AC repair inPembroke, GA

Pembroke has a new eatery, with this one touting its authentic Korean cuisine.

Korean Food and Deli owner Pok Holbrook speaks passionately about how Korean food should taste. She said what sets her menu apart is that it is true to Korean culture. Her menu includes pork belly, seafood and spicy rice cakes and fried dumplings.

“It tastes different,” said Holbrook. “A lot of people, when they try my food, they know it’s authentic.”

At the restaurant's opening on Monday, Tracy Smith, who works for the Bryan County Sheriff’s Office, was the first customer of the day. When word of the restaurant began to spread around town, she kept her fingers crossed that it was not just another rumor.“I’ve heard everyone is so excited and we have not had something like this before I don’t believe,” said Smith. “I heard about it a couple weeks ago. I’m glad they are open.”

Holbrook moved to Orlando from South Korea in 1976.

“America is dreamland,” said Holbrook. “That is what we used to call it.”

After she arrived in the U.S., she realized it was a much harder to get established. She traveled throughout the country and did whatever she could to make a living, including cleaning hotels in Chicago.

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She lived in Atlanta and Macon before settling in Savannah, where she owned Korea Garden on Derenne Avenue, a popular hotspot for original Asian cuisine.

Holbrook credits much of her cooking skills to her church members who gave her the confidence to utilize her skillset in the kitchen.

“When I started going to a Korean church in 1986, I started cooking for them and they fell in love with my food,” said Holbrook. “I used to have a big garden and used all the fresh vegetables.”

Holbrook is collecting her seeds for the vegetable garden she plans to grow. Her collection includes cucumber and an array of leafy greens. She is anxiously awaiting spring so she can grow and pick the crops from her land instead of making the drive to Atlanta twice a week to get her produce.

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Aside from the positive feedback about the opening of her new restaurant, Holbrook said there is one other thing that was proof the meals she prepared were satisfying.

“When people are dancing while they are eating, you know the food is good.”

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.

The Fox Theatre Institute (FTI), the Community Partnerships arm of Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, has awarded Pembroke’s Friends of Tos Theatre, Inc. a financial grant award totaling $25,000 to engage the consulting firm Sinclair Townes & Co to assist the local non-profit organization raise funds for the revitalization of the Tos Theatre.

“With FTI’s grant of $25,000, we can move forward with our capital campaign to revitalize the Tos Theatre,” said Elizabeth Norman, President of Friends of Tos Theatre, Inc.

“This funding enables us to hire fundraising professionals to guide us in raising the funds needed to re-open the Tos Theatre which will serve as a catalyst for the development and revitalization of our entire downtown area. We envision a bustling hub of culture, entertainment, and community engagement, and it’s all within reach,” Norman said.

Pembroke’s Tos Theater was built by S.G. Tos in 1938. It hosted movies until it closed in the 1970s and was a carpet warehouse in the 1980s and 1990s, according to city officials in a previous interview.

The FTI program has committed more than $2.7 million since launching in 2008, according to a press release. Marking its 15th anniversary, FTI aims to bolster both economic and cultural vitality in local communities, extending from Atlanta and beyond, through its 20232024 grant program.

“Now in our 15th year, FTI has had a tremendous opportunity to increase not only the preservation of historic theatres, but to see positive results for the ongoing economic and cultural impact created in their surrounding downtowns. We have many exciting plans for the next 15 years and look forward to continuing investing, but also expanding, the footprint of programs here at the Fox,” said Leigh Burns, director of the Fox Theatre Institute, in a press release.

FTI also manages various outreach initiatives such as “Fox in a Box,” a complimentary educational program for Georgia’s elementary schools; Georgia Presenters, a unique statewide talent booking network; and Preservation Grants, which offer exclusive funding options for historic theater preservation.

For more information about the Fox Theatre Institute, visit www. foxtheatre.org. To learn more about the upcoming renovated TOS Theatre in Pembroke, visit the Facebook page entitled “Pembroke TOS Theatre Revitalization’’.

About the Fox Theatre Institute

The Fox Theatre Institute (FTI) is a dynamic outreach program offering historic preservation expertise, consultation, and education to performing arts venues in Georgia and the region. Created by Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, an iconic attraction widely applauded for being a catalyst for positive change in the community, FTI pays it forward, helping other cultural institutions renew, reinvigorate, and restore artistic vitality in their backyards and beyond. Keeping environmental and economic impact top of mind, FTI offers the financial assistance, restoration support and operations mentoring needed to leverage scarce resources and stimulate local economies. Not only that, but it keeps the artistic pulse of beloved communities beating for decades to come.

