Comments (0)Alan Schafer
Alan’s `Town’
August 7, 2009
You’ve probably passed by it a few times, on your way to and from Florida. Maybe you stopped by and bought a tchotchke, or a margarita.
But you didn’t forget it, did you? The countless, silly billboards warning you about its impending “arrival,” the glow of blinding neon in the distance, the 165-foot Sombrero Tower and explosion of kitsch, and the iconic, ubiquitous and offensive “Pedro” mascot.
Of course we’re talking about South of the Border, the town that’s not a town but an unabashed tourist trap, straddling the North/South Carolina border. The roadside attraction has restaurants, motels, gas stations, an amusement park, plenty of shopping, campsites and fireworks outlets. (FYI, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Beranke worked there as a waiter to get through Harvard.)
Yes, we all know it’s tacky and ridiculous, but did you know it was created by a Baltimore-born Jew? And this year, S.O.B. is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding?
To commemorate the occasion, a pair of young documentary makers, Jesse Berger and Nate Mallard, have come out with “S.O.B. and the Legend of Alan Schafer.” The documentary is currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit. It premiered last April at the Charleston (S.C.) International Film Festival.
So how did S.O.B., located in Dillon, S.C., off of I-95, come to be? Born in Charm City at the start of World War I, Alan Heller Schafer lived nearly all his life in rural Dillon County. Originally, he founded a hot-pink beer stand on the hallowed ground where SOB now thrives. Since the spot is just shy of the Tarheel State line, Schafer went with that “south-of-the-border” concept to a maniacal degree and expanded his mecca with Mexican motifs and curios (obviously he had a thing for camp).
Schafer’s idea morphed into an economic empire, and S.O.B. grew to more than a square mile, becoming its own unofficial quirky jurisdiction of twisted capitalism-gone-mad. A business and marketing genius, Mr. Schafer died in 2001, but his concept has lived on, to the sheer joy of trinket and poncho lovers everywhere. If you get a chance, check out the documentary.