You Know You're Old When You Feel Nostalgia...

[teddy_radiator]

sempraseverus' superb drawings of carousel animals has me thinking of the days when the Myrtle Beach Pavilion was a magic place you went to ride rickety amusement park rides, take a turn on the Full Menagerie Herschel-Spillman carousel, and listen to the German Band Organ. When I was a little girl, I used to stare at this for hours.

Now the Pavilion is only a memory, but the Organ and the Carousel were taken to another tourist attraction in Myrtle Beach called Broadway on the Beach. If you're ever there, go and listen to this lovely old organ which by the looks of it here, has gone through major renovations. At the Pavilion, it was sadly allowed to fall into a terrible state of disrepair. Now it's all shiny and beautiful. It is the sound and vision of my childhood, and even through my jaded teenaged years, I would stop and watch the band organ play. The top is just a nice set of shots, the bottom vid shows it in all it's jingling, turning, cherubic, bleating glory:

This one is sort of long, but worth it just to see the closeups!

Comments

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

Geez! That takes me back. I can remember going to sit and enjoy the music and marvel at the "moving statues." We went to to Crescent Beach (now part of North Myrtle Beach) every summer, and Daddy would take all of us to Myrtle Beach to go to the Amusement Park and the Pavilion.

At that time (the 1950')the Pavilion was located on the beach front side of Ocean Blvd., and the organ was in the amusement park across the street. It was right in the middle of all the rides, and the park was sand... not paving.

My father especially loved that organ. He had seen many of them that had been destroyed during World War II, and it always broke his heart that those beautiful works of art had been ruined. This Baden Organ Band has been beautifully restored. I don't remember the colors being as bright as they are now, but I do remember them being gorgeous.

At the Pavilion we could play the pinball and bowling machines, have our fortunes told, and watch the adults and the "big kids" dance. I don't think there were any rides next to the Pavilion until the 60's, but I could be wrong about that.

I always wanted to ride the Carousel. Over and over and over. I had my favorite steed, you see, and I could pretend that I was chasing outlaws with Roy Rogers or Lash LaRue. Or even better, I could be a knight in shining armor. Knights had swords and rode prancing chargers, and they had all the fun! Damsels-in-Distress not so much. Yeah. Be a knight.

Thank you for bringing back these wonderful memories.
Hugs you with lots of hugs,
Beffey

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

It's so part of my childhood, and I have so many fond memories of the place. My family tell all their tales of Myrtle Beach. My mother remembers shagging in the Pavilion, and sneaking into the Bowery and trying to look old enough to be there and being chased out by the bartender! My dad used to tell about the time he got thrown off the dancefloor in the Pavilion for doing the 'dirty dog' - the Police came and escorted him off the premises! He was a marvelous dancer.

Good times there. It's so sad that it's all gone. Well the organ and the carousel are at Broadway, but Ocean Boulevard was such a cool place when I was a teenager, and sadly, those days are long past. They are just in our memories now.