nyc seinfeld tour

This website uses cookies to improve your browsing experience and analyze the use of the website. Learn More

Tour of Seinfeld Locations in NYC

If ever there was a TV show that so perfectly captured life in New York City, it was Seinfeld .

We can vouch from our own experiences that things can get a bit weird in New York City. Seinfeld took familiar everyday experiences to their wackiest extreme.

The below self-guided tour lets you follow in the footsteps of Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer.

Here's hoping you don't find yourself in a Seinfeld -esque predicament!

• Intro 
• Jerry's Apartment
• Tom's Restaurant
• Self-Guided Tour

Guided Seinfeld Tours

• TV Shows Based in NYC
• Things to Do in NYC

INTRODUCTION

Seinfeld  first aired in July of 1989, bringing New York City into the homes of millions of people.

From day one, the show was a hit. Over the years, Seinfeld won numerous Emmy, Golden Globe, and People's Choice Awards.

The hysterical ensemble cast featured Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Michael Richards.

This self-guided tour takes you to locales where some of the best episodes took place, whether in real life or on a studio set recreation.

It may take you up to four hours to see all the sites including travel time. 

While it can be done on your own, you might want to consider taking a guided tour to make sure you'll see all the best Seinfeld locations in NYC.

Jerry Seinfeld's Apartment

Before getting started on the tour, let's answer what may be the most common question about the show: Where does Jerry live in Seinfeld ?

The building address was 129 West 81st Street on the Upper West Side . (Stop D on the map below ).

While this was the address in the show, the building at that address looks nothing like the one shown in the exterior shots on the show. 

The actual exterior used in Seinfeld isn’t even in New York! It's at 755 S. New Hampshire Avenue in Los Angeles.

And no, Kenny Rogers Roasters is likely to move in anytime soon, but it’s a tranquil area that’s well worth a visit.

Monk’s Café ( Tom’s Restaurant NYC )

This is the famous exterior that appears in so many episodes. It's at 2880 Broadway at the corner of West 112th Street. (Stop A on the map below)

Here, the four friends overanalyze each other's behavior while pondering crazy questions about life.

Although the interior scenes were filmed on set in Los Angeles, that set was modeled on the inside of this restaurant.

Step into the world of Seinfeld by grabbing a table with some friends and having a cup of coffee.

SEINFELD LOCATIONS

This self-guided map has all the Seinfeld locations in this post.

Use the map as an itinerary to visit each stop in a logical order.

You'll be using the subway to travel to each stop, at least some of them.

If you are new to the subway system, check out our post on how to use the subway system .

The Subway in "T he Subway "

There’s nothing more New York than the subway and it features in countless Seinfeld episodes.

In the oh-so-New York episode "The Subway", Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine embark on subway-inspired misadventures.

The crew starts out on the subway together where an encounter with a busker gets out of control.

They go their separate ways, each finding themselves in wacky scenarios, which ring true to us New Yorkers...a tiny bit.

As they spend most of their time on the Upper West Side, they usually ride the 1/2/3 train line (it's red on the subway map).

Start your adventure by catching the No. 1 train local (red line) to the West 110th Street station.

A - Monk's Cafe in Multiple Episodes

See above .

B- Metro Theater in "The Stall"

(2626 Broadway between West 99th and West 100th Street) (now closed)

Remember when Elaine was trapped in a bathroom stall at a movie theater and implored the woman in the next stall to “spare her a square”?

How about when George confronts some movie hecklers which ends, as do most confrontations on Seinfeld , with a series of calamities?

The locale was based on The Metro Theater, which is now closed.

Now it's back onto the subway at West 110th Street. Take the 1 train from 103rd Street Station downtown to West 86th Street and walk east to Columbus Avenue.

C - H&H Bagels in “The Strike”

(526 Columbus Ave between W. 85th and W 86th Street)

In this episode, we learn that Cosmo Kramer did have a job. It’s just that he had been on strike for 12 years!

When the minimum wage is sufficient to meet his pay demands, decides to return to his employer, H & H Bagels, one of NYC’s best bagel shops .

It’s around the holidays and Kramer asks for December 23 off, and when the boss says no, he goes back on strike.

So what holiday is December 23 anyway? It’s Festivus! 

This is the first episode where this anti-Christmas holiday where people air their grievances makes its appearance.

Festivus is one of the most lasting legacies of Seinfeld .

Walk south on Columbus Avenue to W. 81st Street and make a right.

D- Jerry's Apartment in Multiple Episodes

(129 West 81st Street). See above .

Continue along W 81st Street to Amsterdam Avenue. Turn left and walk South to 72nd Street .

E - Gray's Papaya  in "The Movie"

(2090 Broadway, on Broadway at the intersection with Amsterdam Avenue and West 72nd Street)

If you think movie food in New York is too expensive, well Kramer agrees. 

It’s a classic comedy of errors, as the four make plans, remake plans, wreck their plans, and then Kramer needs a hot dog.

In the show, it’s Papaya King, but this particular Gray’s Papaya is the closest hot dog stand to the Paragon Theatre. Just make sure you’re back in time for the show….

TIP: Gray's Papaya is one of the best places in NYC to get a cheap and delicious meal .

Cross Broadway and walk down 72nd Street one block.

F - Royale Pastry Shop in "The Dinner Party"

(237 West 72nd Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue) (now closed)

Unfortunately, the shop itself is no more, but its customer base grew after it appeared on Seinfeld .

This shop, called Schnitzer's in the show, produced a marble rye worth mugging an old lady for, and a black and white cookie that could bridge racial divides.

While you can't get a Black and White Cookie at this shop, never fear.

Across the street from Stop V is Russ and Daughters who make a mean version of this classic New York food .

Walk back to Broadway, walk south 68th Street and make a left turn .

G - La Boîte en Bois in "The Sponge"

(75 West 68th Street, just off Columbus Avenue)

Date nights were nearly always a disaster on Seinfeld.

At this French restaurant, George’s date Karen had a very animated reaction to a particular risotto dish while eating there.

Luckily it’s no longer on the menu, but everything else that’s available is both far safer and tastier.

Continue one block along W. 68th Street until Central Park West. Turn right and walk south 5 blocks .

H - West Side YMCA in "The Boyfriend"

(5 West 63rd Street, between 8th Ave and Central Park West)

Former Mets baseball player Keith Hernandez meets Jerry at the West Side YMCA.

Hernandez is then accused and acquitted of spitting on Newman and Kramer and ends up dating Elaine.

In real life, he still makes around $3,000 a year in royalties from reruns, so just imagine what the main characters are raking in.

TIP: This YMCA is one of the best and most affordable hostels to stay at in NYC. Read more about it from our post, Best Hostels in New York City .

Walk away from the park on West 63rd until you reach Columbus Avenue.

I - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in "The Beard"

(10 Lincoln Center Plaza, W. 64th Street at Columbus Ave)

In this Seinfeld episode, Elaine attends the ballet at the Lincoln Center, enacting the role of “beard” in front of her gay friend’s employer.

She subsequently develops a crush on said gay friend and tries to turn him straight.

Perhaps the most memorable part of this episode is Elaine's night at the ballet and her visit to the bathroom.

And as George says, the bathrooms at Alice Tully Hall are excellent!

TIP: Lincoln Center offers behind-the-scenes tours, though they probably don't visit the bathrooms. Find out more about Lincoln Center Tours .

Walk south on Columbus Avenue which becomes 9th Avenue and make a right on W 59th Street and walk down one block.

J - Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital in "The Bris"

(1000 10th Avenue, between W. 58th and W. 59th Streets)

In this episode, the not-so-fab-four head to the Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital to meet friends who’ve just had a baby.

Kramer wanders into the wrong hospital room and claims to have seen a "pigman" (half pig, half man).

Meanwhile, a mentally ill patient commits suicide and lands on George's car, and he attempts to get the hospital to reimburse him for the damage.

Walk south on 10th Avenue to W. 55th Street and make a left. Walk two blocks to 8th Avenue .

K - The Original Soup Kitchen in "The Soup Nazi"

(259A W. 55th Street at 8th Avenue)

“No soup for you!” is exactly what you shouldn’t say when visiting The Original Soupman.

The shop is based on Al's Soup Kitchen owned by Al Yeganeh, who still controls the soup recipes and is sometimes seen in the store.

Jerry and the crew visited this store in the real world for years, and lines outside the shop often stretched around the block.

This led to Yeganeh developing the strict rules:

“Pick the soup you want! Have your money ready! Move to the extreme left after ordering! And if you don’t stick to the rules? No soup for you!”

Walk south on 8th Avenue to W. 47th Street .

L - Edison Hotel  in "The Subway"

(228 W 47th St between 7th and 8th Avenue)

In the very same subway episode mentioned at the start of this tour, George is led to the Edison Hotel, where he’s expecting to spend some sexy time with a beautiful stranger.

Instead, the woman handcuffs him to a bed and makes off with his only good suit, as well as everything else including his dignity.

By the way, the Edison Hotel is one of our favorite hotels in New York City. Read about it in our post, Where to Stay in NYC .

Backtrack on W. 47th Street to 9th Avenue and make a left. Walk to W 44th Street and make a left.