Garrett Darsey and Chris Martin were recently promoted at First Bank of Coastal Georgia, a two-branch bank with locations in Pembroke and Richmond Hill, GA. Darsey was promoted to the position of President and CEO at First Bank of Coastal Georgia. Martin was promoted to Executive Vice President of the First Bank of Coastal Georgia.

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Darsey Promoted to President

Garrett Darsey, 29, was recently promoted to the position of President and CEO at First Bank of Coastal Georgia located in Pembroke, GA. With a second bank in Richmond Hill, GA, he will lead the two-branch bank.

Darsey, a member of the Southeast Bulloch High School class of 2013, is a 2018 graduate of Georgia Southern University where he earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and was also a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After graduation, Doyce Mullis, Jr. hired him to be the bank’s Loan Processor. He was promoted to Assistant Vice President for Compliance and Administration in January 2021, and then Vice President in January 2023. Mullis and the board of directors promoted him to President in December 2023.

He completed the Community Bankers Association Consumer Lending School in 2019 and the Community Bankers Association Leadership Academy in 2020. He also holds a certification with Bloomberg Market Concepts.

He was a member of the Statesboro Bulloch Chamber of Commerce Leadership Bulloch class of 2023. He has also served as a member of the Finance Committee and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees at Pittman Park United Methodist Church in Statesboro, GA.

Martin Promoted to Executive Vice President

Chris Martin, 50, was recently promoted to Executive Vice President of the First Bank of Coastal Georgia, a two-branch bank with locations in Pembroke and Richmond Hill, GA.

Martin is a member of the Pinewood Christian Academy class of 1992. He earned his Diploma in Computer Information Systems from Ogeechee Technical College. He has training in current Federal Lending Regulations, and has completed Consumer and Commercial Lending Schools, and Advanced Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Officers School.

He began his tenure with First Bank of Coastal Georgia in 2012. He has served in the areas of Levy Operations, Information Technology, and Human Resources. In addition, he has served as the Automated Clearing House Manager and the BSA Officer. He also worked at South Georgia Bank in Customer Service and as a Loan Processor.

In addition to his banking experience, Martin has also served in the automotive industry in sales and leasing, and as a finance manager. Martin is a member of the National Vocational Technology Honor Society, enjoys football, and other outdoor activities.

His name is Charlie Higgins and he has a restaurant in Pembroke, Georgia.

He calls it Higgins Place, without an apostrophe.

We happened on it by chance.

It had been a busy morning. We, that is brother Martin, my favorite sister-in-law Lib and I, had driven west on Highway 204 on one of our rambles, determined to find the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal and on-site museum.

Drove right past it and had to turn around. The parking lot was empty.

Not a soul around. Museum closed tight as a tick with a guest book outside for us to sign and a notice we were to pay $3 apiece for entrance fees.

Since we were already there and out of the car, we decided to take a little walk around and went through a garden gazebo where there was another guest book with a time in and time out column. I wondered who was going to come looking for us.

It was kinda snaky, enchanted-woods snaky, barely enough sunlight for a butterfly. You could smell the green.

A dirt path led to a small wooden bridge that arched over a sunken waterway, a rather pathetic waterway with an equally pathetic stream that trickled past walls of handmade brick, walls that were pocked with ferns and worn with age. Picture-postcard perfect, photographer’s challenge, an artist's delight.

We stood and looked down at what had been in 1824 man's answer to transporting cotton. Rice, guano, timber, navel stores and whatever else they needed to send from the heart of Georgia down the Ogeechee River, barge across to the Savannah River and its major shipping port. With one tidal lock on the Savannah River and another on the Ogeechee, the 16.5 miles of canal had four lift locks to carry the barges through.

Over to one side, bigger than a garage door, was a replica of a wooden shoe used to contain the water at the ends of a lock, beams at least 12 inches square, immense, yet connected so cleverly to a slim handle, a lone man could open and close the apparatus.

Standing there in the quiet, looking down the length of this once-busy canal that, except for the bit of water under the bridge, was now simply an overgrown ditch.

