south of the border - a photo on Flickriver

            Hamer, SC

I will never forget the first time I saw South of the Border. It was April 1989 and it was the first time I'd been on a road trip down to Florida (I'd been to Florida before, but always by air). We were southbound on I-95 and looking for a place for lunch, and we'd been seeing their billboards for miles and miles. We pulled in to check it out and it was just so, so......campy. Over the top. That was okay, but the restaurant at the time that was open for lunch there looked awfully...sketchy. We had three adults in the car, one teenager, and one child. Nobody wanted to go in lol

South of the Border is still campy and over the top, but it now has many more attractions and buildings and sure seems much less sketchy than it did way back then, and much more touristy. Maybe it's changed, maybe I've changed. Who knows? Probably a bit of both.

Straight from their web site, here's the history of the place:

"In 1949, Mr. Alan Schafer built a simple 18 x 36 foot beer stand known as South of the Border Beer Depot. As it adjoined the North Carolina counties, which were dry of alcoholic beverages, business boomed. A few years later a 10-seat grill was added and the business was re-named South of the Border Drive-In.

In 1954, Mr. Schafer added 20 motel rooms. Materials for the addition were shipped to “Schafer Project South of the (North Carolina) Border”. Mr. Schafer shortened the name of his business to South of the Border.

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. 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 feet (32 m) tall image of the mascot, Pedro."

Taken on: January 23, 2017

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Camera: Nikon D3100, f/7.1, 1/200 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D3100
Lens:	18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/7.1
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 (Windows)
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