Island
Everything you need to know about New York’s most peculiar borough, but were too afraid to ask. To understand Pete Davidson, who tells a thinly-veiled version of his life story in The King of Staten Island, you have to understand where he came from. Use this map to unlock the secrets to the comedian’s overlooked kingdom.
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Staten
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pete davidson's
Freshkills
Wu Tang Clan
Staten Island is home to American’s premiere urban dump. Fresh Kills, a famous New York landfill and emblem of urban misery, is basically a massive garbage dump in the middle of the Island. Though it’s now being turned into a park, Davidson has said in interviews that it’s filled with “old Hondas and bodies.”
Freshkills
The Wu was born here in 1992. Six of the group’s nine members—RZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Inspectah Deck, Cappadonna, and U-God—hail from the Island. The whole group is now honored with a street sign on the corner of Targee and Vanderbilt in the Clifton neighborhood.
Todt Hill
Start of the NYC Marathon
Staten Island on TV
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
The Looney Bin
Campania Pizza
Richmond County Bank Ballpark
Wu-Tang Clan
No where in America are you more likely to find a $7 million dollar McMansion with a stallion fountain in the driveway than in this part of the island. In The King of Staten Island, Davidson’s character Scott wonders: “If you have money, why would you still live in Staten Island?”
Todt Hill
Former American army installation Fort Wadsworth hosts the start of the NYC Marathon. It should be noted that after the gun goes off, over 50,000 runners flee Staten Island as soon as possible.
Start of the NYC Marathon
A petition to drop “Staten Island” from the title of the show, supported by residents who didn’t appreciate being misrepresented, generated nearly 10,000 signatures. The show changed its name to Families of the Mafia and pivoted to feature the families in full.
Staten Island on TV
Even MTV couldn’t handle Staten Island. They tried with Made in Staten Island, a show that followed eight young adults trying to avoid the influence of organized crime from their families and neighbors, but it was controversial and short-lived.
Davidson’s first ever stand-up set took place at a bowling alley. Davidson performed there just out of high school and recalls the venue as being especially demoralizing, because when you were bombing onstage you could hear people bowling across the room.
Looney Bin
Getting in and out of Staten Island is an exercise in inequality. Although the Staten Island Ferry is free, it costs out-of-state residents $19 dollars to drive over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to Brooklyn. But it’s free if you want to go to Staten Island! Fun fact: the Verrazzano is the bridge featured memorably in Saturday Night Fever.
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
Of course Staten Island’s got pizza—after all, it’s still New York City—and pizza joints are sprinkled liberally on The King of Staten Island like oregano on a slice of Sicilian. Davidson’s character lands a job at Denino’s Tavern, a Staten Island stalwart, but the actor once said Campania is his favorite. And he holds firm that S.I.'s overall pizza scene is the best of the boroughs. During his appearance on YouTube series Hot Ones, Davidson said, “If you could go to any pizza place over there, you’re probably OK.”
Pizza
Nope. Not those Yankees. They play in the Bronx. There may be no better symbol of Staten Island’s inferiority complex than the Staten Island Yankees. In S.I., going to see the Yankees doesn’t usually mean a trip to the The House That Ruth Built, it means coming here to watch the Yankees’ minor-league affiliate. At least the views of the Manhattan skyline are epic.
Richmond County Bank Ballpark
Possibly the spookiest spot in all of Staten Island, this was a hospital for children with tuberculosis that’s since been abandoned. But it lives on as a place for kids to smoke weed and break stuff, as Scott and his friends do in The King of Staten Island.
Seaview Hospital
Seaview Hospital
Part of Staten Island’s baggage as the forgotten borough is well-earned, but they’re not only outshined by nautical neighbors Manhattan and Brooklyn—New Jersey, too. “We’re the only place Jersey looks down on,” his King of Staten Island character quips.
Welcome to
New Jersey
RollerJam
Goethals Bridge
Everything you need to know about New York’s most peculiar borough, but were too afraid to ask. To understand Pete Davidson, who tells a thinly-veiled version of his life story in The King of Staten Island, you have to understand where he came from. Use this map to unlock the secrets to the comedian’s overlooked kingdom.
Island
Staten
pete davidson's
pete davidson's
South Beach
Outerbridge Crossing
Outerbridge Crossing
South Beach
or just click here to see them all
Part of Staten Island’s baggage as the forgotten borough is well-earned, but they’re not only outshined by nautical neighbors Manhattan and Brooklyn—New Jersey, too. “We’re the only place Jersey looks down on,” his King of Staten Island character quips.
Welcome to
New Jersey