A restaurant booth made famous in the finale of “The Sopranos” just sold on eBay for $82,600.
The series finale of the iconic mob drama starring James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano aired in 2007. In the last scene, Tony sits down in the diner booth with his family and orders onion rings before dropping a quarter in the jukebox, and Journey’s 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin’” starts to play. The camera cuts to customers entering the restaurant, which fans speculate could have been people arriving to kill Tony. Then, the screen fades to black.
The finale was filmed at the real-life eatery Holsten’s in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Ever since the show aired, the booth has been a popular spot for fans. A report from The Washington Post said that, on busy days, customers would wait up to an hour to sit in the booth.
The spot became even more popular following Gandolfini’s death from an apparent heart attack in June 2013. Holsen’s co-owner Christopher Carley told the outlet he closed the booth for two weeks as customers came and left flowers, cards, and drawings as a tribute. The restaurant owner said he gave all the items to Gandolfini’s son, Michael.
Carley initially posted his intention to sell the booth on Facebook.
“The time has come. All good things sometimes need an upgrade. The famous Sopranos booth is getting a much needed face-lift,” a February 28 post from the official Holsten’s account said. “Obviously, we aren’t going to change the nostalgia of our beloved shoppe…we aren’t crazy! Just polishing up the place!”
“Please understand that we don’t want to do this. But the integrity of the booths are now compromised. They have been repaired many times and this furniture is over 60 years old. Obviously, we do not want to do this, however it has come to a point where they are structurally not safe anymore as a whole and we need to think about the safety of our patrons first,” the post continued.
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“Customer safety is a priority for us and should be for our patrons as well. Thank you and we hope you understand!”
Carley told the Post he hoped the booth would fetch at least $50,000. The outlet reported that on Sunday, the owner closed the booth and put a basket of onion rings on the table so fans could take photos one last time.