TIP : This area is known as Hell's Kitchen. It's got a fascinating past. Read about it here .

M- The Improv in Multiple Episodes

(358 West 44th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenue) (now closed)

Whenever Jerry was performing stand-up during an episode, he was often on his way to, from, or was at “The Improv”.

Unfortunately, it’s now closed, but you can still visit the site where this actual comedy club once stood, now The Producers Club.

Walk back to 9th Avenue .

N - Westway Diner

(614 9th Avenue between W. 43rd and 44th Street)

Although not a location in one of the episodes of Seinfeld, this is the diner where Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David dined when they came up with the idea for the show.

Walk back along W. 44th to 8th Avenue.

O - Sardi's

(234 West 44th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenue)

After Kramer receives a Tony while serving as a seat filler during the awards ceremony, he accompanies the award to Sardi’s, where he’s forced to fire an extremely fired-up Raquel Welch.

Sardi’s has been in the same location in Manhattan’s theater district since 1927 and is renowned for the celebrity caricatures that adorn the walls, as well as mixing a quality cocktail.

Our pay-what-you-wish Midtown Tours visit parts of the Theater District.

You can also try our Audio Tour of Midtown Manhattan or check out our self-guided Theater District Tour .

Continue east on W. 44th Street to 5th Avenue and make a left turn. Walk up to W. 49th Street.

P - 30 Rockefeller Center

(30 Rockefeller Plaza, West 50th Street between 5th and 6th Avenue)

Remember when the characters in Seinfeld, a show about nothing, visited NBC to pitch their idea for a show about nothing?

That all went down at the real-life NBC studios at “30 Rock” located inside Rockefeller Center .

Our post on Rockefeller Center can help you find your way around and find out what else there is to see there.

Rockefeller Center is home to  Top of the Rock , one of the three skyscraper observation decks in NYC.

Walk north on 5th Avenue to W. 59th Street.

Q - The Plaza Hotel

(768 5th Ave. at 59th Street and across from Central Park) 

When Elaine interviews for a job at Viking Press, she pretends to have flown in from Florida so receives a suite at The Plaza.

She begrudgingly bequeaths it to Jerry’s parents, who pass it along to Uncle Leo and Nana, and they trash the place.

The Plaza has also been featured in The Great Gatsby , among countless other books and films.

If you were planning on visiting Central Park, our Lower Central Park tour starts from nearby The Plaza.

We also offer a self-guided GPS audio version of this tour that you could take any time you like.

Walk to 57th Street, make a right turn and walk down two blocks.

S - Pendant Publishing in Multiple Episodes

(600 Madison Avenue at 57th Street)

Pendant Publishing, Elaine and George’s employer at different times, might be a fictitious business but the building where it was housed is as real as bricks and mortar.

A stunning office building, it is currently home to hedge funds, UGG Boots, and the finest Mont Blanc pens.

TIP:  While you are uptown at 61st Street, why not take a ride on the  Roosevelt Island Tram ? You will get one of the most spectacular 360-degree views of NYC, all for the price of a subway ride.

Walk north on Madison Avenue to 61st Street.

T - Barneys New York

(660 Madison Ave at East 61st Street) (now closed)

Elaine buys a dress on sale that looks great at the store, but once home it looks awful.

She returns it to Barneys and accuses them of using “skinny mirrors” that make people appear thinner than they are.

The store has since closed so you can't try the mirrors for yourself, but you will just have to trust Elaine!"

From Barneys, walk to Lexington Avenue then south two streets in the direction of the cars to East 59th, and catch the 6 local train downtown (green line) to the 33rd Street Station.

Mendy’s Kosher Delicatessen

(441 Park Ave S. New York between E. 30th and E. 29th Street)

“Is soup a meal?” Thanks to Seinfeld this is now an immortal question and the beginning of many all-night debates.

It all began at Mendy’s when Kenny Bania, whom Jerry owed a free meal, opted for soup. “Soup and sandwich, that is a meal!” Jerry would later proclaim.

TIP: Mendy's has fantastic deli sandwiches, so if you are hungry, take a seat and order something.

If you'd rather wait a little while, we have you covered. In two stops you'll be near Katz's , the deli that featured in the infamous scene in Where Harry Met Sally.

Feel like taking the bus a few blocks? Grab a southbound bus on Park Avenue and get off at E. 18th Street.

TIP: If you have an unlimited card, your bus fare is included. If you have a pay-per-ride card, your bus transfer is included for up to 90 minutes after you get off the subway.

See what Metrocard is right for you .

U - Pete’s Tavern in The Sniffing Accountant

(129 East 18th Street, between Irving Place and 3rd Avenue)

Kramer follows Barry the sniffing accountant to Pete’s Tavern, where he attempts to blend in by chugging a beer with a cigarette in his mouth.

Kramer attempts to catch Barry in a nefarious act, which he doesn’t manage, however, he does snap a photo of Barry in a different act - on the toilet.

Learn more about the surrounding historic neighborhood on our self-guided tour of Gramercy Park and Union Square .

One final subway ride! Take a jaunt down to East 14th Street and hop on the 6 local train downtown two stops to Bleecker Street.

Walk one block south on Lafayette Avenue and left onto Houston Street. Walk down to 1st Avenue.

V - The Nexus of the Universe

(intersection of East 1st Street and 1st Avenue)

It is here that a very lost and confused Kramer calls Jerry from this location, which he describes as “The Nexus of the Universe”. 

On our pay-what-you-wish   Lower East Side Food Tour , we walk through the center of the universe (in addition to having food that is out of this world!)

SEINFELD BEYOND MANHATTAN

While most of Seinfeld takes place in Manhattan, they do have adventures off of the island.

These are some locations that you may visit on your trip, so why not bring the gang along with you?

W - Yankee Stadium in Multiple Episodes

(1 E 161st St., in the Bronx) ( directions )

If you plan to see a baseball game or take a Yankee Stadium tour , you will find yourself at George Costanza’s most famous place of employment - where he mostly naps!

This long-running sub-plot featured the show’s writer, Larry David, performing as a crazed version of now-deceased Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. 

Yankee Stadium also features in several other episodes, including when Elaine refuses to remove her Orioles hat at a game.

X - LaGuardia Airport in Multiple Episodes

If you are flying in and out of LaGuardia airport, you’ll be happy to hear that some great comedic moments went down here

While on a flight, Elaine is stuck in coach class, but Jerry flies first class. In the seat next to him is a model, who bonds with Jerry over gigantic ice cream sundaes the plane.

George and Kramer go to LaGuardia to pick up Elaine and Jerry, only to find out that it has been rerouted to JFK Airport. Traffic, of course, is a nightmare.

In typical Seinfeld fashion, George causes unnecessary trouble and ends up being assaulted by a criminal in the plane bathroom.

Don’t worry. LaGuardia is a pretty nice airport, despite what happens in Seinfeld !

Y- Arthur Ashe Tennis Stadium in “The Lip Reader”

In town in late August or early September ? Make the trek to see world-class tennis at this site of the famous U.S. Open tennis tournament.

George and Jerry are at a match when George gets ice cream all over his face, the sports channel camera zooms in and the commentators mock him for all the world to see on TV.

Kramer is watching the match at home and decides to become a "ball man".

Needless to say, he is not a very good one.

Z- Massapequa, Long Island

This isn't a locale from the show, but you can go on a pilgrimage here if you want to see where the real-life Jerry grew up.

Born Jerome Allen Seinfeld in 1954 in Brooklyn, his family moved to Massapequa, Long Island where his father Kal Seinfeld was a successful sign painter.

Kal missed a great marketing  -- and comedic -- opportunity by not naming his business Seinfeld Signs.

Cleverly though changed the spelling of his last name to incorporate the nature of his business and called the company Kal Seinfeld Signs.

There are a lot of tour services that include coverage of various Seinfeld locations in New York, as well as one unofficial Seinfeld tour you might want to consider.

Our pay-what-you-wish Midtown Manhattan tour includes some of the Seinfeld locations.

You can visit the Nexus of the Universe on our pay-what-you-wish Lower East Side food tour!

The  When Harry Met Seinfeld Tour  bus tour by On Location Tours, combines sites from Seinfeld  and When Harry Met Sally .

It's included for free with several tourist attraction passes with deals . 

Another option is to take  Kenny Kramer’s Reality Tour . Kenny lived across the hall from Larry David, and was the inspiration for Kramer!

Though it has been pushed back, "The Seinfeld Experience" is a pop-up exhibition planned by the same company that created a 2017 version of this event.

See  below for more information.

SEINFELD EXPERIENCE - 30th ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

An immersive pop-up exhibition called “The Seinfeld Experience” was originally planned to be held in 2019, but it was either pushed back or has ended.

Interactive exhibits bring the comedy series back to life.

The event was originally scheduled to take place in Gramercy, the neighborhood where Pete’s Tavern from “The Sniffing Accountant” episode takes place ( see above ).

If it is anything like the 2017  “Seinfeld Experience” created by the same production company, Superfly, it will be amazing. 

