OT: Myrtle Beach - January 1963 photo
- Thread starter Thigh Man
- Start date
MB is a totally different type of beach than anything in SC or GA. There is nothing like Pawleys Island in the USA. You have to go to Daytona to the South or Ocean City to the North. Maybe there is a comparison around Norfolk. MB is not a neighborhood beach like Hilton Head or St Simons. There are little beach house beaches up and down the east coast. The ones you mentioned are part of the Grand Stran and part of MB.
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
The fact that MB is no longer a neighborhood beach is what has turned me away from it and why I prefer any beach along points south of Pawleys on our coast.
Kiawah and Edisto that I mentioned aren't part of MB.
As a then resident of Georgetown I spent many times at Pawleys and Myrtle Beach. Back in the late 50’s and early 60’s there was nothing unusual about hitch hiking back and forth from Georgetown.
Also several of my friends families had beach houses, so Beach transportation was usually easily attainable.
Pawleys was most favorite. On Sunday’s we always roamed the Island looking for girls’ house parties. Once we found one, we knew where the majority of our time would be for that week. Lotsa fun. Especially when there was still a Pawleys Pavilion.
And there was that fateful night of Easter 1960 when we accidently drove a car into the Pawleys Creek. But that’s another story.
And also Myrtle Beach was not without its rewards.
Also several of my friends families had beach houses, so Beach transportation was usually easily attainable.
Pawleys was most favorite. On Sunday’s we always roamed the Island looking for girls’ house parties. Once we found one, we knew where the majority of our time would be for that week. Lotsa fun. Especially when there was still a Pawleys Pavilion.
And there was that fateful night of Easter 1960 when we accidently drove a car into the Pawleys Creek. But that’s another story.
And also Myrtle Beach was not without its rewards.
The thing I like best about Myrtle beach is all the people from Ohio that vacation there.
MB has not been a neighborhood beach since the 40’s. Heck, maybe the 30’s. What I think you intended to say is that YOU do not like the Coney Island, Atlantic Beach type of beaches. MB included. Their are millions of people who go there because they like it, I have to assume. Very few of them think it an eye sore or a substandard vacation spot. You sound like you prefer the quiet of a Pawleys or Litchfield . That is fine. I understand why and I prefer that as well. I lived at Pawleys for a while; long enough to know how unique it is. Don’t let the wonder of the other SC beaches fool you. Very few states have great beaches as we do. Comparing MB to other SC beaches is apples and oranges. There is only one MB type beach between Florida and Virginia. SC has a beach for every taste. Because you don’t like the MB type of beach does not make it a bad beach. It only make you seem a little less informed, a little less traveled and a little shallow in your thinking process.
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I have to know you. I worked at the Pawleys Pavilion. Met lots of great Gtown people.
I will admit that I have not spent much time on the beaches at HH, but I have to go there often, running claims and I can tell you, its much worse than Myrtle Beach in terms of traffic. I HATE driving down there. You can have all of that sardine can of humanity all day long....
Amen.
My wife loves HH so we go a couple times a year (just up road) but I'd rather fill up a plastic pool with water and sit half naked in my front yard for all the neighbors to see rather than drive onto the Island.
The toll road makes it a little better, but it can be a teeth grinding exercise in me wanting to turn my car into a weapon and rid the world of a few Ohio registered vehicles before we get to that point. I can't imagine working on that island.
USCBatgirl21
Well-Known Member
I have been vacationing at NMB, 17th Ave S, since I was a baby. I'm well informed as to what it was like, and my grandparents had a place in Cherry Grove too. It was very much a neighborhood beach in the 70s and 80s before they started tearing down all the ocean front houses, and small, no higher than 3 stories, condo buildings, to throw up the 17 floor high rises ocean front and 1st row. My friends and I walked to the arcade (where Molly Darcy's is now) daily to play hours upon hours of skee ball. We also walked up to the little put-put course next to the arcade/skating rink at 17th and Haven Drive. We'd walk to get ice cream at the little stand that was where the Condo Lux office is now. Now I get nervous letting my son walk from our chairs to the steps to our place. I watched them build the high rise next to our condo complex in the early 90s, along with many others along the ocean front from the old NMB pier (Hugo took it in 1989) all the way up to and past the Cherry Grove pier.
MB still had a quaintness about it in the 70s, 80s and very early 90s that it has lost. The old Pavillion, the old amusement park, walking and shopping in the stores on the Boulevard, the Bowery. It's lost that thanks to the over-crowding. It's just not enjoyable during season now.
Yes, our actual beaches are wonderful in SC. Too bad it's gotten to the point that you can't even enjoy a day at the northern SC beaches anymore because you're tripping over people with every step.
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Sometimes it helps if you try to look for the sunny side of things. They ALWAYS pay their rent on time.
