We were onsite for the special event

Musician Stevie Van Zandt, and his brother, playwright Billy Van Zandt, were honored on April 26th with a street dedication in their hometown of Middletown Township. The New Jersey Hall of Fame (NJHOF) partnered with Middletown Township to ceremonially dedicate Wilson Avenue, the street where Billy and Stevie Van Zandt grew up, as Van Zandt Way, serving as a perpetual reminder of their profound influence and lasting impact.

“This is a nice surprise, obviously. I know our parents are here in spirit, but I’d love to see the looks on their faces because no one would be more surprised than them. It was really touch and go there for a number of years. And I’m not sure I would recommend to someone coming up to take the Van Zandt ways of doing this exactly,” Stevie says during the press conference. “With all the ups and downs, drama, heartbreak, and bad decisions, sometimes the easier, logical path not taken, this is a wonderful validation that the three of us [siblings] must have done something right.”

Community leaders, officials, and esteemed guests gathered to pay tribute to the Van Zandt brothers, including Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, former NBC News Anchor and Middletown native Brian Williams, Chairman of the Board of the NJHOF Jon F. Hanson, and President of the NJHOF Steve Edwards.

“Steve is a local kid made good. He’s an icon. He’s an institution,” Williams shares with us. “I can’t believe he’s a friend. Life has been very kind to me. I love our town. I wouldn’t rather grow up anywhere else in the world and I’ve been all over the world a couple of times.”

“This is where Billy and Stevie grew up back in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s where Stevie lived when he first picked up a guitar. It’s where he lived when he first met Bruce Springsteen. It’s a very historic place for Stevie, and I think for New Jersey,” adds Edwards.

Stevie Van Zandt is an acclaimed American musician, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member and guitar player of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Van Zandt has his solo band called Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, which has been intermittently active since the 1980s. Beyond his musical endeavors, he gained widespread acclaim for his portrayal of Silvio Dante in the Emmy-award-winning HBO series The Sopranos, earning him multiple Screen Actors Guild Awards and an Emmy nomination. He is an Inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

Billy Van Zandt is a celebrated playwright, actor, director, and producer. He is the writer of the best-selling TV memoir “Get in the Car, Jane (Adventures in the TV Wasteland)” and was nominated for an Emmy Award for his television special I Love Lucy: The Very First Show. Alongside his longtime collaborator Jane Milmore, Van Zandt has written and produced several successful plays and sitcoms, including You’ve Got Hate Mail, Love, Sex, and the I.R.S., and Silent Laughter. As an actor, Van Zandt has graced the stage and the screen, with notable performances in The Godfather Part III and Jaws 2.