By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
The Sopranos came within feet of Bayside's 111th Police Precinct last Thursday, but it wasn't to turn themselves in for organized crime activity.
The hit HBO series about a New Jersey mob family spent its second day of production on its fifth season inside the Pier 25A seafood restaurant on Northern Boulevard, filming a dinner scene.
The restaurant, whose interior resembles the inside of a ship, had the nautical motif called for in the script, said Regina Heyman, the show's location manager.
“It was the best-looking one that we found,” said Heyman, who searched dozens of restaurants.
“It's not the first time they've shot in Queens,” said Tobe Becker, vice president of program publicity for HBO. “The Sopranos” films its interior scenes at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City but shoots most of its outdoor locations in New Jersey, said Becker.
Much of New York City's film industry has migrated to Canada, where the government provides heavy tax incentives for producers to shoot films.
State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), whose district includes both Silvercup and Kaufman Astoria Studios, has introduced a bill that would offer a 25 percent tax credit for producers on the first $25,000 in wages earned by employees working on any film produced in New York state.
An outdoor meeting between the show's crime boss Tony Soprano, his nephew Christopher Moltisanti and other “associates” was filmed in Astoria Park for last year's season finale, said Becker.
The executive would not divulge any more details about the plot line being shot in Bayside and said she did not know when the episode would air.
Parking got whacked from 4 p.m. April 2 to the following evening for local residents on 46th Avenue between 215th Street and 215th Place and on 215th Place between Northern Boulevard and 46th Avenue, according to a flier taped to a utility pole by the show's location department.
Trailers lined the west side of 215th Place last Thursday, but they did not seem to have attracted any curious onlookers.
On whether Bayside residents could expect any celebrity sightings in the neighborhood, Becker said it was not likely.
“Usually when they work, they stay pretty close to the set,” she said of the actors, who were working a 16-hour day.
A busload of extras playing restaurant patrons was seen filing into the Anchor Motor Inn across 215th Place from the restaurant, where Becker said they were waiting to be called in for filming.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 1-718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
