MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) – Thousands of visitors come to the Grand Strand for vacation and out of those thousands some experience unsanitary conditions in their hotels and motels.

The viral Tik-Tok News13 showed on July 20^th shot by Brook Strickland who was staying at the Ocean Star Hotel claiming management would not give him a refund for experiencing unsanitary conditions in his room.

Since then, we have been working to fond who holds hotels in the Grand Strand accountable for cleanliness.

Bailey Parker, the Director of Communications for South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, said there is not a state agency who regularly inspects those type of establishments.

Bailey Parker is the Director of Communications for the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs. She said nearly every chain hotel has sanitation training and although you should expect a clean and safe room when you are travelling there aren’t any laws in South Carolina that guarantee that.

Parker said if someone in Myrtle Beach walked into their hotel or motel room, and it was unsanitary you can reach out to them.

“Yeah. I mean,” Parker said. “To file a complaint. yes. I mean, we always tell consumers to. if you can’t work with the business on your own, first reach out to us.

Parker said the best thing to do when you come across a dirty room is to take pictures and videos of the room and have proof of booking information to go along with your complaint to the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs and they will reach out to the business which is apart of their voluntary mediation process giving the business multiple days to respond.

“When a consumer files a complaint with our office, we ask them what resolution that they would like,” Parker said. “So, we tell the business, this is the complaint that the consumer has and this is the resolution that they would like to see.

Parker said sometimes business don’t respond and the claim goes unsatisfied.

“Consumers ask me all the time,” she said. why should I file a complaint with your office if you can’t force them to do anything? I think that’s a valid question, right? The business may give you what you want because they may not want that negative, unsatisfied, or whatever complaint open on our website because all the complaints are searchable on consumer sec.gov.”

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Bikers won’t start rolling in to Myrtle Beach for the 2023 Fall Rally for a few months, but now is the perfect time to plan your visit.

While many locals dread the increased traffic and large crowds, thousands of visitors flock to the Grand Strand to show off their motorcycles and enjoy the South Carolina coast.

Here are the answers to five frequently asked questions about this fall’s Bike Week.

The Myrtle Beach Bike Week 2023 Fall Rally will take place Sept. 29 through Oct. 8, 2023, according to the Myrtle Beach Bike Rally Facebook group. The event is expected to draw 25,000 people, according to Myrtle Beach Bike Week LLC, fewer than its spring counterpart.

Visitors stay in hotels, vacation rentals, Airbnbs or campgrounds. Some area campgrounds, like Apache Family Campground and Myrtle Beach State Park, are considered biker-friendly and allow visitors to ride their motorcycles to their campsites.

Live music schedules and vendor plans will continue to be released up until Bike Week. Keep in the loop by following the social media pages of popular establishments like Beaver Bar, the Rathole, Spokes and Bones and Suck, Bang, Blow.

Stay up to date on Fall Bike Week plans by joining the Myrtle Beach Bike Rally Facebook group and checking the Myrtle Beach Bike Week LLC website.

Horry County hosts three large motorcycle events each year. The 2024 Spring Harley Week will take place from May 10 to 19, 2024. Black Bike Week in Atlantic Beach, SC is typically held Memorial Day weekend, May 24 to 27 in 2024.

This story was originally published July 27, 2023, 6:00 AM.

North Myrtle Beach is adding a popular local restaurant to Main Street.

SOHO Steak & Seafood Sushi Bar is set to open a new location in North Myrtle Beach by the end of July.

The restaurant will have hibachi-style food, serve 100 people at once and hire 35-40 employees, said Operations Manager at SOHO Steak and Seafood John Maloney.

“We’ve had our eye on North Myrtle Beach for quite some time, there’s a very heavy market,” He added.

SOHO is known for its steak and seafood combinations and made-in-house sauces.

