Tony Soprano places 1 / 4 into the jukebox to play “Don’t Cease Believin’” and orders onion rings for the desk. His spouse and son be part of him as his daughter struggles to parallel park exterior. A bell chimes each time a buyer arrives, deepening Tony’s nervousness: Will the subsequent particular person to stroll by means of the door kill him?
What occurs subsequent has stored followers guessing since the final scene of “The Sopranos” abruptly minimize to black in 2007. It has additionally stored just a few of them energized sufficient to bid tens of 1000’s of {dollars} to personal the diner sales space the place the much-dissected sequence was shot.
Holsten’s in Bloomfield, N.J., which is getting ready for a renovation, put the burgundy sales space and yellow Formica tabletop up for public sale on eBay on Feb. 28. Chris Carley, a co-owner of the ice cream parlor, set the opening bid at $3,000, hoping he would possibly get $10,000 for it to assist cowl a part of the estimated $60,000 value for a brand new ground and new cubicles.
Inside 24 hours, the worth had jumped to $52,000. By Monday afternoon, there had been greater than 230 bids, pushing the worth above $82,000. When the public sale ended simply after 7 p.m., the booth sold for $82,600.
The successful bidder will get the sales space, the desk, the divider and the household plaque that reserves the seats for the Soprano household. (Not included: the jukebox, which was added by the movie crew.) The client is accountable for pickup.
Holsten’s opened in 1939 as Strubbe’s Ice Cream Parlor and ultimately expanded to incorporate diner fare. The sales space has been within the Holsten’s eating room for greater than 50 years, Mr. Carley mentioned, and after many years of wear and tear and tear — in more moderen years from hordes of “Sopranos” followers — it was time for a reboot.
“It’s simply time to do it,” Mr. Carley mentioned in an interview earlier than the public sale ended. “It’s not one thing we took flippantly.”
Whereas Holsten’s is thought for its home made ice cream, it has additionally embraced its celebrity status over time, selling its Soprano-famous onion rings and matching merchandise. David Chase, the creator and govt producer of “The Sopranos,” ordered the onion rings when he had lunch there a month earlier than filming, or so the story goes.
However at its core, Holsten’s is a “good, quaint” restaurant the place “we all know folks by their first names,” mentioned Mr. Carley, who has been working there on and off since he was 14. He was at all times drawn again to the shop, he mentioned, and have become a co-owner in 1980.
“This place has been in my life for 40-some-odd years,” Mr. Carley mentioned. “I’m proud that it has continued to flourish.”
“The Sopranos” filmed at Holsten’s over three days in March 2007 with James Gandolfini, Edie Falco and Robert Iler within the sales space, after which two extra days for reshoots with extras, Mr. Carley mentioned. He nonetheless remembers watching Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who performed Tony’s daughter, Meadow, attempt to park for eight hours.
“I’m considering, What number of instances are you able to do that?” Mr. Carley mentioned with fun. “It was an awesome expertise for us.”
The eye that the sales space — and Holsten’s — has obtained up to now week is near what it was like when the ultimate episode aired, Mr. Carley mentioned. Followers would often are available to dine within the sales space or pose for photos. They’d additionally take the restaurant’s laminated menus, certainly one of which fetched $4,150 on eBay, Ron Stark, a co-owner, instructed The New York Occasions in 2007.
After Mr. Gandolfini died abruptly in 2013 from an obvious coronary heart assault, the sales space grew to become a memorial. The restaurant instantly closed the sales space and put up a “reserved” signal “out of respect,” Mr. Carley mentioned. For 2 weeks, followers left playing cards and flowers on the sales space, which Mr. Carley later gave to Mr. Gandolfini’s son.
Mr. Gandolfini “was such a pleasant man when he wasn’t in character,” Mr. Carley mentioned, recalling how the actor would come up behind the restaurant’s grill and ask, “What do you bought to eat?”
Like many followers of the present, Mr. Carley thought his tv was damaged when the finale abruptly minimize to a black display screen. Regardless that the scene was filmed in his store, he had no concept what to anticipate. Nonetheless, Mr. Carley has his cash on Tony’s residing to see one other day.
Holsten’s put in a brand new ground about three months in the past, taking all the outdated cubicles out after which placing them again. This week the cubicles have been changed; the Formica tops have been cracking and the cushions, just like the one Tony and his household sat on, have been sinking. The brand new ones are from J&H Dinettes and Upholstery in Freehold, N.J.
Holsten’s and “Sopranos” followers needn’t panic. The colour scheme would be the identical, “just a bit brighter,” Mr. Carley mentioned.
“We wish to put again precisely what we took out,” he mentioned. “When folks come into the shop, they’ll have a tough time noticing the distinction.”