Shot taken while touring opening credits for "The Sopranos"
Photographer Lesley Williams

My friend Lesley and I went on the Sopranos tour with On Location Tours. When she had first invited me, I was excited about participating because I really liked the Sopranos and thought it wound be fun to see the different locations that were shot. I also felt that it would be inspiring for a photo shoot. Maybe seek out new locations... learn a little history.

We took the tour bus from New York to New Jersey and it was a pretty comfortable ride. We took a tour around New Jersey and visited most of the sites that were filmed. As we were riding, one of the actors from the show, was giving the tour with Italian music playing in the background, setting the mood. We rode through places such as, Meadowlands and Kearny, while watching scenes from the show. We visited Pizzzaland, the famous Muffler Man and other significant places.

Click on the image to see the delicious hand made candies!
Photographer Lesley Williams

The total length of the tour took about 4 hours. We felt like real tourists because most of the people were from Europe. So Les and I tried to fit in the best we could. One of my favorite places that we visited was Holsten's Ice Cream Parlor. This was where they shot the finale. They had tasty home made candies, the food was pretty decent and their coffee milkshake was delicious. Lesley even took a picture of me sitting in the booth (I was such the tourist...lol).

Photographer Lesley Williams

The last stop that we made was the Satin Dolls AKA "The Ba Da Bing"! This is the strip club that Tony Soprano and the rest of the mob frequently visited. On the show, I remember it being a little different, it seemed bigger. The tour guide explained to us that the way the scenes were shot, made the club look bigger than it actually was. There was also a souvenir shop and I'm sure they were making a killin' off of all that merchandise! Oh, they still had Christmas decorations up in late January! LOL!

It was very interesting to hear about the actors and their personalities. One actor that stood out the most was Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini). The tour guide spoke highly of him and talked about how generous he was to his fellow actors. I also hear that Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco) is great to work with.

When the show first aired, a lot of Italian Americans felt that "The Soprano's" was stereotyping them. The tour guide made it a point to let us know that because it's an Italian show, it doesn't mean that all Italians live that way. Tony Soprano lived his life the way he chose because it was his choice.

One of the most memorable parts of the trip was meeting Vito (Joseph R. Gannascoli). He was selling his books and photographs out the trunk of his car and would not allow anyone to take a photo of him unless they paid $20! LOL. I thought that was hilarious. Our tour guide informed us that he was not part of the tour.

All in all, it was a fun tour and Lesley and I had a great time! I learned many new things about The Sopranos and New Jersey. I do recommend this trip. I'm very excited to see what other movie sites On Location Tours has to offer!