August 3, 2009

Dillon, SC

South of the Border

A very long time ago...

(when I-95 disappeared somewhere in Georgia and reappeared somewhere in Florida) our family took a trip from NC to Miami.

Even as a child, I remember the accelerating onslaught of billboards advertising Pedro's South of the Border

(just over the South Carolina line). Don't quote me on this but what I remember is a fireworks/beer stand operating out of a trailer masked by a large false front (movie set style).

Today, there are 120 billboards for more than 200 miles and you can ride an elevator to the top of a 200' tall sombrero which of course, I did....

PS. (another bit of highway nostalgia)

1925 Burma Shave jingle: SHE KISSED... THE HAIRBRUSH...BY MISTAKE...SHE THOUGHT IT WAS...HER HUSBAND, JAKE .... BURMA SHAVE

From 1925 to 1963, one of the most successful advertising campaigns ever, was launched by the Burma-Vita company. Typically, six consecutive small signs would be posted along the edge of highways, spaced for sequential reading by passing motorists. The last sign was always the name of the product.