'Outer Banks' Star Madelyn Cline's Hometown Guide To Charleston

The first stop when we get to Charleston

is we are stopping

and getting a sweet tea, immediately.

Hi, I'm Madelyn Cline and I'm going to personally

show you around Charleston.

Let's go.

[upbeat music]

What makes Charleston a special place for me,

for starters, I am from there, so it is home.

I'm from about 30 minutes outside of it.

My family is still there,

so when we go shoot Outer Banks,

which we shoot in Charleston I get to see my family.

So there's a lot of really special memories

wrapped up in that city.

[gentle music]

If I were gonna take you for coffee in Charleston

I would first take you to The Daily.

That is my absolute favorite spot in Charleston

to get coffee.

I know everybody there.

They're always so friendly.

They make their almond milk in-house,

and they do an incredible avocado toast.

The food is amazing.

[jazzy music]

These are Benne Wafers and they're made with,

I think it's like a lot of, I'm not sure how to make them.

But I know they're special 'cause they have sesame seeds

in them. [wafer crunching]

And they're kind of salty, super crispy.

They're like the Charleston cookie.

Also not pictured, get you some okra candy.

That's like final blast of Charleston sweets.

And then there's also, these are pralines.

I don't know why they're special,

other than they just taste great.

They're like... [Madelyn giggling]

I feel my blood sugar spiking.

You can find these things literally everywhere.

They are signatures of Charleston.

[upbeat music]

Well you always have to do your lemon.

This is not gonna be graceful.

Sorry.

Laughs maniacally.

Give it a good stir.

Sweet tea's not sweet tea

if there's not a little lemon in it.

Delicious.

You can get this anywhere.

It's not just a Charleston staple, it's a southern staple.

I also love that y'all put it in a mason jar.

That's so cute.

And then we also, when you order half and half,

it's like half sweet, half unsweet.

I remember the first time I ordered half and half,

I think I was in New York,

and they came with like a half and half,

like what you put in your coffee,

like dairy product.

I understood why they looked at me so strange

is because I was asking for just straight half and half.

It just tastes like home.

I have been known to be late for work

because I was stuck in traffic

in the drive-through to get a sweet tea.

[bell dinging]

I'm gonna get in trouble for that.

Oh well.

[crew laughing]

No one's taking this.

Yes.

[jazzy music]

Everybody has their own opinions.

Oysters, that's a very personal experience.

However, if I'm taking you to get the best oysters

I'm taking you to Leon's Oysters & Poultry.

Basically it's fried chicken and oysters,

which I don't think you can get more southern than that.

They have the best oysters,

the best fried chicken, and the best orange wine,

which for me is a successful dinner.

It's salt,

starch,

butter,

and sweet tea.

Those are the four pillars of a southern diet.

[rhythmic music]

I don't really go out in Charleston too much,

but if I'm really feeling like ripping,

I would probably take you to El Jefe

because there's a mechanical bull.

Shots and a mechanical bull is just like,

a recipe for a great night.

And then at that point, anywhere sounds fun.

Enough tequila we could go anywhere.

We could go to Trio, we could go to Republic,

we could go skinny-dipping.

We could go to Folly Beach and skinny-dip.

I think that's illegal though.

My friends and I, when I was in high school,

we used to have this little place

at the very, very end of Folly Beach.

There's this little clearing in the grass,

and we would set up a little fire

and then we would go and shoot Roman candles at each other.

That's my kind of night.

[jazzy music]

If you're gonna go shopping in Charleston,

you know what's really fun is they shut down King Street

and so you can walk in the middle of the road

and everybody's out with their dogs, and there's vendors.

And one of my favorite vendors,

Red Rose Vintage, she has like a little truck,

and she has vintage that comes through all the time

and she has some really cool pieces.

And I love that it's in like a little van.

I've given her a lot of my money.

There's a really great shop called Worthwhile

that has very curated, cool like candles,

clothes made by like small designers, local designers.

Really, really cool place.

That's one of my favorite places in Charleston.

To see the most beautiful sunset,

I would take you to Shem Creek, which is in Mount Pleasant.

There are restaurants literally on Shem Creek

and you can sit and watch a sunset and have a beer

or get bottomless crab legs, or eat oysters.

Up to you.

Beautiful usually because the fishing boats are coming in.

There's dolphins, so you can see dolphins in the creek.

It's very, very postcard-like.

[relaxing music]

A little bit less touristy.

The Old Village in Mount Pleasant

is really picturesque and beautiful.

We shoot there quite a bit.

It's really, really lovely.

People are just on their bikes or walking their dogs.

Isle of Palms is great.

It is touristy, but also again,

they have an amazing strip of restaurants.

They've got a really great place called Poe's

with like sandwiches.

Mex 1, which is tacos,

I can't remember the place,

but they have a frozen rosé, a frosé.

You can just go to the beach, get your frosé,

and just sit there and let your mind go to mush.

[relaxing music]

I did grow up going to some theaters in the area.

I used to go see the ballet a lot with my mom.

There's a very small theater

and the company is called The Flowertown Players.

That was where I did my very first play

that wasn't a school play.

There's another theater downtown called Theatre 99,

and that's like Charleston's improv troupe theater.

That's definitely a like very local's activity,

and hilarious.

And that was kind of where I got that spark

for theater again.

It was just so much fun and very freeing.

It's a great little place to go.

Get tickets online in advance.

They sell out quick.

Charleston is tiny.

It is an extremely small world.

But also the people are incredibly warm and friendly,

and that's always really lovely to come back to.

I love getting on a plane to go back home

and hearing the pilot come over the speaker

and be like, Hey y'all,

[Madelyn giggling]

with a southern accent and greet everyone.

Sparks joy.

Just talking about Charleston gets me really excited,

and I hope you guys want to go check it out for yourself.

Is there vodka in that?

[crew laughing]