There will likely be re-creations of the set of Seinfeld, memorabilia, costumes, and props from classic Seinfeld scenes. You may even have a chance to sit down at Monk’s and enjoy some food! 

Tickets are not currently available, and there is no indication of when or if the Seinfeld Experience NYC will return in the near future.

RELATED POSTS

• Central Park TV and Movie Tour
• Friends New York Tours and Locations
• Where did Carrie Bradshaw Live?
• Sex and the City Tour Sights
• Friends Apartment Building
• The Friends Experience
• Self-Guided NYC Tours

Choose a Destination... I want them all PLUS general travel tips. Amsterdam Berlin Boston Charleston Chicago Dubai Lisbon London Los Angeles Miami Nashville New York City New Orleans Paris Philadelphia Prague Rome San Francisco Washington DC

About The Author

Courtney Shapiro

North america, united kingdom & ireland, middle east & india, asia & oceania.

#TheLocatorContest: Click here to print The Locator!

SEINFELD FILMING LOCATIONS

There are tons of locations throughout New York City that Seinfeld fans will recognize! We cover the key sites in Midtown and the Upper West Side where Jerry Seinfeld and his friends George, Elaine, and Kramer found themselves in one hilarious predicament after the other.

On Location Tours features two different tours that bring fans to Seinfeld’s most famous locations: the NYC TV & Movie Tour and When Harry Met Seinfeld Tour . Here’s what you’ll see!

Al’s Soup Kitchen , the restaurant that inspired the infamous “Soup Nazi” episode is featured in both tours. The well-known character of the soup Nazi who is most known for yelling “No soup for you!” to both Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and George (Jason Alexander) is actually based on Al, the true owner of the restaurant. Since being featured in Seinfeld popularity has exploded. Al’s Soup Kitchen is now a franchise, with several locations throughout the city.

Tom’s Restaurant played the part of Monk’s Cafe, the diner where the gang regularly gathered. The interior scenes of the diner were filmed on set in California, but the bright red and blue “Restaurant” sign outside the diner will be familiar to fans. Tom’s Restaurant was also the locale of Suzanne Vega’s 1987 song “Tom’s Diner.” Loyal Seinfeld fans will get an incredible photo-op on our When Harry Met Seinfeld Tour.

H&H Bagels: “The Strike” 1997

It turns out Kramer did have a job, but had apparently been on strike for 12 years. Since minimum wage had finally caught up to the workers demands – the strike ended and Kramer headed back to work at H&H Bagels. When he asks for the 23rd of December off and doesn’t get it, he goes on strike again. H&H Bagels is now closed, but once produced 80,000 bagels day – no thanks to Kramer.

Barney’s New York: “The Secretary” 1994

Elaine shops at Barney’s where she buys a dress on sale, but once she takes it home and sees herself in her own mirror, she thinks Barney’s was using “skinny mirrors” to trick their customers. Elaine goes with Kramer to return the dress, but discovers she can’t return it after wearing it outside. Madison Avenue, known as the “fashionable road,” is the home to the stores of several well known fashion designers like Carolina Herrera, Chloe, Donna Karan, Armani, and Versace. Guests on the NYC TV & Movie Tour will pass right by the famous store – but will have to inspect the mirrors another time.

Gray’s Papaya: “ The Movie” 1992

Kramer and Elaine head to the movies – which of course sounds simpler then it was. Desperate for a treat that isn’t a “movie hot dog” Kramer heads across the street (from the current AMC Loews) to Gray’s Papaya for what he deems is a hot dog “better than filet mignon.”

Other Seinfeld Locations Not Featured on Our Tours

Roosevelt Hospital: “The Bris” 1993

This is the location where Jerry and Elaine nervously participate in the circumcision of their godchild, and where Kramer discovers the infamous “Pig Man,” Charles Levin, guest stars as the rabbi in this episode and accidentally circumcises Jerry’s finger. Roosevelt Hospital is also notable as the sight of John Lennon’s death.

Champagne Video (Now Closed): “The Comeback” 1997

Elaine and Kramer go to Champagne Video to rent movies. There is a section where the employees at the store offer their suggestions of the week, and Elaine is partial to Victor’s movie choices. Victor ends up calling Elaine on the phone and she becomes romantically interested in him. One day when Kramer persuades Elaine to rent a “Gene pick” instead, Victor mails Elaine the “play” button from his VCR and terminates the relationship. After Elaine apologizes, Victor finally agrees to meet with her at his apartment if she brings vodka, cigarettes, and fireworks. When Elaine arrives she is greeted by Victor’s mother, because Victor turns out to be 15 years old. Elaine then takes the vodka out of the bag and leaves.

* In an effort to stay current, we are constantly updating our tours with new locations and cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site. If you have a particular interest in locations from a specific TV show or movie, please let your tour guide know and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

TAKE THE TOURS THAT FEATURE SOME OF THESE FILMING LOCATIONS!

• Tag Bus Tour , Public Bus/Vehicle Tour
• Hour Glass 2 hours for public tours
• User All ages

When Harry Met Seinfeld Tour

A look at TV & movie locations above Times Square.

• Most Popular!
• Hour Glass 2.5 hours

NYC TV & Movie Tour

Straddle fiction and reality as you visit famous sites from both the big and small screen! See a mix of nostalgic locations from Friends, Seinfeld, When Harry Met Sally, and more.

Kramer's Reality Tour

• See all photos

Similar Experiences

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Kramer's Reality Tour - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Kramer Keeps It Real

Jonathan Zeller 09/20/2016

Photo: Julienne Schaer

George: Wait a minute. I think I understand this. J. Peterman is real; his biography is not. Now you, Kramer, are real.

Kramer: Talk to me.

George: But your life is Peterman’s. Now the bus tour, which is real, takes you to places that—while they are real—they are not real in the sense that they did not really happen to the real Peterman, which is you.

Kramer: Understand?

Jerry: Yeah, it’s $37.50 for a Three Musketeers.

 — Seinfeld, “ The Muffin Tops”

Kenny Kramer—a tall, mustachioed man in a Yankees cap and a bright shirt—stands at the front of the Off-Off-Broadway Producers Club  theater in Manhattan. He’s a striking figure, but he’d be unlikely to command the rapt attention of the 60 or so people watching if he hadn’t been the inspiration for Cosmo Kramer, the eccentric neighbor character on Seinfeld . As it stands, his Seinfeld tour has been running since 1996.

Nearly two decades after Jerry and company stopped making new episodes, Seinfeld remains ubiquitous. Jennifer Armstrong’s new book , Seinfeldia , covers the baseball promotional days, Twitter accounts—one that puts modern tech in its characters’ hands ( @ModernSeinfeld ), another that presents them through a hallucinatory postmodern filter ( @Seinfeld2000 )—and other ways the show remains part of pop culture. Hulu made a documentary  about its superfans. The sitcom's on television virtually every day in every market. That might help explain why a tour that Kenny Kramer himself says he expected to run “six or seven weeks” regularly sells out and has survived twice as long as the show itself.

Right now, Kenny—the Real Kramer—holds up a DVD entitled Seinfans Take Kramer’s Reality Tour and tells his admirers about a story therein.

The incident yielded a plotline on Seinfeld episode “The Tape,” in which George calls a Chinese company that claims to have a revolutionary baldness cure. Kramer says Larry David, his real-life neighbor and the basis for the George character, had a similar experience. He promises viewers will learn the details of David’s mission to cure his baldness, down to before-and-after scalp photos.

The men and women assembled in this room have each paid $37.50 for Kramer’s show and the bus tour that follows. They’re here for behind-the-scenes stories about real-world people who helped shape Seinfeld . And, for the most part, they’re getting that. But right now, they’re getting a tease, a sneak preview of a story that they won’t hear in its entirety this afternoon. Why? “Because,” Kramer says, “I want you to buy the DVD.”

If that life-imitating-art-imitating-life moment sounds entertaining (it was for us), you might want to consider taking Kramer’s Reality Tour.

Levels, Jerry

Following a brief warm-up from another comedian, Kramer—who lived across the hall from Larry David for years in the Manhattan Plaza apartment building on West 43rd Street, coming and going through David’s open door—plays video clips and tells stories from his real life, some of which ended up on Seinfeld .

He also shares a tidbit that might shock many New Yorkers: his subsidized rent back in the ’80s wasn’t much more than $60 per month. “I want to thank you, the American taxpayer,” he says, for the scenario that helped him meet David.

Actually, the crowd is largely international. Visitors hail from Canada, Romania, Sweden, Argentina and Israel, with the largest contingent coming from Australia. Armstrong also noted Kramer’s popularity with Australians in her book; apparently the kavorka  is strong Down Under.

After about an hour of videos and stories, Kramer transitions into the sales portion of the day—he calls it “Kra-Mart”—telling the audience about the deals they can get on T-shirts, mugs, caps and the like. Kramer’s always been a salesman—before his full-time job was being Kramer, he supported himself by selling glow-in-the-dark disco jewelry. He also had gigs as a comedian, a drummer and a band manager, and ran for mayor of New York City in 2001. He got to debate on local television, and you can still buy the campaign T-shirts.

And, yes, Kenny really did briefly believe he was going to put “levels” into his apartment .

