At His Former Home in TriBeCa, Fond Memories of James Gandolfini

In recent years, James Gandolfini spent much of his time in Hollywood, but last week, he was back on the quiet street in TriBeCa where he once lived, not to stay â€" his place was rented out â€" but just to say hello to his friends, the doormen.

“I’ve been here for seven years, and I can honestly say every time I opened the door for that guy, it was never with an attitude,” said Luis Rodriguez, a longtime doorman at the Greenwich Street apartment building on Wednesday, a few hours after learning that Mr. Gandolfini had died suddenly while traveling in Rome.

“Always said thank you, always ‘How you doing?’ ‘How are your kids?’”

With reddened eyes downcast, Mr. Rodriguez spoke of how Mr. Gandolfini often returned from walking his dog â€" a beloved rescue named Duk, according to a neighbor â€" with gifts for the doormen unbidden, sometimes snacks or a bottle of water, sometimes a spare $100 bill.

Mr. Gandolfini once even offered to pay for one of the building’s employees to go to college, Mr. Rodriguez said.

“He said, if you’re serious, I’ll pay,” he said.

Even before he rose to fame, Mr. Gandolfini, a New Jersey native, had an easygoing attitude about housing in New York. In a 1988 article on apartment hopping in The New York Times, Mr. Gandolfini, then a 26-year-old aspiring actor who relied largely on bartending and construction jobs, said he had never had his name on a lease and had never lived in one place for more than 10 months.

“Moving, to me, is no big deal,” he said in the article. “I have a system down. I throw everything in plastic garbage bags and can be situated in ! my new place in minutes. Without my name on a lease, I’m in and out. I have no responsibilities.”

Mr. Gandoflini was decidedly un-Manhattan and un-celebrity â€" on New Year’s Eve, he always invited the front-desk attendants up to pop Champagne in his apartment.

Parties at his house included heaping Italian fare, A-list names and neighbors â€" like local business owners and people whom he met walking Duke.

One such guest, Ellen Lytle, was out front on Wednesday night, remembering her friend by laying a bouquet of lilies on the curb. She brought them, she said, in honor of his daughter, Liliana.