Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Aug. 15 -- MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- Night after night, Grand Strand vacationers swarm the massive restaurant and shopping complex, Broadway at the Beach. On Celebrity Square, the entertainment district, they stream into an elaborate quadruple nightclub called 'Celebrations.' Many of those patrons are from the Mountain State.
Celebrations offers four options under one roof. Customers can kick up their heels at one of three dance clubs -- the Malibu Surf Bar, Froggy Bottomz and Club Boca; or eat pizza, wings and subs, watch baseball and NASCAR, and play sophisticated virtual reality games at the colossal sports bar, Broadway Louie's.
The money West Virginians spend there comes home.
Celebrations is owned by eight Charleston investors, including retired Charleston architect Bud Sprouse, the designer.
'The funds go back up to local banks,' said Celebrations President Doug Skaff, 'so some of the West Virginia money spent down here is coming back.'
Skaff said the developers of Broadway at the Beach, Burroughs and Chapin, opened the shopping and restaurant area first, then wanted to add an entertainment district.
'We came up with the idea of a nightclub having several different venues,' he said.
Celebrations is the centerpiece of a district lined with nightspots, including the wildly successful piano bar, Crocodile Rocks.
'We're the original developers of the Celebrity Square concept,' Skaff said. 'We started the street.'
The project represents an investment of more than $4 million.
The four venues in the Celebrations building are connected, allowing patrons to pass from one to the other with a single cover charge.
Other club operators wanted to do country-western, piano bar, disco and hard rock themes, Skaff said.
'We wanted to do several different venues, so we tried to think of the different kinds of music that would appeal to today's market, both locals and vacationers of all ages.'
The musical result is blues and jazz at Froggy Bottomz, the upbeat Miami and Latin sound at Club Boca and Top 40s for collegiates at the Malibu Surf Bar.
When the neighboring country-western club folded, the group took over the 14,000-square-foot building and transformed it into Broadway Louie's, which opened Easter weekend.
'It's the hottest thing on the beach right now,' Skaff said.
The cavernous, warehouse-style building has two sides, one a sports bar with pool tables and more than 50 TVs, including 13 large screens; the other an arcade with more than $1.5 million worth of virtual reality games and amusements.
'With this high-tech electronic equipment, you can experience about anything -- simulated skiing, NASCAR driving, whitewater rafting, riding a Sea Doo.'
The newest addition is a simulated roller coaster ride.
'It takes you on three different roller coasters in the U.S. You put on the headgear and it whirls you around. You have the sense of smell and the scenery and the feel.'
A popular attraction for some recent visitors from Greensboro, N.C., was a huge gyrating black cube called the Personal Motion Theater.
A mother waiting for her son to emerge explained the attraction in simple terms.
'You move around a lot and throw up after you're done.'
For $5.75 a throw, participants can choose from six motion experiences, including Star Wars and piloting a jet fighter plane.
The only restaurant in the four-club building, Broadway Louie's features 'from scratch' pizza, wings and other classic sports bar fare; burger and chicken sandwiches served on home-baked rolls and an extensive list of submarine sandwiches.
Froggy Bottomz, designed to resemble a New Orleans bar, offers the only live music. The Kerry Michaels Band, featuring blues singer Kerry Martin and guitarist Michael Stollings, plays nightly except Friday when the Tams, Embers and other old-line beach groups revive the classic beach sound.
On a Friday night, the complex attracts 2,000 to 2,200 people, said manager and vice president Roger Davidson, a Gilmer County native.
'Weekends are strong all year because of Myrtle Beach's growing population,' he said, 'and we're hoping the sports bar will help off-season with Monday night football and the Saturday and Sunday games.'
Broadway at the Beach is located between 21st and 27th streets north on the Highway 17 Bypass.
For information on Celebrations, check the Broadway at the Beach Web Site, www.broadwayatthebeach.com; or call (803)444-3500.
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