Barbary Coast

History

The Barbary Coast welcomed its first customers in 1945 on South Front Street and became a downtown dive for welders, pipefitters, and sailors from the nearby North Carolina shipyard. Buddy Best ran it for some 40 years; after he died, Paul Best had it for close to 25. Eli Ellsworth, who bought it from Paul around 2008, has said he left the room mostly as he found it. Filmmakers have used the bar as a location, including David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, shot in Wilmington and released in 1986.