STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – It’s almost a rite of passage, even for adults: Waiting in line, sometimes overnight, in order to score that treasured toy, video game console or concert or sports ticket.
Or maybe you waited on line to be among the first to see that new movie or to dine at the hottest new eatery.
It may seem crazy to freeze or swelter while standing or lying on the sidewalk for hours on end. But that’s sometimes what we do for love.
I can remember doing this only once in my life.
A friend, Jeff Adams, and I once waited in line overnight at Record Baron in Port Richmond in order to get tickets for a Judas Priest concert.
It was either for the 1983 or 1984 tour. After almost 40 years, the memory gets hazy.
This was back when people bought their concert tickets in person from Ticketron outlets. Online ordering was years in the future.
We got to the store sometime the night before tickets were set to go on sale and found that we were second in line. Someone had beaten us to the top spot.
But that was OK. We were fellow metalheads and got along fine. My friend had found a parking spot right in front of the store, so were able to sit in his car a couple of times during the night and run the heat. I remember it being cold that night.
As daytime approached, someone arrived and tried to casually cut the line, or so we thought. The guy on ahead of us told him: “I only know two things: I’m first in line and these two guys are second.”
That’s metalheads sticking together.
I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that there was a bar near the Record Baron, and that the bar opened pretty early in the day. Maybe the old 1414 Club?
We did score our tickets, seventh row orchestra, if I remember correctly. Which remains the best tickets I’ve ever had for a show at a major venue.
Have you ever waited in line for a long time or overnight for something?
Check out these photos of some of the other things that Staten Islanders have waited in line for over the years.
In what’s already an iconic photo, Danielle Kennish of Westerleigh takes a selfie with her doughnut at the grand opening of the Krispy Kreme spot in New Springville on Sept. 20, 2022. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)
From right, Paul Blissenbach of Port Richmond, Daniel Ciluffo of New Spingville and Joe Aponte of New Dorp camped out at the Best Buy store in New Springville to buy the new Xbox 360 on Nov. 22, 2005. (Advance file photo)
Notre Dame Academy students, from left, Deirdre Hansalik, Katryna Cordova, Meredith Hansalik and Claudia Fletcher are dressed for Hogwarts on July 10, 2007 as they wait in line for the midnight showing of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix” at the United Artists Theater in Mariners Harbor. (Chad Rachman/Staten Island Advance)
The line for the Harry Potter movie stretched around the theater. (Chad Rachman/Staten Island Advance)
Arden Heights resident Brian Johnson was all smiles as he was first in line at the new Five Guys Burgers & Fries in New Springville on Aug. 14, 2012. (Advance file photo)
New York Jets fans gather outside Zig Zag in Travis to purchase playoff tickets on Dec. 31, 2002. (Advance file photo)
Shoppers looking to scoop up Black Friday holiday bargains wait on line at 4:47 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2005 outside the Best Buy in New Springville. (Michael McWeeney/Staten Island Advance)
Here’s what the Best Buy store in New Springville looked like just after the opening bell on Black Friday in 2006. (Jin Lee/Staten Island Advance)
Fans wait at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in St. George in 2008 for their chance to score tickets to a free concert by Bon Jovi held in Central Park. (Irving Silverstein/Staten Island Advance)
Shoppers on line at Target before the 7 A.M. opening were there mainly for the PS5, Xbox Series X. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
Dressed in their finest Jedi robes as they await the opening of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” on May 18, 2005 at the United Artists Theater in Mariners Harbor are, from left, Danny Wilkes of New Springville, Paul Fiorerosso of Bulls Head, Ralph Granata of Brooklyn and Frank Callaghan of Eltingville. (Advance file photo)
The newly opened Kentucky Fried Chicken stop in New Dorp was so popular that cars looking to use the drive-through caused traffic jams on Hylan Boulevard in 2001. (Advance file photo)
Cars backed up for several blocks on Victory Boulevard on Feb. 10, 1974 while waiting to purchase precious gasoline at a service station in Castleton Corners during the oil embargo. (Robert Parsons/Staten Island Advance)
Gas could only be purchased by appointment at this Mobil station on Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere during the 1974 oil embargo. Nearby businesses had complained that lines of cars waiting for gas were blocking access to their establishments and hurting their trade. (Advance file photo)
