About a month ago, I entered the Miata into a MSNE autocross event, and after just three laps, the A/C compressor gave up and wrecked havoc on the day. When it decided to self-destruct, it took out the drive belt and I lost power steering too, not to mention quite a bit of my pride. After an hour of towing the Miata off the parking lot at the Meadowlands, arguing for a while with the Hasbrouck Heights Pep Boys (who are never seeing me again. Don’t go there), and deciding that manual steering was a temporary solution, I muscled the thing back on to Route 17 in Bergen County and discovered, thanks to the tow truck driver (and my own tomfoolery) that I was rather close to a place near and dear to many an HBO-watcher’s heart.

A lot of people who know me well also know that I am a huge Sopranos fan. That I grew up in Morris County, and that my mom’s side of the family grew up in Upper Saddle River, is just even better–so some of the locations where the show was shot are familiar location-wise. The Bada Bing! club, known in real life as Satin Dolls, is the club that Tony Soprano owns and his consigliere Silvio Dante operates day-to-day. It’s a real strip club, but it was closed on Mother’s Day, when I was there–it was not going to open until 7PM, by which time I’d be long gone, eating excellent Chinese food with my parents and brother. The Miata looked a bit out of place at the Bing, but somehow I thought it was hilarious to park it there and take pictures of a rather non-masculine car at a strip bar. Enjoy the photos of this unusual juxtaposition.

-Albert S. Davis