Livingston, New Jersey

Everything Livingston is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

Music in Livingston

Songs About Livingston

HYAENA
Travis Scott
4%
"Write a show 'bout myself like I'm Chelsea Handler"

Artists From Livingston

Rivers & Roads in Song near Livingston

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Livingston.

Musical Heritage

Holsten's — The Sopranos' Cut-to-Black Diner RoadyGoat

1939

Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery sits at 1063 Broad Street in Bloomfield, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and candy shop that has been making its own chocolate and ice cream since 1939 (and is still open). It earned a permanent place in TV history on June 10, 2007, when 'Made in America,' the series finale of HBO's 'The Sopranos,' filmed its last scene in one of Holsten's vinyl booths. Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, ordered onion rings and punched up Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' on the jukebox before the screen abruptly cut to black for roughly ten seconds — an ending so sudden many viewers thought their cable had failed. The original booth became a fan shrine, but it was actually sold at auction in March 2024 for about 82,600 dollars; the shop welcomes fans to sit in its place today.

6.7 mi away

CBGB — Birthplace of American Punk RoadyGoat

1973

The narrow storefront at 315 Bowery was CBGB, the grimy club where American punk and new wave were essentially born. Hilly Kristal opened it in December 1973, and the name is one of music's great ironies: CBGB & OMFUG stood for 'Country, BlueGrass, Blues, and Other Music For Uplifting Gourmandizers' (Kristal meant a 'voracious eater' — of music). Almost no country or bluegrass ever played there. Instead the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith and Television cut their teeth on its tiny stage through the 1970s. CBGB closed on October 15, 2006 over a lease dispute, and Kristal died of lung cancer the following year. The space later became a John Varvatos clothing boutique (opened April 2008), which kept some of the club's graffiti and posters; 'CBGB 73' is still etched in the cement at the entrance.

17.6 mi away

History of Livingston

White Manna RoadyGoat

White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey started as a building at the 1939 World's Fair. After the fair, it was moved to River Street and has been griddling sliders ever since. The tiny burgers — smashed thin on a flattop with onions — come six or eight at a time. The building is a perfect little Art Deco cube. The griddle hasn't cooled down in over 80 years.

15.5 mi away

Ellis Island - The Border Runs Through the Building RoadyGoat

1892

For over a century, everyone assumed Ellis Island was in New York. It appeared on New York maps, New York politicians claimed it, and twelve million immigrants who passed through between 1892 and 1954 were told they had arrived in New York. But the original Ellis Island was just three acres of mud and oyster shells. An 1834 compact between the two states placed this tiny island under New York's jurisdiction, even though it sits clearly on New Jersey's side of the harbor. Here is the twist. Between 1891 and 1934, the federal government massively expanded the island with landfill, growing it to over twenty-seven acres. All that new land was built in waters that the 1834 compact had explicitly granted to New Jersey. In 1997, New Jersey sued. The Supreme Court ruled six to three in 1998 that the original island remains New York territory, but all the landfill belongs to New Jersey. The border between the two states now runs through the middle of buildings on Ellis Island, following the ghost of the original shoreline. Roughly eighty-three percent of Ellis Island is in New Jersey. The main building where millions of immigrants were processed sits mostly in New Jersey. The gift shop where you buy the Statue of Liberty magnet that says New York is in New Jersey.

15.8 mi away

Lombardi's Pizza RoadyGoat

Gennaro Lombardi opened America's first licensed pizzeria on Spring Street in Manhattan in 1905. The coal-fired oven produces a charred, blistered crust that set the template for New York-style pizza. Every pizza dynasty in New York — Patsy's, John's, Totonno's — traces its lineage back to Lombardi's. The original location closed in 1984 but reopened around the corner in 1994, and the coal oven has been burning ever since.

17.5 mi away

Thomas Edison National Historical Park

1887

Thomas Edison's West Orange laboratory complex was the world's first industrial research facility, producing over half of his 1,093 patents.

4.0 mi away

Grover Cleveland Birthplace, Caldwell

1837

The 22nd and 24th President of the United States, Grover Cleveland, was born in this Caldwell manse on March 18, 1837.

3.6 mi away

Bell Labs (Nokia Bell Labs), Murray Hill

1925

Bell Labs in Murray Hill produced some of the 20th century's most important inventions, including the transistor, the laser, and Unix.

9.0 mi away

Newark's Ironbound District

1836

Newark's Ironbound district, named for the railroad tracks that bound it, has been a gateway neighborhood for immigrant communities since the 1830s.

9.8 mi away

Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park

1792

Alexander Hamilton chose the Great Falls of the Passaic River as the site for America's first planned industrial city in 1792.

10.9 mi away

Morristown National Historical Park

1779

The Continental Army's winter encampment at Morristown in 1779-1780 was harder than Valley Forge, with record snowfall and near-mutiny.

11.5 mi away

Things to Do in Livingston

Everything Near Livingston

298 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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