Myrtle Beach Pavilion

Book excerpt: 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. 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. The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.