Having some funds over the boardwalk.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER, Carolina Beach

The boards are long gone from Carolina Beach's boardwalk. It's just three blocks of oceanfront bars, restaurants, arcades and surf shops connected by concrete walkways. The name has stuck, though, and so have its businesses and fans. Now, they might be on the way out, too, victims of their blue-collar image.

Carolina Beach has long been known primarily as the summer playground of millworkers and tobacco farmers. Local officials have tried to change that, and now the town, along with nearby Kure Beach and Fort Fisher, markets itself as Pleasure Island. There are more upscale businesses, including the 11-story, 137-room Carolina Beach Courtyard by Marriott, which opened in July 2003.

But merchants along the boardwalk have stayed true to their roots, and some feel threatened. Dava Villapiano, owner of The Silver Dollar tavern, says town officials tried to close boardwalk bars last year, passing an ordinance that declared them nonconforming uses. "There's no such thing as a conforming business along the boardwalk," she says. "It's not just about the bars. My feeling was that that was the easiest thing for them to attack and get support on."

Dennis Barbour, who spent six years on the Town Council before being elected mayor last year, admits that the town wants to improve the...