The Sopranos New Jersey 25 Years Later

Then and Now: Revisiting the Sopranos’ New Jersey 25 Years Later On the anniversary of the show’s premiere, its creator and location manager reflect on some of its iconic settings and why they were chosen. Share full article 626 A man in a black shirt and beige pants stands next to a man in a black jacket and blue shirt, who is sitting at a counter. James Gandolfini and David Chase in 2006 on the set of “The Sopranos,” which made its debut 25 years ago this week. Mr. Chase was insistent that his characters were depicted in real New Jersey settings: “I just didn’t think there was any other way.”Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times Anna Kodé By Anna Kodé To report this story, Anna Kodé interviewed cast members, the location manager and the creator behind “The Sopranos.” Published Jan. 10, 2024 Updated Jan. 12, 2024 As much as it was a show about Italian American mobsters, “The Sopranos” was a show about New Jersey. From scenes of domestic life in a North Caldwell McMansion to after-hours debauchery at a strip club in Lodi, the show captured a snapshot of the Garden State in the late 1990s and 2000s, beguiling viewers with its regional authenticity. “The reality factor for ‘Sopranos’ is what’s so important and so effective,” said Mark Kamine, the show’s location manager and author of the upcoming memoir “On Locations,” which details his time working on the show. “If you’re shooting suburban houses, you can go to Long Island, you can go to Westchester.” But David Chase, the show’s creator, was insistent that his Jersey characters were depicted in the real Jersey. “I just didn’t think there was any other way,” Mr. Chase, 78, said in an interview. “It was part of the whole thing of hiring only Italian American actors from the tristate area.” It was a costly decision. When the team first started making “The Sopranos,” which premiered 25 years ago this week, New Jersey didn’t offer tax breaks for productions filming there. But much of the pilot episode and many of the show’s exterior shots were filmed around local homes, businesses and streets. ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT “Obviously, it paid off,” said Mr. Kamine, 66. Eventually, some of the interiors — including Tony’s house and the backroom of the Bada Bing — were built out in sets in Queens, New York. Here’s a look back at some of the show’s iconic Jersey locations, why they were chosen and what’s there today. Image A person in a white robe walks on a paved driveway toward a house with a beige facade and dark roof. THEN Tony Soprano ascends the driveway of his McMansion in North Caldwell, N.J.Credit...HBO Image A large house with a long paved driveway and a landscaped front yard. NOW The driveway looks the same 25 years later.Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times Tony Soprano’s House Built in 1987 at the end of a cul-de-sac in leafy North Caldwell, this 5,600-square-foot McMansion was decadent compared with the home Tony grew up in — fitting for a character who had become wealthier than his parents but felt he was losing touch with their values. Its placement atop a hill was crucial. Comparing it to the cliché of “the mob guy who goes into the restaurant and wants to sit with his back to the wall,” Mr. Kamine said that the elevation added a protective element to Tony’s house. “No one’s gonna surprise him there.” Editors’ Picks How to Make the Most of Your At-Home Covid Test How to Host a Proper English Pub Lunch Lugging Credit Card Debt Into 2024? Now’s the Time to Make a Plan. SKIP ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT The first episode was filmed in the home, though its owner was hesitant about hosting a film crew. “After the pilot, he said, ‘We’re not doing it again. That was a disaster,’” Mr. Kamine said. He convinced the owner to allow the show to film just the exteriors there, and eventually his attitude shifted. “The fees would go up as the years went by and the show became successful, and he put an addition on his house probably partially thanks to us,” Mr. Kamine said. Image Four people gather around a kitchen island with a green countertop. The Soprano family in their home. Credit...HBO/Photofest Mr. Chase remembered touring several McMansions in preproduction, some of which were “almost comical” in how gaudy they were. One main prerequisite: It had to have a pool, Mr. Chase noted, “for the ducks to land in.” Over the years, Mr. Chase, who grew up not far from Tony’s house, couldn’t help but notice New Jersey’s evolving landscape — woods being cleared for housing developments, natural beauty becoming commercial streets. Tony’s fascination with the ducks is, in part, his feeling that “something was not right in our capitalist society, that we were destroying nature,” Mr. Chase said. ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT In 2019, Tony’s home went on the market with a listing price of $3.4 million. Image A black car sits in front of a white house surrounded by trees. THEN Livia Soprano’s house had a chain-link fence around the front yard.Credit...HBO Image A white house with a bare tree in the grassy front yard. NOW The house looks almost exactly the same today, but it’s missing the fence.Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times Livia Soprano’s House A roughly 10-minute drive from Tony’s home, his mother, Livia, lives on a quiet street in Verona, N.J. Built in 1926, her house is smaller, older and lacking the grandiosity that Tony and his younger cohort aim to project. The house becomes a wedge between mother and son when Tony moves Livia into a retirement community. “That palace you live in, up there on that hill,” Livia tells Tony in Season 2. “Ugh.” The chain-link fence caging the property symbolized Livia’s chilly, repellent nature. Mr. Kamine said the team would often install the fence when they shot there, only to remove it afterward. Logistically, the location was ideal. “That house was in the right place for us, production wise,” said Mr. Chase. “It was close to other places we were shooting.” Image Three cars in the foreground are parked in front of a white-faced building near a roadway and a sign that says 'Bada Bing!' THEN Tony and his associates often met in the Bada Bing strip club, where he even had an office.Credit...HBO Image A parking lot fronts a stone-clad building near a roadway, with a sign that says Satin Dolls. NOW The building, still an active club, has a new facade.Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times Bada Bing The Bada Bing strip club, where Tony and crew partied in the front and did business in the back, is a real-life club called Satin Dolls, on Route 17 in Lodi, N.J. The owner was, fittingly, a man named Tony with mob connections. ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT “I never feel fully at ease in his office, wondering if it’s bugged,” Mr. Kamine writes in his book. The owner initially gave the show permission to film there while the business was closed, but that proved difficult — the club was open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., seven days a week. At first, they’d buy out his lunches on Mondays and Tuesdays, and as the show became more popular, “he would just rub his hands when he saw me coming and be like, ‘how much money are you going to give me this time?’” Mr. Kamine said. Over the years, Satin Dolls has drawn hordes of fans — even ones that normally wouldn’t find themselves at an adult entertainment club. Vincent Pastore, 77, who played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, recalled that at one point the club even offered a “Big Pussy cocktail.” “That guy was cleaning up,” he said. Image A one-story building with a stone facade, a sign reading 'Satriale's' and the statue of a pig standing on the roof. THEN The fictional Satriale’s was created in an available storefront on Kearny Avenue in Kearny, N.J.Credit...HBO Image A parking lot with a gray pickup truck parked on the right side. NOW The building was razed in 2007. Today, it’s a parking lot.Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times Satriale’s Pork Store Satriale’s — the pork store and sandwich shop that Tony’s father took over when its owner couldn’t pay a gambling debt — wasn’t always Satriale’s. In the pilot episode, the hangout was Centanni’s, a real-life butcher shop in Elizabeth, N.J. But the store’s owners told producers that filming was too disruptive to the already thriving business. (It’s still open today.) ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT In need of a new location, Mr. Kamine found a vacant storefront on a commercial street in Kearny, N.J., that he thought could work. He tracked down the owner, who had bought the place to open up a cleaning company. “He was like, ‘I’m just starting my business, why would I do this?’” Mr. Kamine recalled. “But it ended being a great deal for him, because we said, ‘we’ll pay you a nice rent to take over the store, and we’ll pay your rent for your office somewhere else.’” The production designer transformed the storefront into a pork store resembling what was seen in the pilot — including the pig mounted to the roof. The building was demolished in 2007 and is now a parking lot. Steve Schirripa, who played Bobby Baccalieri, was disappointed when he learned it had been knocked down. “I would have liked to go to Satriale’s one more time, because I’m looking at it, this time, with different set of eyes,” said