Concert venue that became a Hootie & The Blowfish favorite to become new apartments
A Myrtle Beach-area shopping plaza that was once home to the Purple Gator concert venue — where bands such as Hootie & The Blowfish played — is set to become new apartments.
The Horry County Planning Commission earlier this month heard plans from the ROWE Professional Services Company, which plans to redevelop the Magnolia Plaza into commercial space and eight apartment buildings.
County Council members are scheduled to hear the plans for the first time Tuesday.
A council debate is set for April 5.
Plans show ROWE is asking to rezone the 13.5-acre parcel along North Kings Highway from commercial to residential.
Those same plans also show space for commercial property along the highway and apartment buildings behind it.
The apartment complex would include a large stormwater pond, several gardens and a pool.
The development would sit between a CVS Pharmacy, a Dunkin’ Donuts and Thoroughbreds Chophouse.
“We’re going to have a great development,” ROWE’s Ryan Hardy told county planners earlier this month.
Planning commissioners approved the plans unanimously and sent them to County Council.
At the hearing, one resident complained that turning the site into apartments would increase traffic in an already-crowded area. He suggested renovating the shopping plaza and bringing in a “high-end grocery store.”
The North Kings Highway site, though, has a storied history.
Hosting Hootie and national touring bands
From 1987 to 1995, the Purple Gator, which was later renamed the Headroom, was an attraction in the shopping plaza on the site.
The two-story building was a well-known spot to see bands such as Hootie, Great White, Blue Oyster Cult, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Danzig and the Ramones.
Other artists who performed there include Naughty By Nature, Vanilla Ice, Ice-T’s Body Count, Damn Yankees, Cheap Trick, Tesla, Widespread Panic, Faith No More, Stray Cats, 311 and Blink 182.
County Planning Director David Jordan nodded to that history when he introduced the plans to county planners.
“We’ll take some of you back to your youth, up at Magnolia plaza on Restaurant Row,” he said.
It was a regular stop for Columbia-based Hootie & The Blowfish before the band released its debut album ‘Cracked Rear View’ in the summer of 1994. That led to superstardom.
“The stories they could tell from the old Purple Gator. Those were some good times,” said Paul Graham, the director of Hootie’s Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am and the band’s former tour manager .
“We played there a lot.”
In a 2014 interview with The Sun News, Hootie lead singer Darius Rucker said Myrtle Beach was one of the band’s proving grounds, including the Purple Gator. The band was formed at the University of South Carolina in 1986.
“We started playing Myrtle Beach early on,” Rucker told The Sun News, “We were one of the first bands to start playing the Purple Gator.
“It was definitely one of the places where we honed our craft.”
In that same interview, Rucker recalled “great memories” playing there.
“It was such a party,” he said. “We were always sold out. (And) we have great memories of playing the Afterdeck. Myrtle Beach is one of those places that we knew when we went there, it would be awesome every time.”
Rucker’s bandmates have a similar sense of nostalgia for the Purple Gator and Myrtle Beach’s smaller venues.
In a 2019 interview with The Sun News, Hootie bassist Dean Felber said the band spent their “humble days” along the Grand Strand before the debut album achieved 21-time platinum status.
“When you think about the late ’80s and early ’90s before any fame or fortune came our way, those are some of the humble days,” Felber said.
“I think we remember in Myrtle Beach, just playing random golf courses and doing small bar gigs,”he said. ”Those are some good times, too.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 12:12 PM.