“The Last Thing This Guy’s Qualified to Give a Tour of Is Reality”

Outside the theater, souvenirs in hand, the tour participants pile onto a coach bus. They watch video clips—including an introduction by former New York City mayor and onetime Seinfeld guest star Rudy Giuliani—on their way to the Original Soup Man (formerly Soup Kitchen International), whose Al Yeganeh inspired the Soup Nazi character on Seinfeld .

Yeganeh, who has a reputation as a grumpy guy, was never fond of being called a “Nazi” (to be fair, few would appreciate the label). Kramer shows an amusing video clip he filmed for use as a Seinfeld DVD bonus feature—it ended up on the cutting-room floor—in which the Soup Man insults the show and its fans as our guide interviews him. For an example of how little Yeganeh enjoys his Seinfeld fame, see this interview with Spike Feresten , who wrote “The Soup Nazi.” The story in question begins at the 3:05 mark. Still, this tour brings Yeganeh business, he’s lent his “Soup Man” name to shops and a line of products reaching far outside New York City and he has leveraged his brand to sell T-shirts—a move that suggests, no matter how little he may like his TV counterpart, the Original Soup Man has more in common with the Real Kramer than he’d like to admit.

While they wait for their soups, tour goers pose in photos with Kramer. The man may never have been elected mayor, but he has certainly mastered one of the position’s great ceremonial duties: he smiles like a pro with everyone on the photo line.

Back on the bus, more highlights include a clip of Larry David performing stand-up in the 1980s before he was famous (on Richard Belzer’s Lifetime talk show!) and a glimpse of Tom’s Restaurant , whose facade represented Monk’s Café during the show’s run. Tom’s resisted adding Seinfeld- themed dishes for many years, but has recently succumbed to pop-culture pressure and now sells the likes of Elaine’s Big Salad.

Kramer also points out lesser-known Seinfeld landmarks, including 2067 Broadway, once home to a law firm whose tenant engaged in a legal battle  with a Kenny Rogers Roasters; the smells, sounds and light that rose into the office led the attorney to place a “Bad Food” sign in his window and inspired the episode “The Chicken Roaster.” The lawyer prevailed when the restaurant sued, though both the law office and the Kenny Rogers Roasters are now closed.

In another moment when reality folds over onto itself, the Real Kramer shows the Seinfeld clip (quoted at the start of this article) inspired by his own tour, in which TV Kramer offers a bus tour based on his experiences as the “Real Peterman.”

Indeed, Kramer explains that he used to invite all tour goers up to his apartment for a candy bar (a Snickers rather than a Three Musketeers)—but the dessert break made the tour too long.

People Want to Know the Stories Behind the Stories

Before we get out of here, it’s a safe bet that Kramer would want you to know some other topics he touches on during the tour:

Larry David’s breakup with a friend, which helped inspire

“Male Unbonding”

David’s attempt to reconnect with a woman he’d met at a party, which formed the basis for

“The Stakeout”

characters named after real people Larry David knew

“real” contest

, of which Kramer says he “wasn’t in it” and “couldn’t win it”

… and much, much more!

For more info and tickets to Kramer’s Reality Tour, visit kennykramer.com ,  which looks like it hasn’t been redesigned since 1996 (Kramer says he’s had plenty of offers to do it for free but doesn’t want to be bothered).

What's good in NYC? From coverage of the latest attractions in the five boroughs to deals on Broadway show tickets, incredible cuisine and more, our emails will make sure you never miss a thing.

* Required Fields

By clicking sign up, you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions

Insider Picks: Top Things to Do in NYC Now

17 Best NYC Cooking Classes

No matter what you’re craving, there’s a New York City food pro ready to walk you through making it from scratch.

Free NYC Museums

These NYC museums and art-filled attractions are free today, on specific days or at certain times. Find one near you.

The Best All-Ages and Family-Friendly Nightlife in NYC

Check out these music, comedy and performance spots that are good for families or older kids looking for a bit of independence.

The Comprehensive Guide to Baseball in NYC

Heading to the ballpark? Let us take you there.

NYC’s Best New Restaurants in 2024

Dine at the City’s newest restaurants.

• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard

Jerry Seinfeld Announces 2023 Tour Dates, Extends Beacon Theatre Residency

• Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later. More content below

The post Jerry Seinfeld Announces 2023 Tour Dates, Extends Beacon Theatre Residency appeared first on Consequence .

Jerry Seinfeld is set to resume his long-running residency at New York’s Beacon Theatre with a new run of standup shows taking place through March 2023.

The new dates include early and late shows on December 16th-17th; January 20th-21st; February 3rd-4th; and March 3rd-4th, , with performances at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on all eight nights.

Tickets go on sale Friday, October 28th at 10:00 a.m. ET. via Ticketmaster . A ticket pre-sale takes is set for Wednesday, October 26th (using access code PUMPKIN ).

Seinfeld has a bevy of other upcoming shows, including dates in cities like Baltimore, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, Atlantic City, Ft. Lauderdale, Washington, DC, Jacksonville, and beyond. Check out his full itinerary below, and grab tickets via Ticketmaster .

Seinfeld fans can also look forward to his upcoming film about the creation of Pop-Tarts . Coming to Netflix, Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story will star Seinfeld alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Hugh Grant, James Marsden, Jack McBrayer, Tom Lennon, Adrian Martinez, Bobby Moynihan, Max Greenfield, Christian Slater, and Sarah Cooper.

Jerry Seinfeld 2023 Tour Dates: 10/21 – Knoxville, TN @ Knoxville Civic Auditorium 10/28 – Baltimore, MD @ Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (early show) 10/28 – Baltimore, MD @ Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (late show) 10/29 – Saginaw, MI @ The Down Events Center 11/04 – Tucson, AZ @ Linda Ronstadt Music Hall 11/05 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial Theatre 11/11 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theatre (early show) 11/11 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Arlington Theatre (late show) 11/12 – Reno, NV @ Reno Events Center 11/18 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 11/18 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 11/19 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 11/19 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 12/02 – Richmond, VA @ Atria Theatre 12/03 – Mashantucket, CT @ Premier Theater at Foxwoods 12/09 – Wiles-Barre, PA @ F.M. Kirby Center (early show) 12/09 – Wiles-Barre, PA @ F.M. Kirby Center (late show) 12/10 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Bogota Event Center 12/16 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 12/16 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 12/17 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 12/17 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 01/06 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Au-Rene Theater (early show) 01/06 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Au-Rene Theater (late show) 01/13 – Sarasota, FL @ Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall (early show) 01/13 – Sarasota, FL @ Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall (late show) 01/20 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 01/20 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 01/21 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 01/21 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 01/27 – Stockton, CA @ Bob Hope Theatre 02/03 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 02/03 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 02/04 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 02/04 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 02/10 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem (early show) 02/10 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem (late show) 02/11 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem (early show) 02/11 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem (late show) 02/17 – Springfield, IL @ Sangamon Auditorium 02/18 – West Palm Beach, FL @ Dreyfoos Hall (early show) 02/18 – WestPalm Beach, FL @ Dreyfoos Hall (late show) 03/03 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 03/03 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 03/04 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (early show) 03/04 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre (late show) 04/20 – Jacksonville, FL @ Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts 04/22 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Bogota Event Center 05/19 – Hanover, MD @ The Hall at Live!

Jerry Seinfeld Announces 2023 Tour Dates, Extends Beacon Theatre Residency Consequence Staff

Popular Posts

James Corden Banned from New York Restaurant for "Extremely Nasty" Behavior

George Floyd's Family Files $250 Million Lawsuit Against Kanye West for Defamation [UPDATED]

M. Shadows Admits Avenged Sevenfold "Cut a Little Too Close" to Metallica on Hail to the King

Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle Announce Co-Headline US Tour

Adam Sandler Announces Standup Tour

Elon Musk Thinks Grimes Might Be a Simulation That "Exists in His Cerebral Cortex"

Subscribe to Consequence’s email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.

Recommended Stories

Nfl draft: packers fan upset with team's 1st pick, and lions fans hilariously rubbed it in.

Not everyone was thrilled with their team's draft on Thursday night.

NFL Draft: Bears take Iowa punter, who immediately receives funny text from Caleb Williams

There haven't been many punters drafted in the fourth round or higher like Tory Taylor just was. Chicago's No. 1 overall pick welcomed him in unique fashion.

NFL to allow players to wear protective Guardian Caps in games beginning with 2024 season

The NFL will allow players to wear protective Guardian Caps during games beginning with the 2024 season. The caps were previously mandated for practices.

NFL Draft: Spencer Rattler's long wait ends, as Saints draft him in the 5th round

Spencer Rattler once looked like a good bet to be a first-round pick.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones compared his 2024 NFL Draft strategy to robbing a bank

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made an amusing analogy when asked why the team selected three offensive lineman in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Michael Penix Jr. said Kirk Cousins called him after Falcons' surprising draft selection

Atlanta Falcons first-round draft pick Michael Penix Jr. said quarterback Kirk Cousins called him after he was picked No. 8 overall in one of the 2024 NFL Draft's more puzzling selections.

