I was raised in L.A. (Lower Alabama) and I now live in North Florida. I have traveled all over the South and I must say that I find South Carolina to be my least favorite Southern State because I find it to be the most backwards partly because of all their weird laws (like the tatoo one.) When driving to places in the South, I try to get through S.C. as fast as I can and spend as little of my money as possible there.
Have they increased the speed limit to 70 mph yet on the expressways? It use to be only 65mph and was one of a very few in the South that was that low in rural areas.
There is a South Carolina license tag that has the slogan “Beautiful places, smiling faces.” We use to always change that to read “Ugly places, inbred faces.”
But I guess after decades of hypocritical conservative rule by the pseudo monarchy of Strom Thurman, the residents of SC are just getting use to freedom. Welcome to democracy y’all!
I’ve never really liked Charleston, actually. (I know, blasphemy.) It’s a nice historical place to visit, but honestly I think the city is a vile pit. One wrong turn and you’re in such a ghetto as to make East St. Louis look like Beverly Hills. It’s got all the bad points of a dirty run-down beach town in Florida with none of the good beach, to name a thing. It just seems to me like it’s a lot of the worst of the state that you’re going to find in an urban area.
Of course, Columbia is my home town, so I’m partial to it, and I’m sure that tourists or people just passing through have a whole different perspective on it from me. But I hated the place all my life until I went to college in Atlanta, and came back with a whole new appreciation for it. It’s small enough to be friendly but has the university and state government to make it more cosmopolitan. The museums and the zoo are lovely, we have beautiful old neighborhoods full of friendly people, and the vast majority of those people aren’t the ones who make it on the news “representing” our state. (The better class of people, for instance, do not eat at Maurice’s.) Ignorance and bigotry are not and never have been limited by geography.
Sure, the blue laws are stupid, and that makes me furious sometimes, but there are stupid liquor laws everywhere. Go to Pennsylvania, for fun, and try to buy a six pack at the grocery store or convenience store. That’s also the only state I’ve seen billboards for the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in, an organization I’d thought had gone out sometime before World War II.
[hijack] Anybody remember that Harvard dialect survey? One of the questions was “what do you call a drive through liquor store?” My friends and I wrote in “Holy shit, look at that drive through liquor store!” The very idea! And then I went down to my parents’ house in Florida and saw two on opposite corners!!! [/hijack]
Oh, for visitors to the state before we get to vote on the free pour referendum (please!) - the answer is to buy a pitcher of Long Island Iced Tea, or whatever multiple-liquor drink you want. Unsatisfactory for when you just want one, but that’s how it’s done.
For those who want a tattoo, can’t help you there except Ace Tattoos in Charlotte is, IMHO, excellent.
Resemble as in you patronize them? You do know why we don’t, right? (And plus, their barbeque is nasty. No reason to eat bad barbeque in this state, no matter what kind you like.)
Hate the no tattoo law, but it’s only an hour to NC (I’m in Murrells Inlet, just south of Myrtle Beach). Mrs. Labtrash got one for her 30th Bday this year.
What I REALLY hate is that the package stores (liquor-you can get beer anywhere here) close AT 7PM !! In MA it was 11pm IIRC
Originally being from eastern NC, I didn’t realize there was anything but bad barbeque round these parts. And please tell me why I should not be going to Maurices, I love his cheesy billboards out on 77. He looks like Maury from Good Fellas.
Is there anything but bad barbeque outside of eastern NC?
Regarding the seat belt/helmut thing:
IIRC, highway funds are tied to certain laws being passed, seat belt and drinking age among them. In other words: no seat belt law = no highway funds.
There is some decent barbeque to be found in northeastern SC. But out here as well as Charlotte and most of western NC, the sauce is red. Why do people equate red with barbeque sauce ? The first time I saw that stuff I thought it was ketchup. Hell, it is ketchup. Memphis ribs are pretty damn good but that aint barbeque even though they call it that. They are just ribs.
I lived in Greenville for two years and hated every second of it. The law there was: all bars were closed on Sunday. So last call was about 11:50 p.m. and at midnight, you found yourself blinking in the parking lot lights, thinking, WTF is going on here? I’m still sober!
