Don’t Stop Believin’ · 4:11San Francisco · 1973
Their biggest song runs 4:11 and keeps its chorus, and its own title, back until 3:21. The band’s story waits the same way. Play the sections.
The running time · 7 sections · 10 places
Don’t Stop Believin’ has a 0:17 intro, three verses and two pre-choruses before its chorus and title arrive at 3:21, with under a minute left. Play the sections in any order. The chorus waits until you have heard them all.
The intro, the chorus and the length are timed in the source. The order and lengths of the sections in between are our drawing, and so is the place each one opens.
0 of 6 sections heard. Play any section before 3:21.
Play a section and its place comes up here, with a photograph, what happened and how to visit.
The verses · 1973–1981
Post and Steiner · 31 December 1973
Journey played their first show at Winterland on New Year’s Eve 1973, to about 10,000 people.
Herbie Herbert, Santana’s former manager, had put the band together in San Francisco that year as the Golden Gate Rhythm Section, to back established Bay Area artists. A radio contest to name the group produced nothing usable, so the roadie John Villanueva suggested Journey.
The next day they played Diamond Head Crater in Hawaii. Winterland was an ice rink from 1928 and a rock hall under Bill Graham from 1971; it closed at New Year 1978–79 and apartments replaced it.
Gone: apartments stand on the corner of Post and Steiner. The photograph is the Peace Pagoda in Japantown, a few blocks east along Post Street.
750 Stanyan Street, San Francisco CA 94117 · See the site
A historic hotel at 750 Stanyan Street, by Golden Gate Park; Winterland’s old corner at Post and Steiner is elsewhere in the city. Rates are shown when you book. Pictured: Japantown, a few blocks from that corner.
See rooms
444 Battery Street · 28 October 1977
The band first met Steve Perry during a performance at Soldier Field in Chicago. They hired him as their lead singer on 10 October 1977.
Steve Perry first sang live with Journey at the Old Waldorf on 28 October 1977. Infinity, the first album with Perry, came out in January 1978 and reached number 21.
Jeffrey Pollack opened the club in 1976; it moved from California Street to 444 Battery Street, and Bill Graham bought it and closed it in 1983. Part of the site is now the Punch Line comedy club.
Part of the site is the Punch Line comedy club: in with a ticket, or see the front from Battery Street.
Chicago · 1977
Soldier Field stands on the Chicago lakefront at 425 East McFetridge Drive. The stadium is on the lakefront. Walk round its colonnades at any time; go in for a game or a show.
2600 Tenth Street, Berkeley · 1981
Escape was recorded at Fantasy, the first album recorded and mixed entirely in its Studio D. Perry had a cold on the day the band tracked Don’t Stop Believin’, so they cut it without him; he sang it the next week, mostly in one take.
Mike Stone switched his spoken click track off after about twenty minutes, and the band played the song live in one take. Steve Smith played in a corner booth; echo chambers, EMT plates and electronic reverb all went into the drum sound.
Escape came out in July 1981 and went to number one. The single followed on 19 October 1981 and reached number 9. The studio closed for good on 15 September 2018; in 2024 the site was announced for media production.
The studio closed in 2018 and the building is private: look from Tenth Street only.
The pre-choruses · Los Angeles and Detroit
The Sunset Strip · the 1970s
Jonathan Cain took the song’s title and hook from advice his father gave him when Cain was an unsuccessful musician on Sunset Boulevard.
Cain tied what he had seen of people chasing careers on Sunset to the song’s middle section; no single building is named.
The song was built backwards: the title hook was the only lyric they had at first. The band worked it up day after day in a rented warehouse in Oakland.
A public street: walk the Strip in West Hollywood. No single building belongs to this story.
Hart Plaza · the riverfront
Perry said he tried north, east and west Detroit in the song before settling on south, which sounded best; he learned later that the place is in Canada.
Downtown Detroit, seen from the Canadian side of the river.
Detroit lies mainly on the north bank of the Detroit River, and directly south of downtown is Windsor, Ontario. Cain has called it a mystical place, a city of possibilities in the mind.
The Red Wings have played the song at home games for years; in the last minutes of playoff wins the volume drops on the Detroit line and the crowd sings it. It was played at the closing ceremony of Joe Louis Arena in 2017.
A public plaza on the riverfront. Stand at the railing: the city across the water, due south, is Windsor in Canada.
Detroit
Live marketplace results for tours of downtown Detroit and the riverfront. Check each itinerary for Hart Plaza.
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Compare tours3:21–4:11 · 2005–2017
Manila to Viña del Mar · 2007–2008
Videos of Arnel Pineda’s Manila band The Zoo covering Journey and other bands went up on YouTube from February 2007. On 28 June 2007 Neal Schon contacted Noel Gomez, the fan who had posted many of them; Pineda took Schon’s email for a hoax until Gomez talked him round.
Pineda flew to Marin County for a week of auditions in August 2007 and was named lead singer on 5 December 2007. He first sang with Journey on 21 February 2008 at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, here, before about 20,000 people.
Pineda’s road there was long: after his mother died when he was 13, he left school to work and spent about two years homeless. Revelation, his first album with them, came out on 3 June 2008 and debuted at number 5. The amphitheatre holds 20,000 since its 2002 renovation and hosts the festival every February.
The amphitheatre stands in the Quinta Vergara park; the song festival fills it every February.
West 35th Street · 2005
The White Sox’s use of the song through their 2005 World Series title brought it press coverage and a sharp rise in popularity.
The park, then U.S. Cellular Field, held Games 1 and 2 against the Houston Astros; the title was the club’s first since 1917. It opened in 1991 as Comiskey Park and has been Rate Field since December 2024.
Home of the White Sox: walk round it on West 35th Street, or go in on a game day.