It was here that 600 African and Irish immigrant laborers drowned mosquitoes with their sweat, methodically digging away with shovels honed to an acceptable sharpness, men who axed stubborn tree roots, hauled out dirt, faced the sides of locks with brick and at last anchored the facings so mules could pull shallow draft barges along on the canal waters.

By the 1860s, this innovative venture into transportation, decimated by yellow fever epidemics, was well on its way to being supplanted by the Central of Georgia railroad.

Now, this glimpse into the past is on the National Register of Historic Places and destined to become a favorite linear park for enthusiasts unfazed by the possibility of snakes, spooks and swamp thanks mostly to the Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Society.

It was past lunch time.

At the pace we were going, we would never be first out of the pot.

The museum's address on the brochure was 681 Fort Argyle Road, Savannah, GA 31419, with not a restaurant in sight.

Our GPS was hopeless.

We drove until we saw a road sign. Pembroke.

We'd never been. So we went.

“Best way to find a restaurant is to ask someone,” said Lib, and we stopped next to a box truck with a painted ad for chicken on its side.

Lib asked the driver about where to eat. He was enthusiastic about a place just before the traffic light in Pembroke. “Can’t remember the name, but it was really good,” he said.

Easy to find. Right on the highway. Closed.

“Over there,” said Lib, “across the railroad tracks. You see it? The sign?” We did.

And that's how we found Higgins.

Martin pulled up to the front of the building and before we could open a car door, a woman parked next to us.

“How is it?” We asked her.

“They have fantastic cheeseburgers,” she said.

Martin and Lib ordered meat and three. I ordered a club sandwich.

Good food.

And the company was even better. Chef Higgins came out of the kitchen and allowed as how he had been with Carey Hilliard’s in Savannah for 20 years and decided to strike out on his own. His partner Kim Adams is the maker of desserts that tease the palate with delectable carbs. Our server, who had worked there for four months, had been at the restaurant since 5:30 in the morning and even though she must have been completely worn out, was as nice and polite as you could want.

But the star of conversation was Bob Floyd, a local and long time Higgins customer, who told us about the building's origins, what it used to be and how several buildings had been merged into one and said that if we ever wanted to know anything about Pembroke, anything at all, just ask his son Alex Floyd, who was the city administrator. It was time to go and we walked outside with Bob as he gave explicit directions on which road to take.

With a smile and a friendly wave goodbye, he drove off down the street sitting high on his well-used tractor, which explained his luncheon attire of overalls.

Ah, Pembroke. You are a vulnerable town of fewer than 3,000 souls.

Be careful, there are people who are searching for what you have.

Would they understand driving a tractor to lunch? They drive golf carts.

Annelore Harrell lives in Bluffton and can be reached at anneloreh@aol.com.

PEMBROKE, Ga. (WTOC) - An effort is underway in Pembroke to revitalize the city’s old theater. The TOS theater in downtown Pembroke opened in the 1930′s but closed in the 70′s for economic reasons. Now, one man is working with the city to give this once thriving theater a new life.

“What I see when I come through here is not a rundown place that needs to be demolished. What I see is a thriving cultural center that we can bring back to Pembroke,” said Joseph Frew-Miller.

Among the relics of old films and storage items that now call this theater home comes a vision to bring back theater experiences to north Bryan County.

“We don’t have a cultural hub here. We don’t have a place for people to meet, gather and have cultural experiences.”

Spearheaded by local digital media teacher Joseph Frew-Miller, he says the idea to revitalize the old theater came over a conversation with the mayor about shooting locations for his students’ films.

“And then I started talking with her about places to actually show our films. We don’t really have a place here to show a lot of our talent. Even at the high school, we don’t have an auditorium. So, this is a perfect place and it’s a perfect time to bring this project back to life.”

Over the next three years, Miller and the city plan to transform this space from a storage center to a cultural hub, complete with new seating, a new stage, and a new space for local students to show off their work.

It’s a hidden gem, say city staff, coming at a pivotal point ahead of projected growth.

Raul Secundino with the Pembroke Downtown Development Authority Director, said, “they don’t even know we have a theater. It’ll allow them to have something else to do, as far as going to a movie theater. It’s just something else to provide for the community for citizens now but also future citizens that choose to make Pembroke home.”

And for Miller, he hopes this theater’s curtain call comes sooner than later.

“It’s going to be the pride and joy of Pembroke, GA.”

The plans for the theater go beyond the building itself. City staff say they hope to open an outdoor event space next door and renovate the neighboring building into a bistro for the theater.

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