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The restaurant where the final scene of the hit HBO show The Sopranos was filmed recently offered the booth on eBay, where it sold for $82,600 (R1.5 million) to an anonymous buyer.

The Washington Post reported an opening bid of $3,000 (R56,000), but the price quickly skyrocketed to $30,000 (R560,000) six hours later. By the time of the final sale, the booth had received an impressive 238 bids.

“If I didn’t have to do it, I wouldn’t be doing it,” Christopher Carley, a co-owner of Holsten’s, the New Jersey restaurant. “They’re just looking really shabby,” he added, “and that’s not what we want to portray.”

Carley was approached back in the early 2000s by an HBO scout who wanted to visit Holsten’s as a potential filming location. As a fan of The Sopranos, since it began airing in 1999, Carley was excited, but he didn’t hear back until late 2006, when the producers decided that the restaurant was the perfect place for the show’s final scene.

Over a few days in March 2007, Holsten’s shut down so they could film, with Carley appearing in the scene at the grill, flipping hamburgers.

The final scene of The Sopranos 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 the now-famous booth.

In the years following the show’s end, fans have flocked to Holsten’s, with the booth something of a tourist attraction. Carley even added a plaque to the dividing wall that states “This booth is reserved for the Soprano family.” On busy days, customers often wait for an hour to sit where Tony once sat, and eat the onion rings that he called the “best in the state.”

 

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Carley had only been hoping to make some $50,000 (R950,000) from the booth, but he’s not complaining and is using the money for renovations at the restaurant, with all the booths being replaced with more updated models.

While that may be good for the look of Holsten’s, some think that it’s changed the vibe. “It’s kind of taking that aura out of the restaurant,” says Danny LaVarco, a local who closely resembles Tony Soprano when sitting at the booth. He added that he might even stop eating there altogether.

[source:robbreport]