Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I guess you could say PMJ has a gimmick, but it's a pretty good one, and expertly executed. They brought their retro stylings of modern tunes to Myrtle Beach Easter Weekend, and it was a fun way to start off the holiday.

The only thing I don't like about the House Of Blues as a venue, is the lack of seats, so I sprung a bit extra to get a table stool this time around. Still not exactly comfortable, but better than being on my feet for two hours. There were times when the house sound was a bit mushy, but the band was sharp, the singers delivered the goods, and the tap-dancer was unbelievably energetic -- I recommend you catch them next time around.

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I was somewhat suprised when I ate at Abuelo's at Coastal Grand Mall over the holidays to see that Sears was closing. Well, not that it was closing, but that it had still been open. In more halcyon days, I visited this branch many times before it moved from the demolished Myrtle Square for various Kenmore parts and other items that were light on the ground in the south strand in the days before Wal-Mart and big boxes.

Since it moved to the new Coastal Grand mall, I think I was only in once or twice, and never since the big drop-off started for the chain.

The Sun News has the story, along with an update that is even more dire than I had expected:

There are now less than 100 Kmart and Sears stores in the U.S., Forbes said earlier this year.

Wow!

I'm not sure what the final date is, but according to their Facebook page they were still open as of 8 January.

I enjoy goofy tourist attractions (one reason I like Florida so much) and had been marginally aware of Snake River over the years but it was too far North to be a mini-golf destination for us, and I had never stopped by. Last time I was in the area, I noticed it had shut down, and got these pictures.

Judging by the Google reviews, this place was already on its last legs when it closed sometime around last August and the course as decribed doesn't actually sound much different from the state I found it in! Interestingly, none of the reviews I saw mentioned anything about the gem & fossil mining side of the attraction.

There is more to the course, but while I was walking around, I noticed a car parked in the main building area, and decided to not go over there.

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Burro Loco is a restaurant that has always interested me, because it seemed like it should be good, but never was. I have long had this place on an informal timeline where I would stop by about every five years to see if it was there yet, and it was due probably this year, but now it looks as though I will not get the opportunity.

The closing message on the restaurant site is pretty bland and noncommital (though it is nice that the staff were relocated). The Sun News essentially printed the same press release with no further information.

I find several things a bit curious however. First, there is no signage at the restaurant itself. Not your typical Closed for Renovations much less a more informative See us this fall! or whatever. Second, there is no indication at all that any work whatsoever has taken place here, despite four months having passed, and third, the door marquee indicates they were open until 10pm 7 days, not the 11pm weekend closing I would expect for a bar based hot-spot. I'm moved to suspect that the chain acted to stop the bleeding, but doesn't yet really have an idea what to do with the place. We'll see, and I hope I'm wrong as I would like to see this place finally get good.

UPDATE 7 December 2018: The Sun News reports the building is for sale.

I noticed this article in The Sun News while I was last at the beach:

The Hurl Rock Motel has been temporarily closed by the City of Myrtle Beach for elevator repairs and other safety issues.

Two notices taped to the front window of the motel at 2010 South Ocean Boulevard also said there was “no standpipe,” -- the pipe to which fire hoses are connected.

So I thought I would get some pictures, especially since there have been several legacy hotel demolitions in Myrtle Beach that I have missed. I've never stayed at the Hurl Rock, but I have fond associations with the name because a) It's a neat name & b) There used to be a Hurl Rock ocean-front putt-putt course further north on Ocean Boulevard (if I recall correctly, it's been gone for decades) where we played a time or two, and of which I have fond memories.

This particular building is not as old or quirky as some of the other vintage motels, but it does have one unexpected feature -- an overflow parking lot across the street behind the main building with its own anchor building, which appears to be an old house, and probably serves as some sort of office or maintenance shed. I do hope they get their issues resolved, but the article mentions that they have been rather longstanding, so we will see..

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WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

"Last Ride" at the Myrtle Beach Pavilion

Speaking of Myrtle Beach megastructures, one of the most iconic was knocked down last fall: The Hard Rock Cafe pyramid at Broadway At The Beach.

There are tons of articles about this online. Here's one about time time capsule, here's one about the final days, and here's one about the demolition. I've seen it claimed in more than one of them that nothing was wrong with the pyramid, but you have to wonder: to abandon such a well known landmark just seems odd if there were no pressing issue.

In the event, I only ate there once, probably a year or so after it opened, and to be frank, I remember very little about it -- just that I thought it was overpriced for a pretty standard burger given that sitting close to Joan Jett's pants or whatever didn't do much for me. Sort of like Planet Hollywood in that respect I guess.

The new location a few doors down opened on 7 October 2016, but I have not seen it yet.

While not one of the coast's great storms, Hurricane Matthew did damage enough. Our yard was under several feet of water apparently, though nothing was damaged aside from a trash caddy floating away. Other places, apparently at random, got it worse. One of the was Myrtle Beach's Palace Theater at Broadway at the Beach.

I never went to the Palace, thought I thought I was one time. Somehow or other, I convinced myself that this big theater must be the House of Blues, and that's where I headed when I had a ticket for the 1996 Beach Boys appearance there (Carl Wilson's last tour). In the event, when I got there I saw the name obviously did not match, and had to drive a further 10 miles or so. Fortunately I was running early.

I also ended up on their email list somehow, possibly from seeing a show at the other big theater in North Myrtle Beach, so I would get all the notices about the Christmas shows with the Rockettes.

I guessing that business must have been off from the peak years, otherwise they would have repaired and gone on (I do wonder about insurance, you would expect them to have it, at least for wind, and flood was not an issue here..), but that was not to be, as The Sun News recently reported.

The previous year or so has not been kind to big structures in Myrtle Beach.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)
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Well now, despite my taste in music, I'm probably the last person in the world to walk into a surf shop. So when I noticed that WallerBears in Myrtle Beach was closed (sometime after 18 June 2016 according to blog), it was not because I regretted missing the chance to freshen up my water wardrobe, but because I missed the sign, which impressed me enough several years ago that I took quite a few pictures of it:

Planet Hollywood in Myrtle Beach was always an interesting building to drive by. I thought it looked a bit like an elephant "hoovering up" (as our Brit friends might say) customers from the parking lot through that trunk-like canopy and into the elephant's head. There also seem to be some scary teeth involved.

In the event, though I drove by many times, I only ate at Planet Hollywood once. I'm guessing it was back in the 90s, and I had an unobjectionable, but completely unexceptional hamburger. I have heard in recent years rumors that the place was in financial trouble, and I can only guess that people wised up to the fact that a burger's proximity to Bruce Willis's tennis shoes or whatever does not make it worth $15 -- the place limped through the 2015 Labor Day weekend and threw in the towel on the following Tuesday.

The night pictures above were taken on 3 May 2012, while the post-closing pictures below are from 3 October 2015, a gray day coming just before the bottom dropped out on 4 October (though it was not anywhere near as bad on the Waccamaw Neck as in Columbia). I find it interesting that while they did not spend a lot of effort destroying the celebrity handprints around the building, they *did* spend considerable time defacing the nameplates that would have told whose hands they were. (Though they did miss a few).

(Hat tip to my sister)

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