The restaurant menu, which is mostly the same between locations, includes steaks, surf and turf options, lo mein, spicy Pad Thai, stir-fried ramen and 118 sushi items. Other dishes on the menu include spicy orange chicken, chicken parmesan and the restaurant’s specialty ‘SOHO Chicken’ with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes on top of a grilled chicken breast in a lemon butter sauce.

SOHO’s North Myrtle Beach location will also have fresh oyster and seafood boils on the menu, Maloney said. The new eatery will be located at 214 Main Street in North Myrtle Beach. A hibachi performance is not a part of the dining experience.

SOHO also has restaurants at 407 21st Avenue North and 9715 North Kings Highway. The North Kings Highway Location is the newest of two, The Sun News reported in December 2019. SOHO 544 in Conway is no longer affiliated with the other locations, Maloney said.

SOHO’s expansion also coincides with a new breakfast restaurant they recently opened. Toasty Breakfast & Lunch opened to the public in early May.

The new eatery alongside Clearwater Oyster Bar & Grill, which both have the same owner, sits on the Intracoastal Waterway and has a place for jet skiers to park and come and enjoy a meal before continuing their water sports activities.

“If you’re up on a jet ski at 9 a.m., you’re going to be hungry,” Maloney said. “Go for some benedicts, maybe one mimosa.”

Combined, the two eateries can seat 400 at one time. Toasty’s menu includes three egg omelets cooked with salmon, shrimp or scallops and several other choices. Toasty Breakfast and Lunch also has pancakes, waffles and French toast.

From rodent droppings to moldy bread, South Carolina health inspectors found numerous violations at Myrtle Beach-area restaurants this week.

The state releases grades and inspection reports for food establishments across Horry and Georgetown counties. Restaurant inspectors arrive for an unannounced routine inspection one to four times a year.

Here are the restaurants that received some of the lowest ratings this week.

An inspector observed an employee eating while preparing food. On a prep table, there was a washcloth with a hair on it. The kitchen’s only hand sink was filled with dishes. A required followup inspection has not yet been held. Read La Vinotinto’s full report.

The inspector found improperly cleaned cooking equipment, “Fry slicer on wall observed with heavy accumulation of food debris and buildup.” The hand-washing sink was out of soap and there were numerous flies in the kitchen. Above the dish area, the ceiling was dusty. A required followup inspection has not yet been held. Read Dirty Don’s full report.

An inspector found containers with mold on the outsides and spoiled bread and produce. Dirty baking sheets were stored alongside food and clean dishes. The inspector could not easily find paper towels at any of the hand sinks. A required followup inspection has not yet been held. Read Jupiter Pies’ full report.

The inspector found roaches and flies in the kitchen, bar and food storage areas. Rodent droppings were also found in the dry storage areas. In the cooler, raw fish was stored above vegetables. A second required followup inspection was held on July 25 and the restaurant got an A grade. Read Yagi Sushi and Hibachi’s full report.

“I do have an immense love of art and beauty, nature’s beauty, food – especially pastries – building, such as high-end custom woodwork to unique structures. They all fall into the realm of art leaving something hopefully filled with taste, function and beauty,” says Dalton. “In order to fulfill a desire to be surrounded by such things, I believe it’s necessary to not only be on the reciprocal side of art but to immerse yourself in the endeavor of creating the objects and landscapes in many forms, which helps to develop the environment the way you would like to see it.”

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, he honed one of his first talents of building homes. Dalton’s dad was a custom homebuilder, but not in the traditional sense. He explains that every three or four years, the family would purchase land to build a house and farming operation at the same time. They’d hand clear the land, dig footings and a basement with heavy equipment, and build the house from the ground up – a process that usually took about a year.

During land clearing and construction, he says his parents would live in a 16-foot travel trailer, while Dalton and his brother would sleep in a tent, then move into a tool shed or garage once those were finished, and finally into the completed home.

It’s during this ambitious home-building cycle that Dalton first fell in love with films around 9 or 10 years old.

“I fell in love with films watching movies on television,” he says. “I really, really fell in love with films when I went to watch movies on the big screen in the theater.”

