WILMINGTON — People and their pups can now belly up to the pine at Ruff Draft, the area’s first dog bar on Wrightsville Avenue, which opened over the weekend. It’s a trend gaining momentum, adding to the bottom line of a growing pet industry that, in 2021, drew in $126 billion on pet treats and food, supplies and medicine, vet care and other services, according to the American Pet Products Association. In North Carolina, some of those “other services” include dog bars; curren... read more

Bessie's Still legend after all these years. Bessie's, at 133 N. Front St., where the Orton Pool Room was most recently, hosted a lot of live music. (Guitar great Dick Dale played the low-ceilinged, underground room to a packed house.) But Bessie's was also a destination for billiards, with a half-dozen tables in the sprawling space -- not to mention a home base for improv and sketch comedy, spawning groups The Comically Impaired and Changing Channels. They even did plays there as Bessie's Underground Mole Pro... read more