Night Clubs were once staples of Broadway at the Beach and Myrtle Beach. What happened?

At one time in Myrtle Beach history, going out to dance the night away was a tradition for young adults in the area. Whether along downtown or at Broadway at the Beach, residents and visitors had a plethora of options to choose from.

Jeff Usher grew up in Myrtle Beach, graduating from Coastal Carolina University, and he said club hopping was a daily, summertime routine during the 1980s. His club of choice was The Afterdeck, which once sat along the Intracoastal Water but is now closed.

“Growing up here at the beach, a lot of us worked at restaurants. So you know, we did all the work at the restaurant and say 10 o’clock at night, run home, grab a shower, and head out and usually start hitting the nightclubs, and we would jump around,” He said. “Basically, stay club hopping until about two o’clock in the morning and usually have some kind of late-night snack food, and then go home.”

Usher, who moved to Florida in the late 90s but helps run the family-operated Darlington Inn & Cottages at 203 N Ocean Blvd., said some of his favorite memories from that time were seeing Hootie & the Blowfish, Chairman of the Board and other bands play live music.

While many former hot spots have closed in recent years, residents still reminisce about them. Facebook users post about the nightclubs they miss, some dedicate a group to the now-defunct Xanadu. Usher added the downtown area has changed dramatically since when he first left.

“It’s a different atmosphere now, and maybe I understand some of it that,” he said. “They did away with some of the stuff that was family attractions, and I think that’s maybe why downtown Myrtle Beach has kind of kind of seedy ... it’s simply not, not the Myrtle Beach I grew up in.”

Given the sentiment, here are some of the resident’s favorite nightclubs and why they closed.

Why did popular Myrtle Beach nightclubs close?

At one time, Broadway at the Beach was home to several clubs. Names like Oz the Experience, Malibu’s Surf Club, Revolutions, Froggy Bottomz, Club Boca and Broadway Louie’s were staples of the retail center. Additionally, Club Kryptonite sat next to Broadway at the Beach.

But all these historic spots are now closed. In 2009, Club Kryptonite, the current location of Legends in Concert, closed in Nov. 2009 after Burroughs & Chapin served the club owners an eviction notice for unpaid rent, The Sun News reported at the time. The 21,000-square-foot club struggled during the Great Recession, and interest had declined before its closure, The Sun News reported at the time.

Revolutions, a 70s-themed nightclub that opened when Broadway at the Beach opened in 1995, shuttered in 2015. It closed in parts because Broadway at the Beach underwent renovations, turning Celebrity Circle into The Avenue, The Sun News reported in 2018.

Several other nightclubs closed their doors partly due to the changes, as Froggy Bottomz and Club Boca also ceased operations. Broadway Louie’s followed them soon after, as the sport and karaoke bar closed in 2018.

Oz the Experience and Malibu’s Surf Club, another founding night club of Broadway at the Beach known for the massive shark on one of its inside walls, closed as well in 2020. Both shut down due to the Pandemic and never re-opened.

Other Myrtle Beach establishments closed for different reasons. Studebaker’s, a well-known Shag Dancing spot, shut down in 2010 due to the economic slowdown following the Great Recession.

William Greene began shag dancing when he was 11 after watching videotapes of other kids dancing at Studebaker’s.

“I’ve been dancing my whole life,” he said in an interview with The Sun News. “I believe that everybody’s given something in life, and I was just given that ability to dance because I can’t play football.”

At 12, Greene competed in his first National Shag Dance Championships at the club, now a three-time winner, and he remembers the neon signs, the large dance floor, people cheering the dancers on from the upstairs area and the 1950s soda shop atmosphere of the club.

“As a kid, even though you’re watching it on a VHS tape, and you’re seeing it on TV, and you think these people are celebrities,” Greene said. “You’d look at that, and you’re like, ‘Man, I hope someday I can go there, and I hope I can meet these people.’ When you go there, it’s even bigger than you could imagine as a kid.”

Greene, whose favorite competition memory was winning his first title in 1991, added Studebaker’s is synonymous with nationals despite being closed.

“When they stopped doing the Nationals there, I think it really broke a lot of people’s hearts,” he added. “that Studebaker’s (sign) the way it was written in the cursive with the bright, neon light, I’ll just remember that for the rest of my life.”

Changing tastes caused some Myrtle Beach, SC nightclubs to close

Mother Fletcher’s was known for handing out free t-shirts and holding contests for spring breakers when it opened on the oceanfront in 1992, according to a 2005 Sun News article. But it too ran into financial trouble, and after failing to pay rent, Burroughs & Chapin evicted Mother Fletcher in 2005.

Xanadu closed in 2005, too, as Mother Fletcher’s owner also owned Xanadu, but it was a legal intervention that helped close one of Myrtle Beach’s most raucous clubs.

Freaky Tiki was known for holding raunchy wet t-shirt contests, and the loud noise emanating from the club along with Mother Fletcher’s annoyed hotel owners, The Sun News reported in 2004.

Tiki’s lewd contests also ran afoul of the city’s adult entertainment laws, and in February 2006, a Horry County Judge issued a permanent injunction against the club, closing it for that summer, The Sun News reported at the time.

Changing tastes can also be partly to blame for Myrtle Beach’s nightclubs disappearing. Myrtle Beach wanted a more family-oriented image, and cruising Ocean’s Blvd. was incompatible with that vision.

After Mother Fletcher’s closed in 2005, Burroughs & Chapin declined to replace it with a new nightclub despite receiving overtures, The Sun News reported at the time.

“Downtown is moving in a new direction,’‘ a Burrough & Chapin spokesperson told The Sun News at the time.