Mr. Schirripa, 66. Image A three-story house with a red-brick bottom and light brown top sits on a street corner, with a car parked out front. THEN Bucco’s Vesuvio in Elizabeth, N.J., before it erupted in Season 1.Credit...HBO Image A three-story house with a dark gray bottom and light brown top sits on a street corner, with a white car parked out front. NOW The corner storefront houses an Italian restaurant called Del Porto Ristorante.Credit...Andrea Mohin/The New York Times ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Bucco’s Vesuvio “It was a great home away from home,” said Mr. Pastore of the restaurant where Tony would regularly sit down with both of his families. “It wasn’t a place where the wiseguys would take their girlfriends. It was a place where Carmela and Tony would go. It was a family restaurant.” A family restaurant that got blown up. The original Vesuvio, located on the ground floor of a building on the corner of South First Street and Elizabeth Avenue in Elizabeth, N.J., erupted during Season 1. To film the scene, Mr. Chase said, “we added a wing that got blown up that we destroyed,” Mr. Chase explained. “The real restaurant wasn’t touched.” The name was inspired by Vesuvius, a restaurant Mr. Chase went to growing up. “My parents used to go there on special occasions, and I was there as a kid and it had really good food.” Today, the location is home to Del Porto Ristorante. Image A brick building, with a sign on top of the facade that says "Pizzaland," has a large square window and a door with a pane of glass. THEN Pizza Land, in North Arlington, N.J., was seen for a brief moment in the show’s opening credits.Credit...HBO Image A sunnier shot of the "Pizzaland" building shows advertising in the window and an "open" sign on the door. NOW After closing briefly, the shop was rescued by a new owner, Eddie Twdroos. “It’s a landmark,” he said.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times Pizza Land Each week in the mood-setting opening credits, Tony would drive past this tiny pizza shack in North Arlington, N.J., making it one of the most recognized facades in Sopranos lore — even though no scenes ever took place there. At one point, its previous owner said, they’d ship pies, shrink-wrapped and on dry ice, to fans around the country. ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Its current owner, Eddie Twdroos, said he still gets plenty of visitors who want to take pictures — and maybe eat the pizza. After the store’s previous owner died in 2010, Mr. Twdroos was passing by when he saw Pizza Land was shut down. He’d run a few pizza shops before, and he recalled thinking, “This is like a perfect location, and a nice little store with a lot of story behind it.” So he decided to rescue it. “You want to keep everything the way it is from the show — the same front, the same sign at the top of the store, everything was left the same,” said Mr. Twdroos, 53. “It’s a landmark.” Anna Kodé writes about design and culture for the Real Estate section of The Times. More about Anna Kodé A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 14, 2024, Section RE, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Sopranos’ New Jersey, Now. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe READ 626 COMMENTS Share full article 626 Inside the World of ‘The Sopranos’ The show, starring James Gandolfini as the mafia boss Tony Soprano, beguiled viewers over the course of six seasons with its depictions of New Jersey mobsters. 25 Years Later: On the anniversary of the show’s premiere, its creator and location manager reflect on some of its iconic settings. Episode Guide: Want to re-immerse yourself into “The Sopranos”? Here are some suggestions, for both a short dip and a deeper dive. 1999 Review: “Combining dark comedy and psychological drama, the show achieves a fresh tone to match its irresistibly winning concept,” our critic wrote after the series’s debut. A New Audience: “The Sopranos” experienced a resurgence during the pandemic. Somewhat atypically for a TV fandom, there was an openly left-wing subcurrent within it. ‘The Many Saints of Newark’: The 2021 movie prequel follows, among other characters, a young Tony Soprano, played by Gandolfini’s son, Michael. Here is what the actor said about inhabiting the role after his father, who died in 2013. More In Real Estate Merry Heidorn and Rich Heidorn on the Canton waterfront in Baltimore, near their new townhouse. The couple left their longtime home in Potomac, Md., a Washington suburb. Justin T. Gellerson for The New York Times After Years in Washington, a Couple Found More Value in Baltimore. What Could They Afford? Colin Burkhart $1.3 Million Homes in Florida, Georgia and Delaware SKIP ADVERTISEMENT