{"id":21691,"date":"2024-11-27T12:15:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T16:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/?p=21691"},"modified":"2024-12-13T22:44:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T02:44:58","slug":"on-the-sopranos-and-the-legacy-of-cookman-avenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/on-the-sopranos-and-the-legacy-of-cookman-avenue\/","title":{"rendered":"on the Sopranos and the Legacy of Cookman Avenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

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So I’m watching The Sopranos for the first time (yes, 20+ years after it began). I also live in NYC now, also for 20+ years (as of this year), so now I have a little bit of ‘context’ in my mind for life in Jersey and its environs. (I don’t get there often, but when I do…..)<\/p>\n

Again, I’m trying not to spoiler myself with reading too much, but at the same time I get obsessed with what I’m seeing or saw and wanting to know a bit more – again with the context! <\/em><\/span>(Say it in the voice of Livia Soprano for maximal effect.)<\/p>\n

While watching the final episode of season 2 – “Funhouse<\/em>” (great title, greater episode!) – I was really caught by this moment in the closing scenes. It juxtaposes the downtrodden and ordinary joes (adult show watchers, garbage haulers) with the players in power counting the cash and living the good life (the Sopranos!<\/em>):<\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_image src=”https:\/\/www.nicknormal.com\/normalblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/funhouse_talking-bird_resized.jpg” title_text=”funhouse_talking-bird_resized” _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_image][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.3″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Pretty standard shot frankly. But having recently stumbled upon the Sopranos location guide<\/a> website and map, I was curious…where was this? Could I figure it out? So I looked at the image a bit closer. Of course ‘PAR\/ CINEMA” jumps out at you, where the K is clearly weathered away. But park and cinema seemed like too generic of words to search without knowing the city or township. Then, I zoomed in:<\/p>\n

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Closer….closer:<\/p>\n

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Now there was something I could work with: TALKING BIRD RESTAURANT (with a capital BIR and lowercase d in BIRd!)<\/p>\n

Oh boy I had no clue where this search journey would take me!<\/p>\n

My first search was for talking bird restaurant<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Too generic – no different than park cinema, really – all the results were of talking birds :\/<\/p>\n

My second search was for talking bird restaurant new jersey<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

While your results may vary from mine, my results still emphasized talking birds, but maybe more specifically talking birds found throughout New Jersey :\/<\/p>\n

Finally, my third search was for, with quotes, “talking bird restaurant” new jersey<\/em><\/span> and that’s where it got interesting. I was taken to a landing page at songmeanings.com<\/a> for the Bruce Springsteen song Born to Run<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Okay…but why was I sent here exactly? Ctrl+F to find text and I type “bird” – it jumps me to this thread<\/a>…from 21 years ago:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I read the thread in its entirety twice to understand exactly the context of the two-decades old post I’m reading. A few takeaways: now I know the city, Asbury Park – should have guessed! I also note that they refer to it as “Lyric Theatre” (more on that later), and of course Palace Amusements<\/a> or simply The Palace. Then, acknowledging the opening reference – “This from backstreets.com” – I thought, “backstreets…like the song…okay what’s that about?” I opened up a new tab (as one does) and went to backstreets.com. OH, WOW! It’s a website dedicated to Bruce Springsteen news…and while it looks like it was coded two decades ago, surprisingly they have a news update from just 3 months prior. Unfortunately the news was effectively about closing up shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OK, sure..but what about that Talking Bird? I click ‘shop,’ ‘downloads,’ nah this is gonna take forever. New tab. “site:backstreets.com talking bird” — hereeeee we gooooo:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now that’s some news!<\/em><\/p>\n

Demolition. Palace Amusements. Asbury Partners. Talking Bird!<\/p>\n

I go through the links: unfortunately Lewis Bloom’s website is down; the next two links are local news sites that are also 404 not found. Grrrrr. Save Tillie! Scrolling down just below the fold on that<\/em> website is this great story about a Tillie mural:<\/p>\n

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Mind you I set out looking for a Sopranos location!<\/p>\n

The NJ.com produced YouTube video<\/a> linked from the Save Tillie website is speechless until the end and includes many remarkable shots – I laughed out loud when this shot panned across the screen:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mind you the publish date on Save Tillie is from 2021 – so from 2004 to 2021 that absolutely incredible Tillie mural sat in a storage shed at a wastewater treatment plant! New Jersey is quite the place all right!<\/p>\n

But most importantly was this moment during that YouTube video:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There it is! On the right hand side: the theatre! The Talking Bird would be right next to it! Okay, now I know exactly where to look. Searching for “Palace Amusements” lead me to this wonderful photo posted at New Jersey Memories on Facebook:<\/p>\n

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