Wilmington, NCMovie & Television
Filming Locations

Coleman’s Dream Theater

Dream a Little Dream (1989)

ColemanThalianB
© Vestron Pictures, Inc.A full audience appears for the lip-synching battle

During the opening credits, Coleman (Jason Robards) dreams that he’s performing onstage, singing “Dream a Little Dream”—or at least lip synching to it.

An interesting note about this shot, it’s a long take, a continuous (or appears to be) shot which begins with Coleman before an empty theater, but when the camera comes back around, the theater is packed. People must have had to lie on the floor and pop up, or, all rush in while the camera was not on them. Neat shot, too bad it probably doesn’t get much notice. Well done, Marc Rocco.

This is filmed within Thalian Hall, which has a long history in Wilmington. I personally attended the Under the Dome premiere there, which Stephen King was hosting. I sat near Josh Carter, who played a fireman named Rusty, who played Linda’s (Natalie Martinez) boyfriend trapped outside the dome. It’s a venue for live performances, special events, and has movie nights as well.

Across Princess Street is the New Hanover County Courthouse which the exterior was used in FOX’s Sleepy Hollow as the Sleepy Hollow Police Station.

Beaumont’s Hardware Store

Blue Velvet (1986)

Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) stops by to pick up some bug control contraption as part of his ploy to be a naughty boy.

Exterior and possibly interior shot at this location which had been vacant for many years, but now is a market.

Beaumont's
© Orion Pictures CorporationYou can visit, but Double Ed probably don’t work there anymore.

Arline’s Diner

Blue Velvet (1986)

This location used to be a government office when I lived in Wilmington in 1999, then became another Port City Java location, and is now Flying Pi Kitchen. Actually, scratch that, it’s now Savorez. Both exterior and interior was used, but the interior has since changed.

It seems that this would be a great stop for any Blue Velvet fan to reenact the Jeffery Beaumont/Sandy Williams scheming scene (Kyle MacLachlan/Laura Dern). This is only a few blocks away from the First Baptist Church and Dorothy Vallens’ apartment building.

Content ©2007–2025 H.O.W.D.Y. Media, except where otherwise noted. All images and trademarks are property of their respective owners.