A beloved Myrtle Beach restaurant burned down in 2020. A new art gallery heralds its return
The summer of 2020 was terrible for an almost unending list of reasons.
One of those reasons? The fire that destroyed Collector’s Cafe, a symbol of fine dining in a region known for pancake houses and seafood buffets.
The restaurant had a cult following, and that fire broke the hearts of many of its longtime customers. The blaze scorched the business, though firefighters were able to save most of the art inside, allowing owner Tommy Davis to preserve the building blocks for whatever came next.
Those customers never gave up, and ever since, they have nagged Davis about his plans for the future. Reopening the restaurant was never a question, he said, and his patrons, anytime they see him, ask him when it will finally return.
“We cannot go anywhere without people asking, ‘What’s going on with Collector’s? When’s Collector’s going to reopen? Are you going to reopen collectors?’” Davis’ partner Donna Weinberg said. “Or, ‘We miss Collector’s. We want it back. We’ll be your first customer.’”
What made Collector’s so special was the food and wine, of course, but people also loved the art that covered its walls, floors and counter tops. That art, created by Davis himself, frequently left Collector’s walls for the homes of the restaurant’s customers.
Two years after that fateful fire ripped away the space that was once Davis’ first art gallery, he’s finally taken the first steps in the evolution of Collector’s Cafe by returning to its roots.
This summer, he opened the Thomas Davis Island Fox Art Gallery.
All about art
Davis doesn’t give the initial impression of an artist. He studied business in college and immediately went off to art school after graduating. He spent half a decade doing graphic design in advertising. His affinity for painting, his true love these days, didn’t come until he visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York City with his mother when he was 30. It was the Matisse exhibit that turned him toward painting.
“Ironically, Matisse, he started painting when he was 30,” he said.
After that, he was hooked. He fell in love with painting. His favorite medium is oil on canvas. Frequently, he’ll travel to artistic hubs in places around the world and paint what he saw upon returning home. Most recently, he went to Rome and Capri in Italy and painted stunning images of sidewalk cafes and Mediterranean vistas, places that he’ll draw on for the future of Collector’s.
The Island Fox Art Gallery is the hub of Davis’ art these days — the home of those recent paintings inspired by Rome and Capri. The name comes from his own personal nickname, which he chose after learning about the blue dog of New Orleans, a motif of that city.
“I kind of associate with the fox as like a character, like a spirit animal,” he said. “I just decided to do the fox because I like to travel, go to different islands, so I just started painting the fox everywhere I go. ... People love the fox. It’s a good character who’s resilient and clever.”
His art isn’t just from afar. He also loves Myrtle Beach, the home where he grew up. Davis loves painting images of Murrells Inlet and the wetlands and marshes across the Grand Strand.
The Island Fox Art Gallery has already been a strong first step for Davis’ foray back into Myrtle Beach life. Within six hours of opening the gallery in July, he sold his first painting, and he often gets inquiries online about his work. Many of the sales have been from longtime fans, Davis’ cult following, if you will.
“We go out and a lot of people will tell me right away, ‘Oh, we have this art hanging in our home.’ Some people have collections of it,” Weinberg said. “And we’re hoping to get it outside of the cult following.”
What’s next for Collector’s Cafe?
The fire broke Davis’ heart. Collector’s had been his home for 26 years.
“My sister and I were there, and we embraced each other because we were there in the very beginning,” he said. “We were there for 27 years, and we’re going to rebuild it.”
Davis wants the focus to be on his new art gallery — because that’s the only truly concrete plan he has for the moment.
But he relented to inquiries about Collector’s, given the community he helped build around it still hasn’t given up on him all these years alter.
“We didn’t realize it’s going to take so long,” Davis said.
The time it’s taken to rebuild Collector’s has been good, though, Davis said. It’s given him time to think about what he wants the future to be rather than rushing into a revival that would just restore life as it once was.
“When you change the design a little bit, you add something new. It helps to you let go, and you look forward to the future instead of holding on to the past,” Weinberg said.
At times, the questions about Collector’s have been relentless. Nearly a year ago, Davis said he started to feel exhausted. The time since the restaurant last welcomed customers kept growing, and the constant questioning made him feel bad about his future.
“The most important answer is, ‘Thank you for your patience. Sorry it’s taken so long, as everything else is taking longer these days to get accomplished, and it’s just going to be a little different.’ We’re making some strides,” Davis said. “We’re going to create something for the next 27 years. ... That’s how I keep positive about it — thinking about what’s going to be there. I kind of just let go what used to be there and look forward to what’s going to be there.”
But, with Weinberg’s help, he started to turn that around. Those questions turned from incessant nagging and into motivation to push toward the future.
“Somewhere along the line we managed to flip that around,” Weinberg said. Now, when people ask when Collector’s will return, they think, “Oh gosh, this is why we’re doing this, because all these people are waiting for it to come back.”
Davis’ plans for the restaurant are grand. Inspired by those European cities he loves to paint, he wants to turn Collector’s into the sidewalk cafes that America lacks but are so numerous in Europe to the point of being commonplace.
Collector’s will have several kinds of spaces — and plenty of space for art, of course. Here are a few of Davis’ ideas for what he wants it to be.
- An outdoor atrium with alfresco dining and a bar. That will be the first to open, with the goal of welcoming customers this winter.
- An indoor bar and restaurant for casual dining, away from the elements, with the walls covered in art from both Davis and local artists, all of which will be for sale. Customers who see something they like can take it home that night.
- A back room featuring more quiet fine dining, for those who want to have a conversation in a more quiet space and enjoy a bottle of wine away from the hubbub.
- Finally, the place where the Island Fox gallery is now located will be a “bonus room” — a spot for events where diners can learn more about the art from Davis or just have a more private experience.
Davis doesn’t know exactly when Collector’s Cafe will reopen. Inflation, permitting, supply chain problems and worker shortages are among the many impediments he faces.
Make no mistake, however. Collector’s will return. When it does, Davis hopes it will elevate the stature of the city he loves.
“Sometimes people have a bad idea of what Myrtle Beach is like, and I take it to heart because I’m from here,” he said. “I want people to walk in the door and feel like they’re not even in ‘Myrtle Beach’ — they transport somewhere else for that hour or so, and they’re in here and they feel good.”
Collector’s, he hopes, will start a culture where customers tell others, “There’s a really good place in Myrtle Beach to go to,” and those people become the Grand Strand’s newest visitors.
In the meantime, all Davis wants is for his beloved customers and friends to celebrate the new art gallery, the first step in the future of Collector’s and Davis’ personal future, as well.
“People come up to me and ask, ‘When are you opening?’” Davis said. “It’s not so much the when part as the what.
“We’re going to be updating it and letting people know the stages of what we’re doing, sharing some of the plans and the design concepts so that people can get as excited about the new collectors as they were about the old collectors, because it’s about the future, not the past.”
His only request?
“Be patient.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