Hundreds of people lined up outside the St. George Theatre on Oct. 12, 2018 to enter a taping of truTV’s “Impractical Jokers Staten Island Christmas Special.” Pictured are Kyleigh Cohen of Willowbrook with Christina and Jackie Weigold of Great Kills at the event. (Victoria Priola/Staten Island Advance)
The Container Store opened its doors at the Staten Island Mall on Oct. 28, 2017, with a line of four people waiting to get in at 7:45 a.m. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)
Tim League holds a bottle of champagne that was smashed open with a saber as a dozen team members of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in New Dorp clap and cheer on opening day on Friday, July 22, 2022. (Priya Shahi/Staten Island Advance)
Gamers wait on line for the release of the Halo 3 video game outside GameStop in New Springville on Sept. 24, 2007. (Chad Rachman/Staten Island Advance)
Andrew Denniser, 16, of Willowbrook was first to get a Halo 3 game after its midnight release at GameStop in New Springville. Denniser, who went by the user name Onik1tsune, got on line at 8 o’clock that morning. (Chad Rachman/Staten Island Advance)
Motorists wait on line at the new Taco Bell stop at 1281 Forest Ave., Port Richmond, in December 2020. The new eatery was so popular that vehicles were stuck on Forest, forming an unofficial Taco Bell-only lane, before getting onto the property. (Mark Stein/Staten Island Advance)
A line of parents and grandparents waiting for dance recital tickets stretches past Mrs. Rosemary’s Dance Studio May 30, 2015. (Lauren Steussy/Staten Island Advance)
Vincent Peteras poses with family and friends while waiting in line to meet WWE wrestler Chris Jericho at Barnes and Noble in New Springville on Oct. 16, 2014. (Ryan Lavis/Staten Island Advance)
More than 100 people waited on line for the grand opening of Trader Joe’s, the specialty supermarket with the Hawaiian theme, in New Springville on Oct. 8, 2011. (Irving Silverstein/Staten Island Advance)
Fans line up to get an autograph from “A Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin during the Staten Island Dire Wolves (Staten Island Yankees) game against the Hudson Valley Renegades on Aug. 8, 2015 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in St. George. (Bill Lyons/Staten Island Advance)
“A Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin signs autographs during Staten Island Dire Wolves game on Aug. 8, 2015. (Bill Lyons/Staten Island Advance)
A line of College of Staten Island students waiting for parking decals snakes through the halls of Building C on the college’s Sunnyside campus in this vintage photo. (Tony Carannante/Staten Island Advance)
First on line awaiting a shipment of coveted Beanie Babies at the Noodle Kidoodle, on Aug. 25, 1998 were Linda Caridad and her son Joel, age 10, of New Dorp. (Irving Silverstein/Staten Island Advance)
A book signing by “Jersey Shore” star JWow (Jennifer Lynn Farley) drew around 750 people to the Barnes and Noble store in New Springville on Feb. 12, 2011. (Bill Lyons/Staten Island Advance)
Joe Pedi spent the night at The Wiz in New Springville, waiting to buy a Sony PlayStation2 in October of 2000. (Advance file photo)
Hundreds of people waited outside the new Fishs Eddy Outlet in New Springville for a chance to meet celebrity chef Mario Batali at the outlet’s grand opening on Feb. 26, 2012. (Hilton Flores/Staten Island Advance)
People line up to get a take-home COVID-19 test at Conference House Park in Tottenville on Dec. 23, 2021. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)
Customers wait on line for the Pastosa Ravioli store in West Brighton to open on Christmas Eve, 2009. (Irving Silverstein/Staten Island Advance)
A long line of children and their parents wait to enter the Staten Island Children’s Museum in Livingston for the Easter Eggtravaganza in 2009. (Hilton Flores/Staten Island Advance)
Above center, Jason Saulle of New Springville and Billy DeFazio and Vincent Tozzo, both of Westerleigh, bundled up on Nov. 11, 2006 as they waited for the Richmond Valley Target store’s opening at 9 a.m. so they could buy a new PlayStation video game. Meanwhile, Tottenville resident John Monahan, background, had retreated to a tent in order to keep warm. (Nicholas Fevelo/Staten Island Advance)
Science teacher Gail Minall works on her lesson plans while waiting on line with Liz Garay, 12, and Minall’s daughters Catie, 12, and Sarah, 10, for a chance to meet Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter at a book signing at Waldenbooks at the Staten Island Mall on Nov. 14, 2000. (Hilton Flores/Staten Island Advance)
New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter checks out the long line of fans waiting to have their book signed by him. “This is a lot of people,” Jeter said. “That’s good. It’s a good turnout.” (Hilton Flores/Staten Island Advance)
A line of customers wrapped around portions of the Staten Island Mall on Sept. 19, 2014, the day the iPhone 6 debuted. (Lauren Steussy/Staten Island Advance)
Long lines of people waited for a glimpse of comet Hyakutake at model airplane field at Gateway National Recreation Area in Great Kills on March 24, 1996. (Michael McWeeney/Staten Island Advance)
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