A wooden boardwalk of arcade games and fudge shops beside a Ferris wheel, redressed for Netflix's Along for the Ride and the Prime Video film Merv.
What Carolina Beach looks like
The boardwalk runs along the sand as a row of one and two storey shops in stucco and painted concrete block, orange, turquoise and yellow fronts with hand lettered and blade signs over the doors. , whose neon sign reads Since 1939, still serves from a narrow storefront near the Boardwalk Pavilion. The pavilion is the open deck at the boardwalk's centre, where free concerts play in summer.
The sits a few doors down, its games lit up behind glass storefronts. On the amusement block toward Cape Fear Boulevard, a lit carousel turns beside a Ferris wheel more than 100 feet tall, with smaller rides packed in around them.
Side streets behind the boardwalk hold a mix of stucco motels and small wood frame cottages. The is a two storey Art Deco building painted yellow, with rounded parapets, white lattice balustrades and pelican statues at the gate. It stands a few blocks north on Carolina Beach Avenue. The , a low motor court off Cape Fear Boulevard, has rooms lining a shared parking court.
North along the shore, reaches roughly 670 feet over the water on wood pilings, with a two storey pier house and an open air tiki bar built out at its foot. Dune grass and a numbered lifeguard stand mark the beach entrances along the sand below.
Shot in Carolina Beach
The production for the Netflix film Along for the Ride redressed storefronts along the boardwalk, spending more than half its shoot days in town. The Prime Video film Merv dressed the boardwalk near the pavilion and gazebo stage with Christmas wreaths and lights, then filmed dialogue at the Starlite Inn.
Along for the Ride, 2022
The production converted the real estate office Nest Realty into the boutique the lead character works at. Nauti Dog Restaurant, Pleasure Island Rentals, Carolina Smokehouse, Carolina Beach Scuba, Melissa's Coin Laundry, Havana's Restaurant and North End Java Stop were each redressed as other storefronts along the boardwalk. Two private houses on Carolina Beach Road and Carolina Beach Avenue stood in for scenes off it.
What Carolina Beach can double for
Wildwood, New Jersey
Wildwood's wide boardwalk has the same arcade signage, fudge shops and amusement piers, with Doo Wop motels from the 1950s through the 1970s lining the blocks behind it. Its boardwalk runs nearly two miles with three piers, so a tight frame keeps Carolina Beach's smaller scale from reading as empty by comparison. Try searching Doo Wop motels now.
Ocean City, Maryland
Ocean City's own boardwalk pairs a wooden fishing pier with an arcade and a Ferris wheel at its southern end, the same combination of pier, arcade and rides Carolina Beach has at a smaller scale. Ocean City's boardwalk runs close to three miles with taller hotels behind it, so a frame held tight to the pier and arcade keeps the comparison honest. Try searching boardwalk arcade and pier now.
Folly Beach, South Carolina
Folly Beach's Center Street runs a few blocks of low motels and cottages down to its own fishing pier, a smaller and quieter version of Carolina Beach's own approach to the water. Folly Beach has no boardwalk or arcade, so only its motel street and pier are close enough to use, not the amusement block. Try searching beach motel street now.
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