Broad Street, Bloomfield · 2007
The last scene of The Sopranos was filmed at Holsten’s in March 2007 and aired on HBO on 10 June 2007, with Don’t Stop Believin’ playing through it. Perry at first refused to clear the song and gave his final approval three days before the episode aired.
Straight after the episode, the song’s iTunes sales rose by 482%. The attention spurred the band to find a new lead singer after Steve Augeri left.
In 2024 the owners auctioned the original booth during a renovation; the table-top jukebox stayed, on the near-identical new booth. Holsten’s makes its own ice cream and chocolates, and you can sit in the booth.
Open daily when we checked: Monday to Saturday 11am to 10pm, Sunday noon to 10pm. Ice cream, burgers and the booth.
1063 Broad Street, Bloomfield NJ 07003
Homemade ice cream, shakes, burgers and chocolates, and the booth from The Sopranos’ last scene. Open Monday to Saturday 11am–10pm and Sunday noon–10pm when we checked.
Plan a visit
Atlantic Avenue · 7 April 2017
Journey were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at Barclays Center on 7 April 2017.
By July 2017 Don’t Stop Believin’ had passed 7 million US digital units; in 2012 it was the best-selling digital track of the 20th century. Barclays Center stands at 620 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn.
A Brooklyn arena: see the outside from Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues any time; in with a ticket.
Where it is now · 4:11
Winterland’s corner and the Old Waldorf are across San Francisco from each other; Fantasy is over the Bay in Berkeley. Soldier Field and Rate Field are both in Chicago. Detroit, Los Angeles, Bloomfield, Brooklyn and Viña del Mar are trips of their own.
10 places you can visit, from Winterland’s corner to Holsten’s booth.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Gone: apartments stand on the corner of Post and Steiner. The photograph is the Peace Pagoda in Japantown, a few blocks east along Post Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Part of the site is the Punch Line comedy club: in with a ticket, or see the front from Battery Street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public street: walk the Strip in West Hollywood. No single building belongs to this story.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The studio closed in 2018 and the building is private: look from Tenth Street only.
Post and Steiner Streets, San Francisco (now apartments)
Journey played their first show at Winterland on New Year’s Eve 1973, to about 10,000 people.
Gone: apartments stand on the corner of Post and Steiner. The photograph is the Peace Pagoda in Japantown, a few blocks east along Post Street.
444 Battery Street, Financial District, San Francisco
Steve Perry first sang live with Journey at the Old Waldorf on 28 October 1977.
Part of the site is the Punch Line comedy club: in with a ticket, or see the front from Battery Street.
Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, Los Angeles (no single building)
Jonathan Cain took the song’s title and hook from advice his father gave him when Cain was an unsuccessful musician on Sunset Boulevard.
A public street: walk the Strip in West Hollywood. No single building belongs to this story.
2600 Tenth Street, Berkeley (the Zaentz Media Center)
Escape was recorded at Fantasy, the first album recorded and mixed entirely in its Studio D.
The studio closed in 2018 and the building is private: look from Tenth Street only.
Stay
A historic hotel by Golden Gate Park, across the city from Winterland’s corner.
750 Stanyan Street, San Francisco CA 94117 · See the site
A historic hotel at 750 Stanyan Street, by Golden Gate Park; Winterland’s old corner at Post and Steiner is elsewhere in the city. Rates are shown when you book. Pictured: Japantown, a few blocks from that corner.
See roomsGo there
Holsten’s in Bloomfield, music tours in San Francisco and the Detroit riverfront.
1063 Broad Street, Bloomfield NJ 07003
Homemade ice cream, shakes, burgers and chocolates, and the booth from The Sopranos’ last scene. Open Monday to Saturday 11am–10pm and Sunday noon–10pm when we checked.
Plan a visitSan Francisco
Live marketplace results for music tours in San Francisco. Check each itinerary for the stops it really makes.
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Compare toursDetroit
Live marketplace results for tours of downtown Detroit and the riverfront. Check each itinerary for Hart Plaza.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
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Take it home
Infinity (1978), the first with Perry, and Escape (1981), made in Studio D.
Journey · 12-inch LP, Columbia (US), 1981
Recorded and mixed in Studio D at Fantasy, Berkeley; out in July 1981.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyJourney · 12-inch LP, Columbia (US), 1978
The first album with Steve Perry, out in January 1978.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
10 of 10 places · 12 of 12 Moments
Post and Steiner Streets, San Francisco (now apartments)
Journey play their first show, to about 10,000 people.
425 East McFetridge Drive, Chicago
The band first meet Steve Perry during a performance at Soldier Field.
444 Battery Street, Financial District, San Francisco
Steve Perry sings live with Journey for the first time.
Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, Los Angeles (no single building)
Jonathan Cain, struggling on Sunset Boulevard, gets the advice that becomes the song’s title.
2600 Tenth Street, Berkeley (the Zaentz Media Center)
Escape is recorded and mixed in Fantasy’s Studio D; Don’t Stop Believin’ is cut live in one take.
Hart Plaza on the Detroit riverfront, facing Windsor, Ontario
Perry picks south Detroit for its sound; due south of downtown is Windsor, Ontario.
The song is played at the closing ceremony of the Red Wings’ old arena.
333 West 35th Street, Chicago (U.S. Cellular Field in 2005)
The White Sox ride the song to the World Series title.
1063 Broad Street, Bloomfield, New Jersey
The Sopranos’ final scene is filmed at Holsten’s, the song playing through it.
Quinta Vergara amphitheatre, Viña del Mar, Chile
Neal Schon finds Arnel Pineda through YouTube videos of The Zoo filmed in Manila.
Arnel Pineda sings with Journey for the first time, at the Viña del Mar festival.
620 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, New York
Journey are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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