Myrtle Beach Pavilion

Myrtle Beach Pavilion

For almost a century, the heart of Myrtle Beach was defined by a place simply called the Pavilion. From the original structure built in 1908, the Pavilion was the center of the resort town s growing tourism industry. It was a destination point for anyone coming to the Grand Strand. Here you could stroll the Boardwalk, play arcade games, make faces in fun mirrors, ride rides, dance the Carolina Shag, or sit on a bench and watch everyone else do all of the above. The Pavilion underwent several incarnations. The first ones were wooden and vulnerable, but the final was concrete and seemingly indestructible, standing for nearly 60 years. Hardly an architectural marvel, what the Pavilion lacked in grandeur, it made up for in pure old-fashioned fun. The beloved structure and its rides fell prey to economics and a wrecking ball in 2006." Title: New book showcases memories of Myrtle Beach s Pavilion Author: Rusty Ray Publisher: SCNow Date: 6/7/2010 When co-authors Janice McDonald and Lesta Sue Hardee got the green light to start a book project all about the old Myrtle Beach Pavilion and amusement park, they soon became consumed with the project, which was a labor of love. (The Pavilion) was such an integral part of Myrtle Beach, said Hardee on Monday. Without it, I feel like we d feel kind of lost. It s in the heart of everybody, she said. Everybody remembers the first time we rode the carousel, the first time we rode the Ferris Wheel, said McDonald. I was there every summer. If I had pictures of every memory, we would have had no problem finding photographs, she said. It still really wasn t a problem. Hardee and McDonald interviewed hundreds of people and collected a treasure trove of photographs chronicling the history of several pavilions built on the site at the intersection of 9th Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard. The Pavilion and the accompanying amusement park closed in 2006 after decades of entertaining summertime crowds of all ages. We knew the history, so we had to find the photographs that fit the history, said McDonald. I knew what it meant to me, but I really didn t realize what it meant to a lot of people, said Hardee. The book is published as part of the Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing, and is now available for sale wherever books are sold. The authors will have a book signing Monday night at Books-A-Million at Coastal Grand Mall, and on Tuesday at Books-A-Million at Inlet Square Mall in Murrells Inlet. Click the link below to watch the video! http: //tiny.cc/mbpavilion" Myrtle Beach natives Lesta Sue Hardee and Janice McDonald trace the origins of the Pavilion from its early days as a recreational site for guests of Myrtle Beach s first hotel, the Sea Side Inn, to its heyday as the location for beach activities on the East Coast, and finally to the Pavilion s Farewell Season.