Korey Cunningham, former NFL lineman, found dead in New Jersey home at age 28

Cunningham played 31 games in the NFL with the Cardinals, Patriots and Giants.

NFL Draft: Brenden Rice, son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, picked by Chargers

Brenden Rice played the same position as his legendary father.

Based on the odds, here's what the top 10 picks of the NFL Draft will be

What would a mock draft look like using just betting odds?

NFL Draft fashion: Caleb Williams, Malik Nabers dressed to impress, but Marvin Harrison Jr.'s medallion stole the show

Every player was dressed to impress at the 2024 NFL Draft.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Sweepstakes
• Destinations
• New York City

A Fully Immersive 'Seinfeld' Experience Is Coming to New York City

In honor of the Seinfeld's 30th anniversary, live entertainment producers Superfly and Warner Bros. Consumer Products are bringing the ultimate fan experience to New York City — and it is sure to be soooo good looking.

Superfly is also the agency that brought the world Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, and Comedy Central Presents Colossal Clusterfest, so we all know we’re going to have a good time on a grand scale.

The Seinfeld Experience is a fully immersive pop-up event that will be a “behind-the-scenes look at the legendary television show,” according to a statement from Superfly.

The exhibition is expected to include costumes, props, memorabilia, set re-creations, (yada, yada, yada), from the show. There will also be a retail store for fans to purchase exclusive show merchandise.

“We're thrilled to bring The Seinfeld Experience to life in an innovative way, combining nostalgia with immersive entertainment, and getting fans closer than ever before to the show and its beloved characters,” said Jonathan Mayers, co-founder of Superfly, in a statement. “A show as iconic as Seinfeld should be celebrated with an experience that truly matches its legacy and enduring influence.”

The experience may be similar, but most likely far more epic, to a Hulu pop-up in New York City and Los Angeles in 2017 which recreated Seinfeld’s iconic apartment.

Even Jerry Seinfeld himself is in on it. “Because I am Seinfeld, for a long time I was the only person to actually have the Seinfeld experience. Now, these crazy Superfly people are going to make it so lots of people can interact with our silly 90's TV show,” he said in a statement. "All I can say is, in the general context of the world we live in, this now seems completely normal.”

Considering that this was the show that gave the world Cosmo Kramer, we probably shouldn’t be making judgments on what’s normal or not.

Ticket prices are unknown at the moment, but the experience is planned to go up in New York City’s Gramercy neighborhood and will operate daily starting in the fall of 2019.

It's a Pop-Up About Nothing! 'The Seinfeld Experience' Launches This Fall in NYC

It's real and it's spectacular! Fans of the hit 90s TV show Seinfeld can finally get to experience the TV show in all of its glory this fall. 'The Seinfeld Experience', as it's being called, will be a "retail store and immersive exhibit" dedicated to the show in the Gramercy neighborhood in Manhattan.

According to Time Out magazine , the immersive production will include "set re-creations, costumes, memorabilia, props and (best of all) never before seen content." The exhibit, which is set to open "later this year," will be open 7 days a week and run through February 2020. Tickets will go on sale in the coming months.

The production is a collaboration between Warner Bros., Consumer Products, and event-planning company Superfly. Similar experiences and tours have been offered in the past, however, these experiences were not sanctioned by Warner Bros. or associated with Seinfeld.

Jerry Seinfeld himself has even commented on The Seinfeld Experience, saying, "Because I am Seinfeld, for a long time I was the only person to actually have the Seinfeld experience. Now, these crazy Superfly people are going to make it so lots of people can interact with our silly 90's TV show."

The Seinfeld Experience doesn't appear to offer a tour component, which means fans will need to explore notable Seinfeld landmarks of the show on their own. While much of the show featured fictional locations, the show references a surprising number of real-life restaurants, stores, and locations in New York City that are still around today.

If you are planning on visiting The Seinfeld Experience and want to explore New York City Seinfeld-style, here's a list of just a few locations to visit:

• Monk's Cafe - Tom's Restaurant - 2880 Broadway

• Jerry's Apartment - 129 West 81st Street

• The Soup Nazi's Soup Stand - The Original Soupman - 259A West 55th Street

• Mendy's - Mendy's Kosher Delicatessen - 37 West 48th Street @ Rockefeller Center
• Papaya King - Gray's Papaya - 2090 Broadway
• The Nexus of The Universe - 1st and 1st - 1st Street and 1st Avenue

• J. Peterman Offices - 1325 6th Avenue

If you're interested in getting in on the action sign up for updates on The Seinfeld Experience. The production begins in Fall 2019 and end in February 2020. Now would also be a good time to start checking award availability for flights to New York City .

For the latest travel news, deals and points and miles tips please subscribe to The Points Guy daily email newsletter .

• Entertainment
• Celebrities
• Ticket Sales
• Promoted: What to Watch on Prime Video

Recommended

Breaking news, last-minute jerry seinfeld tickets are going for $10: get them now.

• View Author Archive
• Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Jerry Seinfeld is arguably one of the most well-known comedians on the planet.

As a result, tickets to see the funnyman typically go for top dollar .

For example, the cheapest ticket to see him at New York City’s Beacon Theatre this weekend is $170 before fees on Vivid Seats.

That sounds like an appropriate price to see one of the world’s best and most popular comics.

However, like Seinfeld, our team uses our observational skills to seek out and spot the absurdities in life.

And that led us to a great deal .

At the time of publication, we found last-minute tickets to see Seinfeld aka the star of “Seinfeld” at Rochester, NY’s Rochester Auditorium are available for just $10 before fees .

Yes, you read that right.

So, if you act fast, you can see Jerry crack wise for less than lunch at the real-life Monk’s on the Upper West Side (Editor’s Note: It’s really called Tom’s Restaurant) .

Want to grab tickets now before it’s too late?

Here’s everything you need to know and more about how to see Seinfeld for cheap.

All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.

Jerry Seinfeld 2023 tour schedule

If you can’t make it to see the “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” star live tonight but want to see him live this year, here’s how you can.

We’ve listed all upcoming tour dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available for all 19 Seinfeld 2023 shows below.

(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US Dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout .)

Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand. 

They offer a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and your tickets will be delivered prior to the event.

Comedians on tour in 2023

Seinfeld isn’t the only megastar on the road this year.

Here are just five iconic comics you won’t want to miss when they come to a city near you in the next few months.

•  Colin Jost

•  Steve Martin with Martin Short

•  Sebastian Maniscalco

•  Tina Fey with Amy Poehler

•  Bill Burr

Who else is bringing the funny to audiences all over North America in the near future? Check out our list of the 51 biggest comics on tour in 2023 to find out.

Share this article:

Seinfeld Tour

• 1.1 Conception, premise and cast
• 1.3 When to go
• 3 Get around
• 4.1.1 Manhattan
• 4.1.2 Outer boroughs
• 4.2.1 Filming locations
• 4.2.2 "The Keys" and "The Trip"
• 4.3 Elsewhere
• 5.1 New York City
• 5.2 California
• 5.3 Elsewhere
• 6 Activities for the Seinfeld fan

Like Cosmo Kramer's hapless customers in "The Muffin Tops", you, too, can see with your own eyes the real-life locations in New York City , Southern California , and elsewhere that were featured on the television series Seinfeld .

Understand [ edit ]

Co-created by, named after, and starring stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld, Seinfeld ran for nine seasons and 180 episodes on the American television network NBC, premiering in 1990 and ending in 1998. Though its first seasons earned only modest ratings, the show was critically acclaimed throughout its run and, after being moved in 1992 to a coveted Thursday night timeslot directly after the long-running megahit Cheers , commercial success soon followed on a massive level. (Which is not to say that Seinfeld 's success was solely due to Cheers ; as Jerry put it later, "...we started beating them [in the ratings] coming on after them, which is just not done... [usually with] the second show you just try and not fall off too much.") By its fourth season in 1993-94, Seinfeld was one of the top three highest-rated shows on American television, which it would continue to be for the remainder of its run.

Conception, premise and cast [ edit ]

Ask any American to describe the premise of Seinfeld and they'll always come back to the same four words: "a show about nothing". That phrase or variations on it popped up in reviews of the show almost from the beginning, but at the outset, that was not what Seinfeld was meant to be. Instead, it was intended as a show that demonstrated how a stand-up comedian comes up with the material that they use in their act: in Jerry's case, picking apart the little trivialities and petty annoyances of daily life and mining the comedy out of them. It was an art form that Jerry and Seinfeld co-creator Larry David were both experts in, after years spent honing their craft on the New York comedy-club circuit in the '70s and '80s, and in Larry's case, also during a brief stint as a writer for Saturday Night Live . At that time, Manhattan was still an affordable place for the less-than-rich to live, and the stand-up scene was tight-knit and insular, centered around just a scant handful of comedy clubs: The Improv , The Comic Strip , Catch a Rising Star , and so forth. Onstage lineups on a given night drew from pretty much the same small clique of performers, and in that environment comics got to know one another, became friends, watched each other onstage, bounced ideas off each other offstage. In short, it was fertile ground for the observational humorist. Over time, Jerry's affable nature and accessible act brought him increasing success, with bookings on the Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman becoming more and more frequent as the '80s wore on, and even a small recurring role on the TV series Benson . Meanwhile, Larry was considered a "comic's comic": his fellow comedians howled with laughter whenever he was onstage, but his act was by and large too outré for mass audiences, and thus he was never really able to break out of the small-time club circuit the way Jerry did. His twisted and cynical sensibilities, though, were instrumental in the creation of Seinfeld : fans who are familiar with both comedians' work agree that the tone of the show bears far more resemblance to Larry's worldview than Jerry's.

