, suspension systems, transfer case and differential gears and other four-wheel-drive system.

For more information, call 737-3199.

MarketPlace shows new site in Custer

MainStreet MarketPlace, at 529 Mt. Rushmore Road in Custer, hopes to show off its new digs during a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Thursday, Oct. 6, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The new venue will be open to the public several Thursday evenings in October and November to give the public and prospective tenants a chance to see the facilities, organizers said.

Housed in the former True Value hardware store building, MainStreet MarketPlace has 5,400 square feet of retail space and will be a year-round shopping destination. It will include six store fronts and "The Market," an open floor concept with permanent kiosks and temporary peddler carts.

For more information, check www.mainstreetmarketpl.com or call 673-1385.

Razed house was once home to guitar teacher

After last week's column, when I wrote about the houses torn down at Fifth and Kansas City streets, I've heard from a few people who said they remembered folks taking guitar lessons in one of the houses.

One reader, Dianne Dailey, even remembered the teacher's name: Jack DeCory.

"I read with interest your column this morning about the houses on Fifth Street being razed," she wrote. "It took me back to the early '60s when my husband took guitar lessons from a very talented musician, Jack DeCory. He lived and gave the guitar lessons in the small house nearest the alley."

She believes her husband took the lessons sometime in the 1958 to 1963 range. They moved to the East Coast and lost touch with Jack. "He taught my husband well, I might add," she said.

"I had thought of him often over the years when I passed that house," she wrote.

Phone is working now

On the subject of last week's column, Heidi Critser had a bit of a phone snafu. She's the owner of the new Barkin' Buddies Mobile Dog Grooming. However, when the column came out in the paper, her business line had not been hooked up yet. It's working now, she said, and the number is 343-0067.

Talking Business appears Thursdays in the Journal. Contact Dan Daly by telephone (394-8421), by fax (394-8463) or by e-mail (dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com).