Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame to celebrate 'Everybody Loves Raymond's' 30th anniversary with new exhibit

Fictional Newsday sports columnist Ray Barone and the rest of his funny family from “Everybody Loves Raymond” will be celebrated in a new exhibit at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame beginning Nov. 28. The two-time Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy Award winner celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026.

Set in Lynbrook and featuring the exteriors of two real-life homes across the street from each other in Merrick, the sitcom created by Hofstra University alumnus Phil Rosenthal and starring Queens-born comic Ray Romano ran on CBS from 1996 to 2005.

Patricia Heaton starred as Ray's wife, Debra, the mother of three, with Brad Garrett as Ray’s sad-sack NYPD brother Robert and the late Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle as the siblings’ meddlesome parents, Marie and Frank. Additionally, Mineola-born and Stony Brook-raised comic Kevin James played a recurring role before his stardom in “The King of Queens.”

The exhibit will feature the 70-foot-wide set from the 30th anniversary TV special set to air Nov. 24 on CBS. It has never previously been on public display, the Stony Brook-based museum said in a news release Monday. The exhibit also includes items from the series’ wardrobe and props from the set, including the oversized fork and spoon decorations that hung in Frank and Marie’s kitchen. Behind-the-scenes clips, outtakes and videos related to the show will play in the Hall of Fame's  theater.
“When you walk into the museum, to the right will be a digital image of Marie's house,” said the exhibit’s curator, Art Directors Club Hall of Famer Kevin O’Callaghan, who helmed the museum’s nearly two-year Billy Joel exhibit. “And right opposite is a front door that says ‘Barone’ on it, and people will be able to enter his house” and begin walking through an immersive, experiential exhibit.

It differs from the exhibit that closed last month at Manhattan’s Paley Center for Media, O’Callaghan said. “Paley's was a beautiful show but it was very kind of Smithsonian-ish, where it was a lot of text and a lot of props under glass cases. I wanted it to be more Long Island and more interactive. I mean, it's a show set in Lynbrook and so I wanted it to be very kind of warm-and-fuzzy Long Island.”

The Paley exhibit did allow patrons to take a photograph of themselves sitting in the comfy leather recliner in which Frank Barone always sat when at Ray’s home. The same chair — the original from the series — will also be at LIMEHOF, and there will also be sitting photo ops, O’Callaghan said.
The original kitchen table and stove are scheduled to be included, though the original couch is up in the air. “The original couch, honestly, is something we're hoping is going to be on the truck” that was being unloaded even as O’Callaghan spoke. “But if not, we have the Paley couch [reproduction]. So we have a stand-in couch in case we don't get the original one.” But there will indeed be, he said, the original doll that young daughter Ally Barone (Madylin Sweeten) played with, as well as some of the toys of little twin brothers Geoffrey and Michael (Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten) and even the kids’ refrigerator drawings.
Newsday itself will be represented, he added. “We're going to blow up one of Ray Barone’s columns with his face on it, like they would show occasionally.”

Overall, O’Callaghan said, “The Paley show was in New York City, which is great. But 'Everybody Loves Raymond' belongs on Long Island.”
Tickets went on sale Monday at the museum’s website.