It was in late 1988 when Jerry was contacted by NBC for a meeting with several of their executives, who'd been in attendance at a recent performance of his , liked what they saw, and were interested in working with him on a project for television. He enlisted his old friend Larry to help, and together they hatched the idea of a 90-minute special to be broadcast in Saturday Night Live 's timeslot during one of its off weeks, wherein the camera would follow Jerry around as he went about a typical day in his life, with a finale featuring Jerry at a club performing a stand-up set inspired by the events of that day. Though of course that plan was later scrapped in favor of a half-hour weekly sitcom, Seinfeld still retained many elements of its original conception: the plotlines center around the daily life of a comedian, and each episode is bookended by scenes of Jerry onstage at a comedy club .

Legacy [ edit ]

Seinfeld was by leaps and bounds the most successful sitcom of the '90s, but that barely scratches the surface of the impact it had, and continues to have, on American pop culture. The show left its mark in numerous and diverse ways, from fashion (Kramer's vintage threads presaged the "thrift store chic" look that took the hipster world by storm a few years later), to event calendars (over two decades after the Season 9 episode "The Strike" was first broadcast, Festivus is on the cusp of becoming a bona fide holiday), to the very language spoken by Americans ("regifting", "shrinkage", and "yada yada yada" are but a few of the Seinfeld -derived words and phrases that retain their place in the popular lexicon). And that's not to mention its effect on consumer trends: Seinfeld is considered a pioneer in the practice of product placement on American television, with effects on such companies as Pez, which saw such a huge surge in sales after the episode "The Pez Dispenser" that it had to expand its candy factory in Connecticut to keep up with demand, and Fisher Pens, which still to this day sees an uptick in sales of its "AG7 Space Pen" — the model that Jack Klompus gifted to Jerry in Season 3 — every time the episode is rerun in syndication.

But leaving aside its impacts on the culture at large, Seinfeld was equally revolutionary within the realm of television. Up to the 1980s, most mainstream sitcoms were set in the suburban home of a nuclear family, building on tropes of marriage, childhood, and domestic life and with plotlines that all followed more or less the same pattern of setup, conflict and resolution. Seinfeld took a sledgehammer to these genre conventions, with main characters who lacked spouses, children, and in many cases steady employment, an unconventional structure of multiple plotlines intersecting with each other in unpredictable ways, an almost pathological aversion to anything resembling sentimentality or character growth, and a tone that parodied the nihilistic self-absorption of post-yuppie city life. In this, too, it proved influential: quite a few of the most popular sitcoms that came up in its wake revolved around casts of thirtysomething single people ( Friends , Will & Grace , Sex and the City ) or childless couples ( Mad About You ) living in New York City.

When to go [ edit ]

Now that we've covered the show itself, let's talk about logistics for this tour. New York City and Southern California together contain the bulk of the points of interest — and though their climates are quite different, the ideal times of year to visit are roughly the same in each case (luckily for any diehard Seinfeld fans hoping to hit up both cities on the same tour!) Midsummer is often uncomfortably hot and muggy in New York and is also prime time for Los Angeles ' infamous "dirty smog", while winter brings, respectively, frigid temperatures and frequent rain. Spring and autumn are generally much better options. See New York City#Climate and Los Angeles#Climate for more in-depth information.

Get in [ edit ]

As mentioned above, the majority of the points of interest this tour covers are in the New York City area and Southern California, so the content of this and the following section will pertain to those places. For information about travelling to any of the outlying destinations listed, please see the "Get in" section of each respective city article.

New York and Los Angeles , it hardly needs to be said, are both world-class destinations, well-connected to the American Interstate highway and passenger rail networks, and with airports hosting direct flights from all corners of the world. For those hoping to find a flight into either one of those cities, there's very little to be said that wouldn't constitute advice from Captain Obvious. And for those Seinfeld superfans planning to visit both cities on this tour, it also hardly needs to be mentioned that there are dozens of nonstop flights a day between New York and Los Angeles, with airfare generally ranging between $300 and $500 round-trip.

Getting to Manhattan from New York's three airports is a bit more complicated. If you're flying into JFK , the AirTrain is easy, quick, and cheap enough: $8 buys you a combination ticket that will take you from your terminal to Jamaica Station on the airport's own 24-hour people mover system, and then onward to Manhattan via the E, J, or Z subway service, a process that takes about an hour and a half total. If time is of the essence, a few additional dollars will buy you a ticket on the Long Island Rail Road from Jamaica direct to Penn Station , shaving about half an hour off your travel time. Newark Liberty also has an AirTrain, which dumps you off at Newark Liberty Rail Station with onward service to Manhattan via New Jersey Transit (50 minutes; $13 adult, $9 child/senior/disabled). If you're unlucky enough to be flying into LaGuardia Airport , there's no easy way to get to Manhattan on public transit; your easiest option is probably to take a taxi ($21-30 plus taxes and tips). Car rental is available from all three airports as well, not to say that New York is anywhere you want to be driving.

The practical realities of getting around L.A. (see below) mean you're probably going to need a car at your disposal. Rental facilities abound in and around the airport. If you absolutely insist otherwise, the Green Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail can be accessed from LAX via a free shuttle bus from the terminal to Aviation/LAX Station . If you're headed to Downtown Los Angeles , a better idea is to skip the Metro Rail entirely and hop on the LAX FlyAway bus ($19.50 round trip for the 35-minute ride to Union Station ; prices and travel times vary to other destinations).

Get around [ edit ]

One way in which New York and Los Angeles are extremely different are the preferred methods of getting around town. New York is one of the very few North American cities where having a car is more of an in convenience than a convenience , but luckily the public transit system is extraordinarily extensive and well-developed. Even if you were to take this tour wholly using the New York City Subway system, the vast majority of the points of interest in the city would be easily accessible. You pay your fare using a MetroCard , sold at kiosks located in most stations; as of April 2019, a single ride costs $2.75, while weekly and monthly passes will set you back $33 and $127 respectively.

If human-powered transport is more your thing, NYC's network of protected on-street bike lanes grows more extensive each year, and there's no better way to take advantage of them than with the Citi Bike bike-sharing network. Kiosks are ubiquitous in Manhattan south of 130th Street, and are also present in Brooklyn (mostly points north of Prospect Park ), in Long Island City and Astoria in Queens , and even across the river in Jersey City . A single 30-minute ride costs $3, but if you plan on doing the whole Seinfeld tour this way, by far a better option would be to spring for a $12 day pass.

Public transit is even doable for some of the further-flung points of interest outside New York, such as Amagansett Farmers Market or the Giants Stadium site, which are each an easy walking distance from, respectively, the Long Island Rail Road's Amagansett Station and New Jersey Transit's Meadowlands Rail Station . ( Atlantic City is on New Jersey Transit's network too, but direct connections from Manhattan are by bus only, and the ride can take anywhere from two to four hours depending on traffic. Unless you're planning to make a day trip out of it — which, don't get us wrong, is a perfectly feasible and worthwhile thing to do if you're visiting New York — you'll probably need a rental car to see the place where Miss Rhode Island's trained doves met their untimely end .)

Meanwhile, on the other coast, Los Angeles' Metro Rail has come a long way in the past ten years or so, but it's still not (and probably never will be) anywhere near as easy to get by without a car there as in New York. Plus, most of the stops on the L.A. portion of the itinerary are a hassle to get to using transit. If you book ahead of time, renting a car from one of the onsite counters at LAX generally runs $80-100/day or $400-500/week plus taxes and fees, but if you can manage to get yourself to an offsite location (this is where the Metro Rail can come in handy), you can usually get a steep discount off those prices.

Filming locations and places featured on the show [ edit ]

New york city [ edit ], manhattan [ edit ].

