It’s that time of the year again. No, not football — we’re talking about the 67th Annual Emmy Awards! In celebration of the Hollywood elite once again kissing their own Prada-clad posteriors, we decided to highlight New Jersey’s own claims to television fame.
Note: The following rundown is as full of Sopranos listings (because…of course) as it is a Snooki-free zone. (Apologies to the many quality, gym, tanning and laundry establishments featured on the Jersey Shore.)
Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionary, Bloomfield
Show: The Sopranos
Details: This legendary ice cream joint also has a killer breakfast, lunch and dinner menu — forget about the Tony-approved onion rings and try the grilled cheese — and has been specializing in all manner of dairy-filled delights since 1939. Sadly, they don’t offer the kind of scoops that could shed some light on the HBO hit’s famously vague final scene.
All of the accouterments from HBO’s ratings-busting arrivederci are here, including the charming little tabletop jukeboxes featuring a certain Journey song. Touchingly, Holsten’s put a reserved placard on the table James Gandolfini sat at, along with a photo of the actor, following his death in 2013. The diner closes at 11:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sundays. Considering the confectionary’s drunk-friendly food, could they ever end up prolonging those hours? Don’t stop believing, paesanos.
Where is it? 1063 Broad Street, Bloomfield
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Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne
Show: Oz
Details: HBO’s fifth season of what was basically a jail-centered soap opera (but less with the Susan Lucci and more with the prison tattoos) had the crew move from their original Chelsea-based location to a 120,000 square foot warehouse (Building 73, specifically) within this old Army base, which closed in 1998. While the faux felons are long gone, there’s more than 437 acres of decommissioned delights to explore.
Where is it? 51 Port Terminal Boulevard, Bayonne. (Bringing contraband, particularly files hidden within homemade cakes, is strongly discouraged).
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Bluestone Coffee, Montclair
Show: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
Details: We’ll overlook the fact that this is actually a web series, considering the creator (Jerry Seinfeld) has done just a little a bit of sitcom work — and one of his season six guests happens to the new host of CBS’s The Late Show (Stephen Colbert). Herein Seinfeld (driving a stately 1964 Morgan Plus 4) picks up Colbert at his stately Montclair manor, and they end up gabbing over multiple cups of Joe at this delightful local café.
Where is it? 123 Watchung Avenue, Montclair
Frist Campus Center, Princeton
Show: House
Details: This student activities hub served as the exterior for Dr. Gregory House’s place of work/pill-popping during the 2004-2012 FOX drama. Indeed, the fictionally named “Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital” is instantly recognizable to any and all inquiring college crashers. Come for the beautiful campus the fake doctor pretended to work at, and STAY for the beautiful campus the REAL theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein, ACTUALLY worked in. Indeed, the frizzy haired scamp used to lecture in room 302. E = MC…awesome!
Where is it? The listed address is a vague Princeton zip code, (08544), but you can find driving and public transportation directions here.
Pizzaland
Show: The Sopranos
Details: This locally famous pie and calzone joint went national the first time its awning appeared on the program’s title sequence back in 1999. Previous owner, Aloysius “Al” Pawlowicz died in 2010 and the store closed for almost a year — but new proprietor, Eddie Twdroos, has quickly won over locals and TV tourists alike. Speaking of all things small screen: a Pizzaland box also made a cameo in a 1999 episode of Law & Order when a suspect used it to conceal a firearm!
Where is it? 260 Belleville Turnpike, North Arlington
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Olivia’s Ice Cream, Millstone
Show: Sex and the City
Details: In 2002, HBO reportedly took ten hours to film a three-minute scene for the show’s season finale, featuring everybody’s favorite shoe-loving, cosmo-drinking gal pals at what was then a Cree-Me-Freez ice cream stand. The episode in question featured Carrie Bradshaw, Samantha Jones and Miranda Hobbes at a burger joint on their way to the Hamptons. Added executive producer Michael Patrick King: “In the episode, the girls are fleeing Manhattan…this place had the really interesting, quaint, authentic look of real roadside burger stand.” Ideally, Olivia’s delicious FroYo options should dull the pain of knowing this location doubled for Long Island.
Where is it? 619 Route 33, Millstone Township
NBC Central Archives, North Bergen
Show: Law & Order: SVU
Details: The outside won’t look familiar, but that’s because this blocky building is where most of the sets for the hit show were built. That all ended in 2010, due to an escaped perp we like to call a the state’s 20% tax incentive.
Where is it? 5801 West Side Avenue, North Bergen (The building is now dormant, but for those of you who ignore both laws and order, it shouldn’t be that hard to break into.)
Applegate Farm, Montclair
Show: The Sopranos
Details: This 1848-built barn has been serving its sweet brand of homemade ice cream since the late 1920s. Although this family-friendly establishment seems hesitant to promote it, their Norman Rockwell-esque outdoor tables served as the backdrop to a season 6 scene, where New York mob boss Phil Leotardo chews out his misbehaving nephew. Reflect on that as you chew out YOUR misbehaving cappuccino crunch. Gelat-OOOOH!
Where is it? 616 Grove Street, Montclair
Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, Red Bank
Show: Comic Book Men
Details: The exception to our “no reality show” rule comes in the form of this AMC program starring Chasing Amy director, Kevin Smith, and takes place within this Monmouth County comic book store he owns with his friends. (How could we NOT include something like that?) Smith bought the place in 1997 with the $30 grand he’d earned from his first film, Clerks. As for a merch’ purch’? May we humbly suggest their “Meanwhile in Jersey” tees.
Where is it? 35 Broad Street in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Knife & Fork Inn, Atlantic City
Show: Boardwalk Empire
Details: First the bad news: Martin Scorsese’s ode to prohibition-era Atlantic City was mostly filmed in Brooklyn. But we’d be remiss in not mentioning a show that paints the Vegas of Jersey with such a beautiful, bowler-hat-wearing brush. Established in 1912, the recently refurbished Knife & Fork’s tagline is “Nucky ate here, shouldn’t you?” And, indeed, the local treasurer/gangster, Enough “Nucky” Johnson, (played, in Boardwalk, by Steve Buscemi as the slightly fictionalized Enoch “Nucky” Thompson) did frequent this Eighteenth Amendment-ignoring speakeasy. Ask for one of the antique booths on the second floor, and enjoy your gin that comes in a bottle, rather than a bathtub.
Where is it? 3600 Atlantic Avenue, Atlantic City