Hell's Kitchen from "Dawson's Creek"
LOCATION
Hell's Kitchen, the bar where Joey (Katie Holmes) and Eddie (Oliver Hudson) worked in the sixth season of "Dawson's Creek."
ADDRESS
Hell's Kitchen
118 Princess Street
Wilmington, NC
hellskitchenbar.com
STORY & PHOTOS
In the sixth season of "Dawson's Creek" (one of my all-time favorite shows), Joey (Katie Holmes) gets a job at a bar called Hell's Kitchen. Luckily for fans and travelers, there is a real Hell's Kitchen where "Creek" was filmed in Wilmington, NC, and it looks pretty much exactly like it did on the show. (The owners purchased the bar set from the show’s production and opened it to the public after the show wrapped! I wish this kind of thing happened all the time!)
The real Hell's Kitchen has the same wood bar and dive-y feel as Joey's fictional workplace, and Joey's rowboat from "Dawson's Creek" is part of the real restaurant's decor.
I visited Hell's Kitchen back in 2006 and was psyched to set foot in one of Joey Potter's former hangouts:
When I returned in 2024, I had to recreate that first photo:
All right, I’m about to drop approximately one million Hell’s Kitchen photos for you:
As you can see, there’s one booth with a “Dawson’s Creek” poster hanging above it. On either side of the poster are some framed behind-the-scenes photos as well as “fun facts” about the main actors from the show. I made sure to sit there on one of my three trips to Hell’s Kitchen so I could read everything!
The outside of Hell’s Kitchen is just as cute as the inside, and great for photos too.
Shout out to the staff of Hell’s Kitchen for being super friendly, “Creek”-knowledgeable, and accommodating of photo-taking (and even offering to take photos!). Hell’s Kitchen is a must-visit for “Creek” fans.
Fun fact: Hell’s Kitchen also stood in as the Swinging Donkey on “One Tree Hill.”
STORY & PHOTO CREDITS
Written by Christina Morse
Location photos by Christina Morse, Aaron Morse, and Alex Rice
