Remember this Myrtle Beach club? Here’s a look back at the once-happening nightlife spot
Believe it or not, there was an alien invasion in Myrtle Beach 10 years ago.
No space ships flew out of the sky, bringing aliens from other planets — but hundreds of humans dressed in costumes lined up outside of Club Kryptonite. It was the club’s last hoorah: an alien invasion-themed party.
The club, on Hollywood Drive off Bypass 17, closed its doors on Halloween 2009, and the spot is now home to Legends in Concert — a celebrity-tribute show.
“It seems like yesterday,” said Chris Manios, an owner of Club Kryptonite. “It was our first business — it was our first baby. It took time to develop nights and it took time to develop loyalty.”
Manios, along with his brother Drew Manios, opened the club and were part owners of the spot for nine years.
Together, they brought in famous artists to perform — the Ying Yang Twins, Flo Rida, Busta Rhymes — and the nightlife location was known for a “Boxing for Boobs” contest, themed parties, dodge ball and King of the Ring fights. The club originally was “put on the map” by Orange County Choppers, Manios said, and then grew from there.
“We got lucky and our reputation started to build,” he said. “We just kind of brought that big city feel to Myrtle.”
The club had three major bars, a high-end martini bar, DJ booth that overlooked the club, unique lighting and sound systems and a liquid nitrogen smoke machine that would cool down the entire club within minutes.
“It looked like the inside of the Roman coliseum,” Manios said.
The parties often drew more than 2,000 people some nights, with hundreds waiting outside, wrapped around the building ready to go inside.
From the beginning to the end, Jimmy Griffith was a DJ at the club and later a part owner who says he remembers the club as a high-energy spot with a big-city feel.
“I miss the environment because it was the only true club environment that has been around,” Griffith said. “It was definitely high-energy — pretty people, high energy.”
What made Kryptonite unique, he said, was that nearly every person who walked through the door was dressed the part, whether it be for a theme night or in club attire.
And the club was always planning and searching for new ideas for parties.
“We tried to stay on the new, cutting-edge side,” Griffith said. “We didn’t want to repeat the same thing over and over.”
The last night
Manios recalls sitting on the stage as the last partiers were walking out the door at the end of the night.
“That last night was a celebration of what we had done for nine years,” he said. “It was sad … a tear probably rolled down my cheek.”
Closing the club was a decision made by the handful of owners who wanted to buy their own location instead of continuing to pay the thousands of dollars in rent per month, Manios said.
Manios said they purchased the old Bullwinkle’s building, what is now El Cerro on 29th Avenue North, and opened Mykonos restaurant. But Club Kryptonite never reopened.
“It’s a young-man’s game,” he said. “If you want to be in it, you work 100 hours a week and have to stay ahead of the competition.”
Manios said his committed staff members who were always dressing up and working hard set the club apart from others in the area.
“We’re still appreciative and humbled by the support” of the community and staff, he said.
This story was originally published November 1, 2019 at 11:24 AM.
