It was the home of firsts for so many who visited or lived in Myrtle Beach: first dances, first kisses, first roller coaster rides and first jobs.

Teenagers shagged in the Magic Attic, and visitors with iron stomachs rode the Corkscrew. The Myrtle Beach Pavilion, an amusement park opened in 1948 and closed in 2006, was a destination that stood out among the many beach towns along the East Coast.

Ten years later, the Pavilion, called the “beating heart of Myrtle Beach” by Mayor John Rhodes, is a 12-acre grassy lot.

That was one of the saddest days of my life,” said Egerton Burroughs, the director emeritus of the company that owns the site, Burroughs and Chapin. “It broke my heart, but it’s a business and the business model changed. The downtown area is still struggling and having problems with many different things.

“I think it’s going to take a lot of work to rebuild the downtown.”

Burroughs, who went from working in the park to chair of the company’s board by time the Pavilion closed, said that park management tried a new roller coaster, ride improvements and other tweaks to improve business in the years before the park closed. In 2000, the park even put up a fence and began charging admission, an unpopular move. The original Pavilion, however, has not faded from the memories of its scores of visitors, and the idea of a central draw in Myrtle Beach’s downtown area has not faded from the minds of local officials. But as many remember the decades of fond trips to the park, the 12-acre lot in the middle of downtown poses an opportunity that has left many in Myrtle Beach frustrated. “It’s not a small problem, it’s a big problem that covers an awful lot of land, and it’s going to take a lot of thought,” Burroughs said. “It would have to be a public-private enterprise.” ‘THE GRINCH’ CLOSES THE PAVILION Myrtle Beach photographer Jack Thompson’s studio faces Nance Plaza, directly across from the old Pavilion site. Though Thompson laments the loss of the amusement park, its demolition means Nance Plaza now has a direct view of the ocean.

Thompson came to town in 1951 at age 13, and his very first job as a professional photographer was at the Pavilion, taking shots of teenagers behind the bars of the “Myrtle Beach Jail” background and young women draped over a half-moon that said “Ms. Myrtle Beach.”

As he flipped through shots of the park’s jukebox, framed in milky pastels and the many colorful horses of the park’s carousel, Thompson said many were confused when the closing was announced, because many thought the Pavilion’s business was still strong.

“Why would they kill mother goose while she was still laying golden eggs?” he said.

Thompson paused on one picture, taken as the main building in the park was being demolished in 2007. Unlike almost all other photos in Thompson’s shop, in this shot, he was in the frame, watching a demolition machine rip into the roof.

“The caption under that picture, and this was made December 21 it was made around Christmas Eve and I said, ‘The Grinch at Christmas destroys the heartbeat of Myrtle Beach,’” Thompson said.

Many referred to the park as the city’s heart. When the Pavilion closed in 2006, Broadway at the Beach, the entertainment, dining and shopping complex anchored by a Hard Rock Cafe, was open, but the Skywheel and boardwalk were not.

Buz Plyler, owner of the Gay Dolphin Gift Cove, said the closing was stressful for some local businesses…..