Ted’s Fun on the River closed its doors last December, but the owners of Hourglass Studios in Wilmington plan to keep the listening room’s legacy alive.

WILMINGTON — Nestled almost under the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge at the end of Castle Street sits an unassuming white house that, to most passersby, isn’t eye-catching. It’s no house (at least not anymore), but it was home to one of Wilmington’s staple live music scenes — and it’s about to reopen.

Live at Ted’s is the second incarnation of Ted’s Fun on the River — a coffee shop and a listening room for live music.

Unlike many bars around town that feature live music, Ted’s is different — instead of heading to a bar to drink and catch up with friends while music plays in the background, Ted’s is all about the listening experience, owners Trent Harrison and Whitney Lanier said.

But that doesn’t mean it won’t be a great place to catch up with friends you might run into; guests are always welcome to take your conversations outside on either one of the porches.

Music is a major part of Harrison’s life — he is the owner of Hourglass Studios, a music recording studio in Wilmington — so making the leap to purchase Ted’s was a logical move, he said.

“I run a recording studio here in town so music is our lives basically, we had been to Ted’s before and really liked the place — it’s got something really special going on being a listening room — it’s not your average bar, people are sitting and attentively paying attention to the music,” Harrison said.

The two decided to take the plunge on Ted’s back in February and have been putting in work to make the music spot their own.

Ted’s had been a local music spot for a decade in Wilmington before the owners decided it was time to retire, but they had hoped someone would be willing to carry on Ted’s tradition and keep the business. Minus a minor name change and some cosmetic improvements, Harrison and Lanier plan to do just that.

Harrison said he hopes to bring in some new musicians to the bar but will certainly continue to host the Americana bands Ted’s was previously known for. He also hopes to be able to record some live sets in partnership with his recording studio for “Live at Ted’s” exclusives.

In an effort to open up space they tore down a wall to allow for more viewing and listening room for guests, but besides that, they want to maintain Ted’s previous aesthetic.

“We got the place and there were a couple of things that we wanted to do just to kind of make it a little bit easier for the audience to appreciate the music. There used to be a wall and so we kind of opened it up a little bit so everybody would have a little better view of the actual music happening, but we’re really wanting to keep it the same otherwise … it was a really great and consistent patronage to this place so we want to encourage those people to come back and we also want to invite new people that maybe never stumbled off the beaten path down here,” Lanier said.

Harrison and Lanier are planning a grand opening event on September 6-8 with three nights of live music, wine, and beer.

Live at Ted’s is located at 2 Castle Street in Wilmington and can be found online as well as on Facebook.

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