A booth from a New Jersey ice cream parlor that figured in the final scene of “The Sopranos” sold at an auction on eBay for $82,600.
The final scene of “The Sopranos,” which cut to black in 2007, showed lead character Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) putting a quarter into the jukebox at Holsten’s to play “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey and ordering onion rings for the table after sliding into a booth, The New York Times reported.
Holsten’s, in Bloomfield, is a restaurant that has been in business in northern New Jersey since 1939. Its current co-owner, Chris Carley, set an opening bid of $3,000 for the burgundy booth and yellow Formica tabletop, according to the Times.
He was hoping to raise $10,000 to cover part of the $60,000 needed for a new floor and booths in the ice cream shop. Carley got it all and more on Monday.
According to WPIX-TV, the eBay listing noted that the booth included both seats, a table and a divider wall with a plaque that read “Reserved for the Soprano Family.”
The mini-jukebox was not included, according to the Bergen Record.
The eBay auction, which was scheduled to end at 10:02 p.m. EST on Monday, apparently ended early at 7:12 p.m., the newspaper reported.
A note stated that the listing was ended by the seller. There were 49 different bidders on the booth, and a total of 238 bids were placed, according to the Record.
According to its website, Holsten’s opened in 1939 as Strubbe’s Ice Cream Parlor and eventually expanded.
The booth has been at the location for more than 50 years, Carley told the Times.
“It’s just time to do it,” Carley told the newspaper before the auction ended. “It’s not something we took lightly.”
Carley began working at Holsten’s “off and on” since he was 14 and became a co-owner in 1980, according to the newspaper.
“This place has been in my life for 40-some-odd years,” Carley said. “I’m proud that it has continued to flourish.”
According to Holsten’s website, Carley’s mother worked at the ice cream parlor. The father of the other current co-owner, Ronald Stark, was a partner in the business from 1964 to 1999.
“The Sopranos” filmed at Holsten’s over three days in March 2007 with Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Robert Iler in the booth, and then two more days for reshoots with extras, Carley told the Times. He said he was just as surprised as HBO audiences when the series ended with the abrupt “cut to black” finale.
After Gandolfini died in 2013, the booth became a memorial, according to the newspaper.
The restaurant immediately closed the booth and put up a “reserved” sign “out of respect,” Carley said. For two weeks, fans left cards and flowers on the booth, which Carley later gave to Gandolfini’s son.
Holsten’s was closed on Monday while undergoing renovations, but plans to re-open on Tuesday, according to the Record.
©2024 Cox Media Group
