Practical Magic in Coupeville

The Coupeville Chamber of Commerce calls the town the film home of Practical Magic. The 1998 Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman movie, the chamber says, prominently features historic downtown shops and Front Street. Buildings were whitewashed for the cameras and later returned to their original colors. Props and memorabilia from the shoot are on view at the Coupeville Visitors Information Center.

The chamber’s walking tour maps the storefronts. The 1871 Sedge Building — today’s Little Red Hen Bakery — was Sally’s Verbena Botanicals, used for interior and exterior shots. Toby’s Tavern, in the Whidbey Cash and Carry building since 1938, became the Catch and Fry behind a two-story false front. A white picket fence built for the movie still stands between those two buildings. The hanging ice cream sign at what is now Kapaw’s Iskreme was a prop and is still there.

The Owens house is nowhere on the island. The chamber says it was only a shell, built in a county park on San Juan Island and torn down after filming. The pin is Coupeville’s waterfront, the town that played New England for a few weeks and then got its colors back.