Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Shag on the Strand (SOS) swept through Myrtle Beach again this fall, as it has every year for a generation or two. Beach music played too loud, smiling faces with a little too much make-up, and off-season hotels filled for a solid week of dancing. And these people can dance. The loafers, the bermuda shorts, the tight white pants aren't as flattering as they used to be, but the hips still swing and the feet know how to hover.

While the road behind is an unremarkable mess of concrete and neon, the nighttime lap of waves on soft sand remains. Buildings have sprung up along the beachfront but are mostly low-rise, bordered by snow fencing along cresting dunes here and there. Perhaps only the beach itself looks as bright, as sparkling as the original Shag craze of the 1940s and 50s.

No comments: