South of the Border, Dillon county, South Carolina

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A nice Cadillac Eldorado parked under the "Big Man." circa 2017.

South of the Border is an attraction on Interstate 95 in South Carolina (I-95), U.S. Route 301 in South Carolina and U.S. Route 501 in South Carolina in Dillon, South Carolina, just south of Rowland, North Carolina. It is so named because it is just south of the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, and was the halfway point to Florida from New York City in the early days of motor travel. The area is themed in tongue-in-cheek, faux-Mexican style. The rest area contains restaurants, gas stations, a video arcade, and a motel, and truck stop as well as a small Amusement Park, a mini golf course, shopping and fireworks stores. Its mascot is Pedro, a caricature of a Mexican bandido. South of the Border was famous, or infamous, for visually overwhelming numbers of roadside billboard advertisements, which began many hundreds of miles away from, and incorporated a mileage countdown to, the attraction itself.

Design

The entire motif of South of the Border can be described as intentionally campy. South of the Border is located at the intersection of I-95 and US-301/US-501 just south of the border between South Carolina and North Carolina. The site is a 350 acre compound that contains a miniature golf course, truck stop, 300-room motel, multiple souvenir shops, a campground, multiple restaurants, amusement rides, and a 200 ft observation tower with a sombrero shaped observation deck.

It is also home to "Reptile Lagoon", the largest indoor reptile exhibit in the United States.

Architectural features include "a Jetsons-esque starburst chandelier" in its Googie Architectural Style lobby. "Pedro's Pleasure Dome" is a swimming pool inside "a junkyard version" of a geodesic dome. A Washington Post review says, "Flashing signs ...throw technicolor pink and green and blue onto every surface. No destination or sentiment is too small to be blared out in bright orange. Numerous large statues of animals such as dolphins, horses, dogs, gorillas, dinosaurs and a (probably) life-sized King Kong can be found all of them painted in a garish array of colors.

The Peddler Steakhouse, the nicest of the restaurants, is shaped like a sombrero, while the Mexican-themed Sombrero restaurant is not, though its décor includes sombreros, cactus and terra cotta tile floors, with lots of faux-adobe walls. This restaurant formerly (in the 1990s) had palomino patterned vinyl booths. There are areas that bring to mind the photography of William Eggleston, the cinematography of David Lynch, and the gas station art of Ed Ruscha.

History

South of the Border was developed by Alan Schafer in 1950. He had founded South of the Border Depot, a beer stand, at the location in 1949 adjacent to Robeson County which was, at one time, one of many dry North Carolina counties. Business was steadily expanded with Mexican trinkets and numerous kitsch items imported from Mexico.

The site itself also began to expand to include a cocktail lounge, gas station and souvenir shop and, in 1954, a motel. In College: Bernanke once had job at South of the Border

Sob pedro b&w snapshot.jpg

In 1962, South of the Border expanded into fireworks sales, potentially capitalizing on the fact fireworks were illegal in North Carolina.

In 1964 it was announced that the route for I-95 would pass right by South of the Border, and the facility would be next to two exits and within view of the highway. By the mid-1960s, South of the Border had expanded to include a barber shop, drug store, a variety store, a post office an outdoor go-kart track complete with other outdoor recreational facilities and the 104 foot tall image of the mascot, Pedro.

Over the years, the billboards with messages some considered racist and offensive changed to become tamer while still retaining the same tongue-in-cheek tone. Schafer continued to deny his attraction was racist, citing the fact that he was known for hiring African Americans, and even helping them to vote, and standing up to the Ku Klux Klan.<ref name=Libby/>

About 300 people, mostly local employees, work at South of the Border. At one time, with 700 working there, it was the largest employer in Dillon County, South Carolina.

Mascot

Initially, Schafer only employed sombreros and serapes to advertise South of the Border. Schafer went to Mexico because of his import business and came back with two men he hired as bellboys, who people began calling Pedro and Pancho. From there, the Pedro mascot developed. Schafer eventually created Pedro, to add to the exotic element and theme of the attraction. Pedro is an exaggerated, cartoon-like representation of a Mexican bandit. Pedro wears a sombrero, a poncho and a large mustache. Minstrel Shows were still popular in Dillon County in the 1940s and 1950s, at about the time Pedro was created and P. Nicole King argues Pedro embodies the way in which people exoticized Mexico or Mexicans at the time while also remaining intentionally campy. Pedro has likewise been referred to as culturally offensive, politically incorrect or racist. P. Nicole King described Pedro's image as a "southern Jewish guy in brown face" that was perhaps made, partially, in Schafer's image. Schafer himself had previously dismissed criticism that Pedro is an unfair characterization of Mexicans arguing it's a light-hearted joke.<ref> Today, all South of the Border employees, regardless of race, creed or color are referred to as Pedro.

Billboards

Artifacts in the Main Street Museum

  • Keyrings
  • Housewares
    • Glasses
    • Mugs
    • Salt and Pepper Shakers
  • Menus
  • Motel Artifacts
    • Soap
    • Room Keys
  • Novelties
    • Toilet Paper
    • Rubber Dog Excrement
  • Promotional Materials
    • Booklets
    • Handouts
    • Miscellaneous Souvenirs
    • Postcards
  • Textiles
    • Bags and Purses
    • Clothing
      • Hats
      • Shirts
    • Towels

Pop culture

American storyteller, radio and TV personality, Jean Shepherd began his TV movie, The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters, with a trip to South of the Border. He stops at a fireworks market called Fort Pedro, which leads him into the story of the most memorable Fourth of July during his childhood in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana.

The opening scene of Season 3, Episode 5 of Eastbound & Down shows characters Eduardo Sanchez Powers and Casper robbing a Mexican store leading the viewers to believe they were still in Mexico. The scene later reveals they were actually robbing the gift shop at South of the Border and are now traveling in the United States.

See also

External links

The mood turned from bleak to grim during a trip to the 200-foot-high Sombrero Observation Tower. Lit up at night, it’s a beacon to travelers. But during the day, I paid $2 to ride in a dingy, graffitied glass elevator to the top of the lookout perch, where there was farmland to my left and the shimmering asphalt of parking lots to my right, bisected by the cars speeding down I-95. I paid for a bird’s-eye view of a parking lot. What could be more American?

Because that’s what South of the Border is: a bizarre perspective on America and its contradictions. Its carnival brightness draws you in with the promise of fun. But there’s a racist origin story. There’s unabashed consumerism. And there’s the way it all looks shiny from far away, but up close you can see the chips and cracks in the facade.

The cracks are what make it interesting. Of course you want to stop the car.

—By Maura Judkis, 14 July, 2016

Sources

  • Peter Greenberg, Don't Go There! The Travel Detective's Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World 2008
  • Maura Judkis, This sc roadside attraction is garish tacky and un-pc—but I stopped anyway, Washington Post, 14 July, 2016
  • King, P. Nicole, Sombreros and Motorcycles in a Newer South: The Politics of Aesthetics in South Carolina's Tourism Industry|date=January 2016
  • Roadside America,
  • Thesis
  • Historic Photos of Robeson county, North Carolina
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