That first brush in the theater was all Dalton needed to know that motion pictures was his passion. But it wouldn’t be until later in life that he’d follow that career path. One of the family’s building ventures took them to his father’s native state of Ohio, where Dalton went to high school.

After he graduated, he set his sights on film school, but it wasn’t in the budget, so he paid his own way through culinary school. Turns out, good food is Dalton’s second love – and he was good at making it, especially with baking as a pastry chef. He also dabbled in creating health-conscious foods during his time as a competitive bodybuilder, opening Hard Body Cafe inside Gold’s Gym in Myrtle Beach.

The plot twists and turns for Dalton continued, as he bought, ran, then sold a bakery, and reverted to his homebuilding skills. Over the next decade, he built several homes and commercial buildings throughout the region, including in the Pine Lakes area of Myrtle Beach.

“If possible, I like to become part of the process and work hard in a big way, creating an environment filled with beauty and good things,” says Dalton. “Although it can be daunting, exhausting both physically, emotionally and financially, the reward is incalculable.

“I think that having a varied path in different disciplines helps to create a formidable dynamic to your perseverance and character, which helps you endure what must be endured and tackle projects that are much bigger than yourself,” he continues. “I was picking fruit from age seven for farmers that supplied large brands, smelt pouring molten steel for Westinghouse at age 18, and other things.”

But his diverse disciplines would all come full circle to return to his first love of filmmaking. In 2002, he bought video, sound, lighting, editing suites, and still frame equipment and founded Dalton Pictures. Dalton didn’t waste time upon his debut in the industry, filming two full-length feature movies, one of which ran in 37 states and in more than 150 theaters.

Dalton Pictures’ last production, “A Carolina Christmas,” opened in theaters nationwide in 2020, including IMAX theatres. The opening sequence and some of the interior production was filmed in Loris, Pawleys Island, Myrtle Beach, and Conway.

“Motion picture, to me, is the ultimate form of art, where you get to create the world as you wish inside of a framework that others can join in for the ride,” says Dalton. “It truly is larger than life and the vehicle that allows others to experience a moving art form. … And, with any luck, others bring to light what you may have missed in meaning during the creation. They see something that you never imagined inside your art, which allows you to dig deeper into your own self and explore.”

Dalton’s passion is contagious, proven in the success of the annual Myrtle Beach International Film Festival (MBIFF), which he founded and continues to promote with the City of Myrtle Beach. Held at the Grand 14 in The Market Common, MBIFF is a two-time nominee by Movie Maker Magazine as one of the top 50 film festivals to submit to in the world.

Dalton Pictures has produced feature-length films and media content in the public and private sectors for cinema chains, government agencies, the European Union, television, corporations, and travel and tourism agencies. On the distribution end, they have distributed more than 30 films for theatrical release. As an all-inclusive integrated media company, it houses all the disciplines of media production under one roof.

His latest venture to support the growth and success of Dalton Pictures is the renovation and construction of his new movie studio in Loris, due to be open for business at the end of 2023 or early 2024. Construction of the 20,000-square-foot space has been a two-year, practically round-the-clock process. The facility, located on Main Street, is comprised of multiple buildings that will be a new, state-of-the-art build.

“As of to date, the new Dalton Pictures movie studio has to be one of my crowning achievements,” says Dalton. “It is happening. As for what’s next, I have some plans. … I have many thoughts and visions of things I would like to see. The problem is, I have thoughts of large dreams, I tend to take them on, and that can present obstacles! … Inside a project like this, there are a lot of moving parts. If all goes as planned, really cool things are, as they say in the motion picture industry, ‘Coming soon!’”

Tours of the Dalton Pictures movie studio will be offered during filming for a true behind-the-scenes experience. Visitors on the tour may even wind up in the production if extras are needed. Dalton also has plans to include on the tour lunch from a local restaurant. For more information and updates, visit Daltonpictures.com