Then I discovered that, in private clubs, you can drink all night if you want to. Private clubs can sell alcohol on Sundays. So the good bars/clubs (whatever) had sign up sheets at the door. They took your cover charge, you signed the sheet and presto! You’re a member and don’t have to go home at midnight with all the losers.
Poonther told me this law was set up in such a way so all the legislators and rich white men can drink beer while they play golf on Sunday. So the private club clause was written into the law.
Bottom line: I drank plenty on Saturday night/Sunday morning because there was nothing else to do! I always said South Carolina was proof that hell is full and the dead are walking the earth. (I say that about Indiana as well.) Sorry if that offends you. At least I left and don’t stay in a place I hate, disparage it constantly and bitch about being there.
During the flap over the Confederate flag, he made, er, some comments. As I recall, he said black people were really lucky to have been dragged over here and sold as slaves. Oh, and plus he was all about Pat Buchanan for President. It was a while ago, so I forget exactly how it played out, but it was Not Very Nice, and a few of the grocery stores stopped selling his sauce, which led him to scream about his freedom of speech (which dosen’t mean butkis in a private company’s grocery store’s stocking decisions, but I digress.) So anyways, things got very polarized very quickly over Maurice’s and now I certainly wouldn’t be seen there. In the ones here at least, they’re always hiring - and trust me, the job market here is in the tank. That means nobody, but nobody, will work there. Yet somehow he still gets enough business to stay open. (I assume the barbeque consuming demographic is, er, perhaps different in many ways from the food-service-industry demographic.) Sure, he’s free to say or believe whatever he wants to, but I’m also free to take my money elsewhere.
And there is so good barbeque here. You gotta know what places do red sauce, or yellow sauce, or vinegar before you go, of course. And I like them all in different ways. But there’s plenty of small barbeque places one can patronize without associating with a bigoted fool.
I lived in SC for five years. Sucked, hated it. Humid, flat (in the Piedmont, where I was), hot in the summer and hardly ever snow in the winter but cold. Fortunately, I lived 20 minutes away from Charlotte, NC, so at least there was civilization close by.
As I separated from my husband, I learned about a law in SC that says that if you even allow someone to spend the night at your house, they technically live there. And you can’t just kick them out, you must evict them legally. Crazy South Carolina laws.
Zsofia , you’re a little late on the Maurices fill in but thanks anyway. I played up in Chester tonight at Patriots (I noticed they fly the confederate flag also) and I asked if anyone knew the score on Maurices. Everyone did. The opinions on the whole thing were very… ah … South Carolina shall we say. At any rate, I never mix politics and food.
Good god! How often do you get tatoos, every other day? Why is such a hassle to go to ATL or Charlotte?
Good. Drive faster. We don’t need your money.
Yes.
What is an inbred face? Have you ever met anyone in SC who is inbred? I haven’t, and I’ve been here all my life. Please tell me more about these inbred people you’ve encountered.
Have you already forgotten the other guy? Fritz Hollings, hello?! Do his decades of hypocritical liberal rule not balance it out?
You need to go back to lurking.
It has changed, albeit only in the city limits. Patience, I’m working on the county
Nitpick, there is a 24 waiting period on the private clubs. And the private bars are nasty, I know, I’m a member of two.
Thanks for that, at least. Really, you should come visit again if you haven’t been in less than five years. Things are much different.
Hey Bruce_Daddy I forgot to mention that we also refer to your region of SC as not the Upstate but the Dumpstate!
Atlanta and Charlotte where all South Carolina people go to sin and have fun.
I would drive faster through your state, but I don’t wanna get a ticket and spend even more time and money there. From what I read, S.C. does need my money because it seems your public schools are in shambles when compared to other states.
And nah, why would I go back to lurking when I can have more fun agitating good ole boys like yourself.
Interestingly, every bartender I’ve spoken to says they actually prefer the mini-bottles because it makes inventory easier, and you get a guaranteed amount.
Also, every bartender I’ve spoken to says that their manager/owner plans to convert to free-pour when/if it becomes legal because it holds their costs down.
And please tell me why I should not be going to Maurices, I love his cheesy billboards out on 77. He looks like Maury from Good Fellas.