When we first arrived at the store it was packed with customers. We waited a few minutes for the customers to clear out before we made our way inside to introduce ourselves and sit down with the new owners. We were excited to hear about their personal experience as the new owners of such a legendary store.
Once we entered the store we were greeted by Payson Hoover. We introduced ourselves and explained that I published a couple of My Cousin Vinny blog posts and was interested in learning the story behind the Sac-O-Suds. After chatting with Payson for a few minutes his sister, Cary Terrill, appeared from the back room to introduce herself, along with their mother, Delores Hoover. They both jumped right into the conversation and picked up where Payson left off in his story since he had to attend to a steady flow of customers. Savannah and I spent more than a hour chatting with the family about the history of the Sac-O-Suds and the future plans the family has on deck.
Future Plans for the Sac-O-Suds
According to Cary, the family is currently in the process of starting a river tubing business on the premises since their property sits on the Ocmulgee River. While they are still kicking around a few names, the family favorite at the time of this writing is River Rock Tubing. We think it’s a great name and hope they go with it. As for the property directly across the street from the Sac-O-Suds (the trailer where Vinny interviewed Mrs. Riley, the witness with the Coke-bottle glasses), it be converted into a parking lot for tubing customers.
Sac-O-Suds Featured in Rectify
While the movie My Cousin Vinny put the Sac-O-Suds on the map, the store can also be seen in an upcoming episode of the television show, Rectify, which airs on the Sundance Channel. On April 21, 2014 the Terrill-Hoover family was nice enough to close its doors for the day so the Rectify crew could use the location to film an episode for their second season which will premiere on June 19, 2014. According to a source, the scene involves a car driving over the Ocmulgee River bridge and stops at the Sac-O-Suds to use the pay phone. Just an FYI: no real pay phone exists outside the Sac-O-Suds.
After hanging out with the owners for a while Savannah and I took a bunch of photos and recorded a couple of videos to share with the My Cousin Vinny fans. You can check them out on the following pages.
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