Wonder what year they built the Ocean Forest Hotel. It was about 15 stories wasn’t it? I didn’t see one of those on Pawleys or Folly , heck, even HH. Yes, MB has grown and changed just like Anywhere USA. It has grown into what the local people wanted, an Atlantic City type of beach. I don’t see any Skeeball ally’s or putt putt courses or Bowerys on Litchfield or Edisto etc. You were enjoying the carnival, big beach atmosphere and I guess didn’t realize it. I grew up in Atlanta then moved to Greenville. Can you believe Greenville population today is the same as Atlanta in the 70’s? Think about that. American has changed a bunch. Did you expect a city beach not to change?
Myrtle Beach was a “ City “ beach from WWII on. Hurricane Hazel almost blew it away, and you were there to watch it rebuild during the 70’s and 80’s. MB had as many tall buildings as Columbia, Charleston and Greenville, in the 50’s. It’s a city beach and you don’t like it. I understand.
MB is a Beach City. Columbia is the seat of government. Charleston is a port city and Greenville a manufacturing city. We have a quiet beach when we want one and a city beach to chose too.
My family bought a beach house in Garden City 1957, which we all still enjoy. I lived on the Grand Strand summers during my teen years working in a restaurant through the mid 60's / early 70's. As a traveling sales rep, I cover the coast (& beach towns) from NJ to Miami. Myrtle Beach is very similar to Virginia Beach & Daytona Beach, where people enjoy a crowded beach scene. I enjoy that myself from time to time, walking up & down the beach "people watching". Like millions of others, I like quieter beach scenes too, and one can choose from a variety of scenarios all up & down the SC coast, not to mention the entire East Coast. Is one place better (or worse) than the others? Depends on the individual. My daughters live on Folly / James Island - it's a great scene, even when packed out on the weekend. I also have family from Ocracoke (on the Outer Banks), where you can really get away from it all. I'm headed to Hunting Island State Park out from Beaufort SC soon to explore a really isolated beach, and yes, Garden City still holds it's allure, as some times it's crowded, but often is completely empty. My point - there's a beach for you, some busy & crazy, others real getaways, and you don't always have to spend a fortune to go appreciate them. Have at it .
I remember the old pavilion and the new pavilion which are long gone. In the early 50s there was a public access to the beach right beside the pavilion. Just north of that the beach front single family houses began.US 17-Business (Kings Highway) heading north around 64th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach
It was a great beach town at the time.
It’s all gone with the wind.
I've had some WONDERFUL times at St. Simons Island!! Been to several annual weekend get togethers for banks, restaurants, etc., and setup display for my company.
Met some wonderful people and opened quite a few "look-out" agreements for each other in regards to upcoming opportunities, etc.
St. Simons has ALWAYS been a very successful endeavor on our part; St. Simons, Charleston a few times and even Hilton Head - and then of course there were those "get togethers" in Nashville, Jekyll and Tybee Island, etc, etc.!
Here I am at 52 years of age just "lookin' back" at a few of my very own good ol' days!!!
I'll leave it at that, and suffice it to say that I was very, VERY FORTUNATE to have been able to participate in those meetings and "get togethers"!!
I'm outta here now!!
O&O,
Gaim
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Back in my sportin days mid-60s went in the Bowery and caught a heavy ass beer mug right in the top of the head. Guy hauled ass. My buddy drove me to the hospital and I had a $5 bill and a $1 bill in my wallet. I walked in the hospital and told the doc up front I wanted $6 of his best treatment. He laughed and said I'll give you two stitches - but I'll spread them out some. Good old days, my ass!
I grew up in NMB and moved to Columbia in 1982 - The beach may have issues but nothing is worse than Columbia and the surrounding area. Richland County is the cesspool of the state.
I love the military billboard, I believe it says, "All Man...All Army"...man!...how times have changed.
Hello Sir! How are ya?!?? Hope all is well. Any new info on your end? I've been assisting in regards to permitting for several site alterations in regards to their newer "branding concepts" w/ Wendy's, McD's, Bojangle's, Domino's and even a somewhat newer one that seems to be taking off big-time here in central NC, it's called "Biscuitville", and if it continues to progress, everyone here will see it popping up! It's actually pretty good - a nice break from burgers, pizza, taco's and fried chicken!!
Any word as to how things are progressing in regards to the merger you and I discussed? Just curious!
Gaim
64th Ave. North is more developed obviously now than then, but Kings Hwy. is still mainly residential along this stretch until you get to 67th Ave. North.
Awesome pic OP. Love seeing those old shots. They predate me, but I love to think about my parents and grandparents riding along those streets way back when.
LOVE reading these posts from all with many divergent opinions on beaches and other remembrances. We really are blessed to live in and experience such a wonderful state. Really is something for every taste along our coast.
I could go for some peel n' eat shrimp and a cold beer from Duffy St Seafood Shack in N. Myrtle.
Edisto today looks a lot like Fripp Island did in the 70s. While Fripp has no high-rises, they have far too many McMansions to suit me.
I stay away from the Grand Strand during the summertime. I visit in the fall.
Golf. That's about the only thing that appealed to me in regards to "Ho-Ree" county - and that was back in the late 90's!!!
