We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.  The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. 

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart ass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Myrtle Beach Life

Myrtle Beach Pavillion Spring 1949

The Myrtle Beach area – then known as Long Bay – was inhabited by the Waccamaw Indians before the Europeans arrived in the late 18th century.

In 1899, Burroughs and Collins received a charter to build the Conway and Seashore Railroad, which began service in 1900. Railroad workers spent their downtime at the beach, becoming the area’s first tourists. The beach area was then called “New Town” in contrast to the “Old Town” of Conway. 

In 1900, a contest was held to rename the town. In homage to the wax myrtle bushes that are so prominent here, Addie Burroughs, widow of Franklin G. Burroughs, offered the name Myrtle Beach. The name stuck, and Myrtle Beach became an official town in 1938. It became a city in 1957. 

The town grew gradually from a farming community into a beach destination. John T. Woodside’s construction of a golf course and the grand Ocean Forest Hotel were instrumental in developing the area’s tourism culture. The Ocean Forest Hotel was built in 1930 and covered 13 acres of oceanfront land, offering the first upscale accommodations in the Myrtle Beach area. 

From one hotel to hundreds of accommodations choices today, the Myrtle Beach area remains a tourist destination, attracting more than 14 million visitors each year.

www.familykingdomfun.com

Hurricane RollerCoaster Ride  

The Myrtle Beach Pavilion was an historic pay-per-ride park, no parking fee 11-acre amusement park that was located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the corner of 9th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard, which is just a few blocks down from another Myrtle Beach amusement park the Family Kingdom Amusement Park both in the "heart" of Myrtle Beach. "The Pavilion” had well over 40 different attractions from kids to thrill-seekers alike, and included the wooden rollercoaster Hurricane: Category 5. Despite all the best efforts made by citizens to save the park it was lost to redevelopment in 2007.

The actual history of the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park goes back long before the park ever came in existence. There have been several Pavilions were built in the decades prior to the Pavilion being built and all which were a product of Burroughs and Chapin who were one of the main companies responsible for the development of the Myrtle Beach area. Each of the Pavilions were built with a different architectural style and were even built of different materials, but all served a place where the community could gather for interaction and entertainment.

The first Pavilion that was built in 1908 was a one-story building that was part of Myrtle Beach's first hotel, the now long gone Seaside Inn. It was destroyed in 1920 by a fire, though the bricks from that site were later used in nearby Conway. The Pavilion was later rebuilt in 1925 as a two-story complex which was hit with another fire in 1943 which burned the building to the ground. It was rebuilt for a third time in 1948 and this Pavilion was built out of concrete and steel and had a large wooden dance floor which was located on the second floor along with a stage and grandstands.

The amusement park itself began development on the west side of Ocean Boulevard, across the street from the new Pavilion building in 1948. A traveling carnival that had stopped in Conway, SC for the annual Tobacco Festival, but soon found a permanent home across the street from the Pavilion and after the carnival signed an agreement with Burroughs and Chapin the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park was born. Numerous acts such as ice skaters, bear acts, and talent shows were immediately brought in to supplement the carnival and also to help boost interest in the new “park.”

In 1950, just two years after its opening, Burroughs and Chapin bought out the Central Amusement Company the owners of the park at the time and added 14 new rides to the park and also added new concessions to the park. Over the years, the park will add as well as and exchange numerous carnival-style flat rides, as well as suffering and fighting through several hurricanes.

Among its significant historical attractions were the Herschell-Sillman Carousel as well as the Baden Band Organ. The Carousel itself dates back to 1912, and include numerous types of animals such as: frogs, lions, ostriches, zebras, giraffes, and even dragons instead of using the classical horses. The only horse found on the carousel is the “lead horse." which was decorated in great detail and was located on the outside row of the ride. Even though the area has unfriendly weather and climatic condition near the beach, the carousel has been maintained well over the year and it still continues to operate to this day at Pavilion Nostalgia at Broadway At The Beach and is one of only 15 working Herschell-Spillman carousels in the country.

Baden Band Organ

The Baden Band Organ one of the parks other historical features was originally hand-built, decorated and crafted by Ruth and Sohn in Waldkirch Baden, Germany for display at the 1900 World Exposition in Paris. After the World Exposition the organ traveled all around Europe on a wagon and eventually landed at "The Pavilion." It had over 400 pipes, 98 keys, and was 20 feet wide, 11 feet high and 7 feet deep, making it a giant organ that also weighed two tons.

Beside the numerous carnival-style Flat rides and a variety of Kiddie rides normally found at Carnivals, fairs or amusement parks, there was a a log flume ride called Hydro: SURGE, which was a famous Haunted Hotel dark ride, and, more importantly, it was the home to six roller coasters during the Pavilions nearly 60 year life. The first rollercoaster was received in 1951 and was called Comet Jr, which was a pint sized wooden coaster that was built by National Amusement Devices Company that remained at the park until the late 1960s. The park also had a S.D.C. Galaxi model roller coaster at one point, which was simply called Galaxi that was removed from the park in 1997. One the smaller coaster front the park had a train-themed Mack family coaster called the Little Eagle that opened in in 1986. The Arrow Dynamics’ Mad Mouse wild mouse coaster opened in 1998 which replaced the Galaxi that was removed from the park a year earlier. After the closure of the park, both of these small coasters where moved to the NASCAR Speedpark in Myrtle Beach, SC.

In 1978, the park added its first major coaster, which was the steel looping Corkscrew, also built by Arrow Development, that had been relocated to The Pavilion from the Magic Harbor. The coaster featured a 70 foot drop, as well as double corkscrews along the rides 1,250 foot long course. 

Mad Mouse and Hurricane

After it was in operation for 31 years at the park it was closed and relocated to the Salitre Magico park in Columbia in order to make way for the parks new signature coaster, Hurricane: Category 5 (known as “Hurricane” for short) that was built by Custom Coasters International (CCI) at a total cost of $6 million. The “Hurricane” was a 3,800-foot long, hybrid-structure coaster that featured an out-and-back style layout that included 14 turns and double helices at each, a 100 foot drop, and a top speed of 55 mph. At the time of the parks closing in 2006, the "Hurricane" was scrapped, but the Gerstlauer trains ride was purchased by Kings Island to use on their modified Son of Beast coaster.

Just shortly before the start of the 2006 operation season, Burroughs and Chapin the owner of the Pavilion announced that the 2006 would be the park's final operating season. The park officially held its last public operating day on September 24, 2006, but held a special special “Last Ride” event for select participants on September 30. The announcement of the closure of the park lead to the park to see record profits as well as attendance, but there was no hope to try to save the park due to what the parks owners called to “financial instability.”

While both the Haunted Hotel and Hurricane roller coaster were demolished following closure of the parks, not all of The Pavilion was lost. The parks carousel along with the Baden Band Organ, and several other small parks were relocated to “mini-park,” called the Pavilion Nostalgia Park that is located at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC that opened in 2007. Even though the area where the Pavilion used to be still sits vacant, and several nearby business have been devastated by the loss, both the Pavilion Nostalgia Park and a commemorative historical marker will not allow The Pavilion’s memory and history to be lost.

The slogan for the Farewell Season was "One More Ride, One More Thrill, One More Memory, One Last Time.

  Myrtle Beach SkyWheel