Ocean Forest Hotel

Once called "The Million Dollar Hotel," the Ocean Forest Hotel opened in 1930 as a luxurious centerpiece of Myrtle Beach’s early development.

With grand ballrooms, a private golf course, a lighthouse spire, and sweeping oceanfront views, it was marketed as the crown jewel of the Atlantic coast.

Designed by famed architect Raymond Hood, it became an iconic symbol of opulence—and of exclusion. The hotel catered exclusively to white guests during the era of segregation and stood as a towering reminder of the social divisions of the time.

While Black performers could dazzle crowds from its grand stages, they were not allowed to stay overnight.

Many of those same artists, who had just played the Ocean Forest, would instead find lodging at the Fitzgerald Motel. Artists would often play encore sets at Charlie’s Place, just a few miles away.

It was a stark example of the dual realities faced by Black entertainers and travelers in the Jim Crow South.

Today, the hotel is gone, demolished in 1974, but it lives on in memory, postcards, and a growing local interest in its history.

A community-led initiative is currently exploring a permanent memorial in Myrtle Beach's "Cabana District" where the hotel once stood, aimed at honoring the grand dream that once stood there, and acknowledging the inequalities embedded in its legacy.