Mr. Joe White Avenue is a boulevard

Boulevard

A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...

 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Myrtle Beach is a coastal city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is situated on the center of a large and continuous stretch of beach known as the Grand Strand in northeastern South Carolina. It is considered to be a major tourist destination in the...

 named for "Mr. Joe", a shoeshine man

Shoeshiner

Shoeshiner or boot polisher is a profession in which a person polishes shoes with shoe polish. They are often known as shoeshine boys because the job is traditionally that of a male child. In the leather fetish communities, they are often called bootblacks...

 in Georgetown County, South Carolina and later Myrtle Beach. Along with U.S. Route 501

U.S. Route 501

-North Carolina business loops:-Virginia business loop:-External links:*...

, Farrow Parkway

Farrow Parkway

Farrow Parkway is a four-lane, parkway that connects US 17 and US 17 Business in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The $6.9 million roadway replaced a former two-lane roadway through the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base with funding from the city of Myrtle Beach funds and Horry County RIDE funds....

 and 21st Avenue North, the upgraded road is one of four major entrances into Myrtle Beach and will soon be joined by Harrelson Boulevard

Harrelson Boulevard

Harrelson Boulevard is a four lane highway in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It starts at George Bishop Parkway, crosses the Intracoastal Waterway and U.S. 17 and goes to Myrtle Beach International Airport and runs near Coastal Grand Mall. The highway is also the southern terminus for Grissom Parkway...

.

History of the road

In 1997, the city heard a presentation of a plan to attract people downtown by making 11th Avenue North "a wide, landscaped boulevard ending in a city park at the beach". In a project that started in July 2001, 10th Avenue North was widened west of downtown Myrtle Beach, with a new connector to 11th Avenue North near Kings Highway. Also in 2001, 11th Avenue North was to be upgraded at a cost of $1.5 million with "wider, brick-paved sidewalks, street surfaces lined with pavers, street lights, underground utilities, trees and flower beds". At the Ocean Boulevard end, a park was planned.

Toward the end of 2001, options for the road's new name were considered. If it was called 10th Avenue North for its entire length, streets from 11th Avenue North to 52nd Avenue North would have to be renamed, causing thousands of addresses to be changed. One idea was Mr. Joe White Avenue. The Myrtle Beach city planning commission approved that name in January 2002, but the city council objected after complaiunts from business owners. So did Horry County

Horry County, South Carolina

Horry County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. This name honored Revolutionary War Hero, Peter Horry. Brigadier General Horry was born in South Carolina sometime around 1743 and started his distinguished military career in 1775 as one of 20 captains the Provincial Congress...

 Council, which was responsible for a section of the road west of the Myrtle Beach city limits.

City planning commissioners revisited the idea of keeping the old name for the upgraded sections of 10th and 11th Avenues. One plan called for naming the road 10th Avenue west of a particular location and 11th Avenue east of it. Another suggested renaming only the new section of the road. But once again, the decision to rename the entire road stood. the section of 10th Avenue North from Dunbar Street to Broadway kept its name, and the short section between Broadway and Kings Highway closed in March 2002.

The road opened April 7, 2002 with the intersection of Broadway and Kings Highway closing.

The park at Ocean Boulevard and Mr. Joe White Avenue was dedicated to the Justin Plyler, co-founder of Gay Dolphin Gift Cove

Gay Dolphin Gift Cove

Gay Dolphin Gift Cove on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina calls itself "the nation's largest gift shop". As of 2011, the Gay Dolphin had and store owner Justin "Buz" Plyler said the store averaged 70,000 items...

, at the Sun Fun Festival on June 3, 2005. With the opening of the Myrtle Beach Boardwalk

Myrtle Beach Boardwalk

The Myrtle Beach Boardwalk & Promenade, located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, officially opened in May 2010 at a cost of nearly $6.4 million and runs along the oceanfront from the Pier 14 at 14th Avenue North to the 2nd Avenue Pier at 2nd Avenue North...

 in 2010, Plyler Park became the location of a concert series called "Hot Summer Nights".

Mr. Joe

Julius W. White Sr. was born in 1910 in Georgetown County, South Carolina. At age 7 he started his shoe shining career, charging 10 cents a pair, and once shined 290 pairs in one day. In 1949 he moved to Myrtle Beach, where he worked in Woody's Barber Shop for 27 years, as well as at the Ocean Forest Hotel

Ocean Forest Hotel

The Ocean Forest Hotel was one of the first major hotels in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S.A. Its main tower stood at ten stories and the hotel property covered . It was built in 1930 and demolished in September 1974 to make way for a condominium development....

. White was also a leader in Shield's Chapel Fire Baptized Holiness Church

Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas

The Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas is a predominantly African-American Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination based in the United States...

. He was married to his wife Louise for 66 years. White died December 23, 1997 at age 87.

External links

Plyler Park web site