• 40.800997 -73.966545 1 211 W. 106th St. , Manhattan Valley . Home of the eccentric J. Peterman, retail magnate and world traveller who was Elaine's boss in the last three seasons of the show. In the Season 8 episode "The Van Buren Boys", Elaine, tasked with ghostwriting Peterman's autobiography, interviews him here only to be frustrated by his boring stories ("We've covered all of [the intrigue and exotic romances] in the catalogue ad nauseam. No, I would like this book to be about my day-to-day life"). ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.797327 -73.960823 2 The Larchmont , 448 Central Park West, Manhattan Valley . Elaine lived here? Get out! ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.796735 -73.969987 1 Metro Twin Cinema , 2626 Broadway, Manhattan Valley . Site of the double-date in Season 5 where Elaine and Jerry take their beaux to see The Age of Innocence , and Jerry's girlfriend "can't spare a square" of toilet paper for Elaine in the bathroom stall. Also where George impresses his new girlfriend in "The Opposite" by angrily shushing the loud movie-goers seated behind them, going so far as to threaten: "...we're gonna take it outside and I'm gonna show you what it's like!" Closed in 2002 and now vacant. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.792137 -73.97525 3 640 West End Avenue , Upper West Side . Home of Mr. Pitt, the eccentric, persnickety multimillionaire for whom Elaine works as a personal assistant for most of Season 6. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.791933 -73.976826 4 321 W. 90th St. , Upper West Side . The building where George lived from the beginning of the series through Season 5, when he moved in with his parents . (After being hired by the Yankees and moving back out, the picture becomes muddied: according to the show, his new place was on 86th Street, but the exterior shots used in filming switched inconsistently between the original 90th St. location and another building on 16th St. in Chelsea , a full 70 blocks south of its supposed location!) ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.78668 -73.977524 3 Loews Paragon Theater ( now AMC 84th Street 6 ), 2310 Broadway, Upper West Side , ☏ +1 212 721-6023 . Another of the gang's movie-house haunts, Loews is where Jerry catches his dry cleaner wearing his coat, where Kramer meets Uma Thurman, where Jerry and Kramer leave George behind to see Firestorm together, and where Elaine and her boyfriend see The English Patient , leading to the demise of their relationship. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.784534 -73.973841 5 Columbus Deli , 476 Columbus Ave., Upper West Side . Bodega with an illegal cockfighting ring in the back room, where Little Jerry Seinfeld, a rooster Kramer named in Jerry's honor, notched win after win against his hapless opponents. Still open as of December 2018 — stop in and see for yourself if Marcellino has taken Jerry's bounced check down from the wall of shame! ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.783192 -73.974822 2 The Magic Pan , 432 Columbus Ave., Upper West Side . Izzy Mandelbaum was the franchisee of this location of the once-popular chain of crêperies, where Kramer put to work the "Cuban" cigar rollers (actually Dominicans) he'd hired for one of his get-rich-quick schemes. The chain folded shortly after the airing of that Season 8 episode, and the location is now an UNO Chicago Grill . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.782932 -73.954754 5 1125 Park Avenue , Carnegie Hill , ☏ +1 212 289-3699 . The swanky high-rise condo tower that's home of Russell Dalrymple, the (fictional) president of NBC who worked with Jerry and George on their TV pilot throughout most of Season 4. It's here where, in "The Shoes", George stares a little too long at Dalrymple's young daughter's cleavage, infuriating her father and almost leading to the cancellation of the pilot. (As Jerry said: "Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don't stare at it; it's too risky. You get a sense of it and then you look away.") ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.782781 -73.980953 3 Champagne Video , 2183 Broadway, Upper West Side . The video store where George bumps into Susan only to discover he's driven her to lesbianism, and where he later tries to rent Breakfast at Tiffany's in lieu of reading the novel for his book club. Also the workplace of the mysterious Vincent, whose taste in recommended videos makes Elaine fall in love sight unseen. Part of a now-defunct local chain, as of December 2018 this location is a vacant storefront for lease. ( updated Dec 2018 )

• 40.77933 -73.982893 4 Royale Pastry , 237 W. 72nd St., Upper West Side . Stood in for two different businesses during Seinfeld 's run: Royal Bakery , which ran out of chocolate babkas at the worst possible time for Jerry and Elaine, and Schnitzer's , where Jerry physically fought an old woman for the last marble rye. Now closed and, ironically enough, home to a Jenny Craig weight-loss center. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.778492 -73.97776 5 Beau Brummel Sport , 287 Columbus Ave., Upper West Side . Where Jerry spends over $1,000 on a snazzy suede jacket to impress Elaine's intimidating father, only to be humiliated when it starts raining, forcing him to wear it inside-out with the pink candy-stripe lining showing. Now closed and home to a Super P supermarket. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.777457 -73.98322 2 Mendy's , 208 W. 70th St., Upper West Side . Kenny Bania's favorite restaurant (where Jerry was tricked into buying him dinner repeatedly) really exists, but it's not an upscale steak-and-seafood place as portrayed on the show: it's actually a chain of kosher delis. The Mendy's on W. 70th St. where Jerry and Kenny went is now closed, but if you want a meal like they had, head there anyway; it's now the renowned Lincoln Square Steak . Otherwise, head to one of five other locations throughout the city — the matzo ball soup is phenomenal, whether you consider it a full meal or not. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.777454 -73.961539 6 Melody Stationers , 1070 Madison Ave., Upper East Side . Where George bought the cheap envelopes that poisoned Susan, and to which he later returns to purchase (premium, super-glossy) invitations to a dinner party thrown by Jerry and his girlfriend. Closed, now a Johnny Was clothing store. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.777384 -73.952361 7 Fitzpatrick's , 1641 Second Ave., Yorkville . Where Keith Hernandez wines and dines Elaine in hopes of "reaching home plate", and — speaking of baseball — where George takes some visiting Houston Astros brass out to dinner on the advice of Mr. Wilhelm, and picks up a bad habit of cursing. Fitzpatrick's has been closed for some time, but if you're in search of a Seinfeld -inspired dinner of your own, the spot is now the upscale cocktail bar and restaurant known as The Daisy . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.775866 -73.958077 8 Ruby Nail Salon , 1183 Lexington Ave., Upper East Side . Korean-owned nail salon where Elaine enlists Frank to find out if the employees are taking advantage of the language barrier to gossip about her, only to rediscover Kim, his lost paramour whom he met during the Korean War. In real life, Ruby was the favorite nail salon of Carol Leifer, the writer behind the episode who, as of a 2014 interview on the Howard Stern Show , was still getting manicures on the house from the grateful owner for showing the exterior of her store on television. Sadly, Leifer's days of freebies are over: the space is now home to a men's barbershop. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.775661 -73.958186 9 Nilo Cleaners , 1173 Lexington Ave., Upper East Side . Where Jerry took his houndstooth jacket and his mother's fur coat in "The Secretary", only to run into the owner and his wife at the movies wearing them. Closed, now a clothing boutique. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.775223 -73.980629 10 Peter's , 182 Columbus Ave., Upper West Side . A fateful place in the life of George Costanza: it's here where his brief but illustrious hand modeling career began, where he lost out on a job opportunity due to "swishy" pants, and where Susan broke the news to him that her cousin had stolen his idea for an unusual baby name, "Seven". Closed in 2010, now home to a location of Rag & Bone clothing boutique. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.775183 -73.982508 11 Cineplex Odeon Regency , 1987 Broadway, Upper West Side . A favorite movie theater of the gang. This is where Newman catches Jerry making out with his girlfriend during a showing of Schindler's List , where Elaine stops at the concession stand for Jujyfruits on her way to the hospital to visit her injured boyfriend Jake Jarmel, where Jerry and Kramer get together to catch Plan 9 from Outer Space , and where George, to appease Susan, passes up the chance to see the aforementioned Firestorm in favor of The Muted Heart . Closed and demolished; now the site of an Apple Store . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.77515 -73.956916 10 Tiramisu , 1410 Third Ave., Upper East Side , ☏ +1 212 988-9780 . M-Th noon-11PM, F-Sa 11AM-11:30PM, Su 11AM-11PM . Upscale Italian restaurant and brick-oven pizzeria where Jerry went on his first date with Gillian, a friend of Elaine's with "man hands". ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.774845 -73.980314 11 La Boite en Bois , 75 W. 68th St., Upper West Side , ☏ +1 212 874-2705 . Su-Th 11:30AM-10:30PM, F-Sa 11:30M-11PM . Fancy French restaurant that appears frequently in the show: it's where Jerry strains to avoid letting his parents find out he threw away the watch they gifted him (the same one Uncle Leo picked out of the garbage), where George strains to find out if his girlfriend "feel[ing] full after the risotto" is a metaphor for their sex life, where George's Latvian Orthodox girlfriend breaks up with him, and where Jerry discovers his girlfriend Gwen is a "two-face". ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.772061 -73.981531 12 O'Neal's , 49 W. 64th St., Upper West Side . Where, during dinner with Elaine, Kramer, and Kramer's "low talking" fashion designer girlfriend Leslie, Jerry inadvertently agrees to wear a "puffy shirt" designed by the latter to an appearance on the Today show. O'Neal's closed in 2010, but you can still get a good meal here: it's now the site of the Atlantic Grill , serving some of Manhattan's best seafood. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.770938 -73.980684 13 West Side YMCA , 5 W. 63rd St., Upper West Side , ☏ +1 212 912-2600 . M-F 5AM-11PM, Sa 7AM-8PM, Su 8AM-8PM . In the men's locker room, Jerry meets his idol, former New York Mets player Keith Hernandez — who goes on to woo Elaine and get confronted by Kramer and Newman, who accuse him of spitting on them after a crucial game in the 1987 World Series.  
• 40.770042 -73.967078 14 Westbury Hotel , 15 E 69th St., Upper East Side . Scene of Jerry and George's awkward conversation with Elaine's intimidating novelist father, Alton Benes, in "The Jacket"; also the venue of the bachelor auction hosted by Elaine in "The Barber", which Jerry bowed out of in favor of Kramer (for whom the bidding started at $5). Closed in 1997, now condos. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.767331 -73.959212 15 Beach Cafe , 1326 Second Ave., Lenox Hill , ☏ +1 212 988-7299 . M-Th 11:30AM-midnight, F 11:30AM-1AM, Sa 11AM-1AM, Su 11AM-11PM . Kramer's obnoxious mother Babs works as a restroom matron at this restaurant where George takes his possibly-bulimic model girlfriend Nina out to dinner in "The Switch". ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.765259 -73.975737 15 Mickey Mantle's , 42 Central Park South, Garment District . Kramer pays the former New York Yankee himself a visit here in Season 4 to apologize for punching him in the mouth during a brawl at baseball fantasy camp, only to get (literally) thrown out of the restaurant by security. Mickey Mantle's closed in 2012, 17 years after the death of its namesake, and is now the site of a spray tanning salon. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.765116 -73.965683 17 JoJo , 160 E. 64th St., Lenox Hill , ☏ +1 212 223-5656 . Lunch: M-F noon-2:30PM, Sa-Su 11AM-3PM; dinner M-Th 5:30PM-10:30PM, F-Sa 5:30PM-11PM, Su 5:30PM-10PM . Fancy restaurant where Elaine and Peterman hit it off over their mutual love of fine couture in "The Understudy". ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.76432 -73.966859 21 Pasteur Pharmacy , 806 Lexington Ave., Lenox Hill , ☏ +1 212 838-2500 . M-F 8AM-7:30PM, Sa 10AM-5:30PM . Where Elaine bargains hard for the last case of recently-recalled Today contraceptive sponges in the city. Still open as of December 2018, and "The Sponge" is back on the market, so buy as many as you want. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.764198 -73.96259 6 Manhattan East Medical Offices , 225 E. 64th St., Lenox Hill . Home of Dr. Tim Whatley's dental office, as well as the office of the proctologist whom Frank consults to remove "The Fusilli Jerry" from his nether regions. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.76571 -73.982859 16 Symphony Café , 238 W. 56th St., Midtown . Over dinner here, Elaine sympathizes with her friend Cynthia over her inability to find the right man — later hitting on the idea of hooking her up with George. Closed; now the home of Fuji Sushi . ( updated Dec 2018 )

