Pavilion Falls Away

Pavilion falls away

Remaining rides next to go

By Jenny Burns

The Sun News

Rubble is all that is left of the primary Pavilion building at Ninth Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard.

TOM MURRAY/The Sun News

Rubble is all that is left of the primary Pavilion building at Ninth Avenue North and Ocean Boulevard.

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The landmark oceanfront Pavilion building - long a destination for shaggers, concert-goers, tourists and locals - is a pile of rubble eerily offering a view of the ocean waves behind it.

Only the Hurricane roller coaster and a few smaller rides still stand on the west side of Ocean Boulevard at The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park.

Snowbird Vernon Gibbs, 50, walked around the site Wednesday afternoon snapping photos of the coaster before it's gone too.

He said he's never been on the ride but wanted pictures to remember the famed park.

"Progress is a good thing. But the way they're tearing stuff down and building up is going to take away from the mystique of Myrtle Beach," Gibbs said. "It's going to take a lot away from downtown."

Park owner Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. announced last spring that this would be the park's last season, saying the old amusement park was no longer profitable.

The company hasn't announced what will go in its place, except that it will likely be a mix of residences, stores, restaurants and something that will "wow" people.

The few drivers and walkers passing by on this cold January day seemed unsettled as they remembered the 58-year-old building that once rested here, housing The Attic dance club and an arcade.

By summer, the rides will be gone - no hint of 50 years of thrills left behind.

Demolition of the remaining rides west of Ocean Boulevard will start next week, said Pat Dowling, spokesman for Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc.

The Baden Band Organ and Carousel will be moved to other sites during demolition, Dowling said.

"It has been difficult for the company and its shareholders, and for some members of the public, to see the old park come down, but at the same time we are hopeful and excited about the future," Dowling said.

The 11-acre site presents challenges and the company wants to be sure they don't duplicate offerings at other properties, he said.

B&C wants the new site to be a year-round attraction - but it stresses that an important part of that goal is city commitment to a $10 million, mile-long oceanfront boardwalk and parking and traffic improvements.

As locals and visitors wonder how downtown will reinvent itself, this year's Myrtle Beach tourists will walk by a fenced-in grass area instead of the park and oceanfront building they've come to know.

It will likely be 2008 before new life and new construction fill in this famed spot.

Contact JENNY BURNS at 626-0305 or jeburns@thesunnews.com.