South of the Border stories

[Jason From Buffalo]

I wish I would have listened to the show live on Tuesday. I actually had something to contribute for once.
I've been touring fairly regularly for the past 7-8 years. For years we would pass by all the the South of the Border signs and just laugh. It was agreed that it looked like the worst place ever and that we would never make the stop. So for years this was upheld, then last year we had an overnight drive. I was asleep in the back of the van, and was awoken by the familiar slowing/turning down that signified a gas/bathroom break.
I look out the window and am terrified to see that we are pulling into South of the Border. Apparently we were about to run out of gas, and the stations we had recently passed had all been closed.
This place is completely terrifying at 4am. All of the lights for everything were still on (well the ones that worked), but it was completely deserted. I felt like tumbleweeds should have been rolling by. We got our gas, and wandered around a bit. Every once in a while some creepy dude would pop out of the darkness and just stare at us. Our wandering lasted maybe 2 minutes before we jumped back in the van and got out of there as quick as we could.
Hopefully I'll never have to make a return trip. I have a feeling it's not much different mid day then it is at 4am.

[Pidgeon]

The amount of billboards they use to promote that place is ridiculous. When I see them, the first thing I always think about is how bad the food probably is.

I hate that it's just a thirty minute ride from my house.

[Adblau1]

I have the unfortunate distinction of having actually *stayed* at the hotel at South of the Border when I was a kid. 

The billboards were gimmicky things that--when driving my sister down to school from NY to NC and continuing on to visit relatives in FL--would utterly delight my brother and me (forgive us, we were very, very young.  We never sausage a place).  And my mom, bless her soul, thought it would be great to stay there.

The place was a dump.  Obviously.  We're talking 1987 and 1988 here, so the place was probably *slightly* less seedy than it is today (i.e., I don't remember any adult mags, and we steered fairly clear of the "leather" store).  In retrospect, I should probably get multiple VD tests for swimming in that pool.  The hotel was shockingly deserted.  It was as much of a sleepcheap as you might imagine.

The real kicker though, is that after staying there, eating the somehow-offensively-Mexican cuisine and riding the giant sombrero up superhigh to look into... a field... across the border...

we ended up staying there again.

Twice more.

The final time, my mom literally moved the dresser in front of the bedroom door for fear of the other guests.

Adam

[Christina]

Laurie posted this in the chat but Chris from SC also tweeted this to me - it's a more thorough recap (and pics!) of his time at South of the Border:

http://www.the-isb.com/?p=2606

[waitwuuuut]

. . .

[yesno]

When I was in 2nd grade, all the lucky kids who went to Florida got to stop at South of the Border, and I mythologized it in my mind based on their t-shirts.  It also showed up on plenty of central NJ bumper stickers.

I stopped in there once.  It's a shithole.

[Pidgeon]

I just remembered that I'm going to Myrtle Beach on monday. I'll take pictures!

[Steve in North Hollywood]

Laurie posted this in the chat but Chris from SC also tweeted this to me - it's a more thorough recap (and pics!) of his time at South of the Border:

http://www.the-isb.com/?p=2606

Sweet frog on the mini golf course!

[mackro]

South Of The Border vs Wall Drug?

[Joe Rogaine]

I was just looking at the South of the Border wiki page and the words "Dirty Old Man Shop" are in the first couple of sentences.  In the see also section it also has a link to the ethnic stereotype wiki page.


Ive been to Myrtle Beach many times and i go to North Carolina all the time and i don't see how I've never seen this or even heard of it.

[Christina]

South Of The Border vs Wall Drug?

Yeah! I was gonna throw that out there too!

[Pidgeon]

The Creation Museum, along with Wall Drug and South of the Border, forms the holy trinity of tacky, ignorant Americana rest stops.

[Bryan]

Laurie posted this in the chat but Chris from SC also tweeted this to me - it's a more thorough recap (and pics!) of his time at South of the Border:

http://www.the-isb.com/?p=2606

This is a great blog. Thanks for the link.

[Kim Kelly]

Ive been to Myrtle Beach many times and i go to North Carolina all the time and i don't see how I've never seen this or even heard of it.

What?? How? What road are you taking? The billboards are littered all over I-95!

[Christina]

This is a great blog. Thanks for the link.

Yeah, it's pretty good! He's called before & I hope he sticks around ... his twitter nick is @theisb too.