The owner of Holsten’s Diner in Bloomfield, NJ paid his respects to the late James Gandolfini by leaving empty the booth where the actor shot the final, memorable scene of The Sopranos.
To this day, diehard fans puzzle over that final scene when Tony Soprano put on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and sat down to a meal of onion rings and Coca-Cola with his wife and kids.
With the news of Gandolfini’s passing on Wednesday of a heart attack, Holsten’s Diner quickly became the place to be for mourning fans, reported E! News.
The diner’s owner, Chris Carley, said, “People are just here reminiscing. They are here to pay their respects.”
Carley revealed that nearly 500 people came to Holsten’s on Wednesday.
The iconic booth where Gandolfini sat and filmed the final Sopranos scene was put on reserve in commemoration.
Carley then told the New York Post about what it was like to have a famous actor film in his diner.
Carley said, “He was really, really nice to the staff, giving autographs and taking pictures . . . One night, at 1 a.m., he brought in a whole bunch of sushi at his own cost. Just a really nice guy. After a 15-hour day, he could [have been] cranky and tired, just like us.”
As we reported, Gandolfini was just 51 years old when he died in Italy of a heart attack on Wednesday.
In the years since The Sopranos, he starred in other noted films such as Zero Dark Thirty and Killing Them Softly. He also appeared in the acclaimed Broadway play God of Carnage.
The Emmy-winning actor left behind his wife Deborah Lin, a son and a baby daughter.