• 40.765314 -73.980442 23 Trattoria dell'Arte , 900 Seventh Ave., Midtown , ☏ +1 212 245-9800 . M-Sa 11:45AM-midnight, Su 11AM-10:30PM . Over dinner here, Jerry sympathizes with George over his inability to find the right woman — later hitting on the idea of hooking her up with Cynthia, a friend of Elaine's. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.762919 -73.980768 7 1325 Avenue of the Americas , Midtown , ☏ +1 212 237-3156 . Fictional headquarters of the J. Peterman Catalog , where Elaine worked for the three final seasons of the show. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.762848 -73.972244 8 600 Madison Avenue , Midtown East . Home of the fictional Pendant Publishing , where Elaine worked as a copy editor from the second through the fifth season (and George too, for one disastrous third-season episode). ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.761372 -73.997197 25 Manhattan Mini Storage , 543 W. 43rd St., Hell's Kitchen , ☏ +1 646 786-7210 . Daily 7AM-10PM . Where, much to his chagrin, Jerry discovers that Kramer is letting Newman illegally store undelivered mail in Jerry's storage unit. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.760174 -73.965511 27 Bruno , 240 E. 58th St., Midtown East , ☏ +1 212 688-4190 . Su-Tu 5PM-10PM, W-Sa 5PM-11PM . Site of Kramer and Mickey's double date in "The Yada Yada", where they couldn't decide which girl was right for which guy. Still in business, but under a new name: Club A Steakhouse . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.759683 -73.994199 31 Manhattan Plaza Racquet Club , 450 W. 43rd St., Hell's Kitchen , ☏ +1 212 594-0554 . M-Sa 6AM-midnight, Su 7AM-midnight . The setting of a pair of mishaps involving Elaine: in Season 3, she eliminates herself from "The Contest" after John F. Kennedy Jr. joins her aerobics class; in Season 6, she loans Mr. Pitt's tennis racket to a representative of Doubleday Publishing in hopes of landing a new job. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.759316 -73.978757 17 Guild 50th Street Theatre , 33 W. 50th St., Theater District . Movie theater where Jerry was forced at gunpoint by a friend of Kramer's to film an illegal bootleg of Death Blow with a concealed camcorder, where Elaine loudly declared her hatred for The English Patient in front of Mr. Peterman, and where Kramer unsuccessfully tried to go to the bathroom during a bout of constipation. Now home to an Anthropologie clothing store (but the old marquee is still in front of the entrance!) ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.759284 -73.960093 32 Sutton East Tennis Club , 488 E. 60th St., Lenox Hill , ☏ +1 212 751-3452 . Daily 7AM-11PM . Where horrible tennis player Miloš offers Jerry a date with his wife as compensation for deceptively selling him an expensive racquet, and where Kramer is put into a coma after repeatedly getting hit with tennis balls. ( updated Dec 2018 )

• 40.755582 -73.982815 9 The Hippodrome , 1120 Avenue of the Americas, Midtown East , ☏ +1 212 626-6996 . Where Jackie Chiles, superlawyer extraordinaire who bears more than a passing resemblance to a certain member of O.J. Simpson's "Dream Team", kept his office. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.754755 -73.990107 19 Zohra Fabrics , 256 W. 39th St., Garment District . Workplace of Ricky, the creepy guy who was infatuated with Elaine after meeting her on the subway: he's a mannequin designer, and his new bestselling model is a dead ringer for Elaine. Closed, now the site of a different fabric wholesaler.  
• 40.752583 -73.973391 20 Off-Track Betting , 714 Third Ave., Turtle Bay . After overhearing a horse racing tip on "The Subway", Kramer hurries into this betting parlor and wins $18,000 on a long-shot wager. The location is now a Wendy's . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.752538 -73.973794 10 Commerce Building , 708 Third Ave., Turtle Bay . Fictional rest-stop supply company Sanalac , headquartered here, would love to offer George a job. But, of course... ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.751337 -73.977827 11 101 Park Avenue , Murray Hill , ☏ +1 212 808-7000 . Kruger Industrial Smoothing — George's incompetent employer for most of the final season, who "botched the Statue of Liberty job" ("they couldn't get the green stuff off") — was headquartered here. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.750192 -73.977356 21 Collectors Universe , 124 E. 40th St., Murray Hill . Collectibles shop to whom Kramer sells, for $200, a birthday card signed by the whole New York Yankees roster, with "The Wink" signifying George's permission — or so he thought. Closed, now a hair salon. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.747461 -73.985038 22 Hunan Fifth Avenue , 323 Fifth Ave., Midtown South . "The Chinese Restaurant" where the gang waited... and waited... and waited for a table. The experience must not have put them off the place too much, though, as they would return to it several times over the course of the series: it's where George discovers Jerry's new deaf girlfriend can read lips in "The Lip Reader", the venue for Jerry and George's double date in "The Masseuse", and where George shares an awkward dinner with Mr. Peterman in "The Secret Code". Closed in 2007, now a bank. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.744068 -74.002861 6 Downtown Veterinary Clinic , 148 Ninth Ave., Chelsea . "I'll take a vet over an M.D. any day. They've got to be able to cure a lizard, a chicken, a pig, a frog — all on the same day." In "The Andrea Doria", true to his words, Kramer finds a dog with the same cough he has and gets a vet from this office to prescribe medication. Later the site of the emergency surgery that saves the life of the squirrel George hit with his car in "The Merv Griffin Show". The clinic moved up the street to 244 Ninth Ave.; this former location is vacant and for lease. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.742779 -73.998601 41 New York Police Department — 10th Precinct , 230 W. 20th St., Chelsea , ☏ +1 212 741-8211 . Where Kramer finds a way to earn quick money by standing in police lineups only to get falsely recognized as a jewelry store thief; where Frank comes to bail out George after his arrest for bootlegging Cry, Cry Again and ends up challenging Elaine to a fight ("You sayin' you want a piece of me?") ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.741666 -74.001383 23 Camouflage Clothing , 139 Eighth Ave., Chelsea . Stand-in for Ross's , a discount clothing store owned by a relative of Susan's where George takes pity on a security guard with no chair to sit in. Closed in 2014, now a Caffé Bene coffeeshop. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.740251 -73.988222 24 Bolo , 23 E. 22nd St., Flatiron District . Chef Bobby Flay's Spanish tapas house was the scene of three vexing dinners for the Seinfeld gang: one where Kramer chaperoned Miss Rhode Island's date with Jerry, to the latter's annoyance, and secured a job as her personal coach; one where George takes his cousin Rhisa on a date to get back at his parents for "cutting him loose", and Jerry's second date with Christie, who always seems to wear the same outfit ("What in God's name is going on here? Is she wearing the same thing over and over again, or does she have a closet full of these, like Superman?"). Closed in 2008 and demolished, with luxury condos occupying the site now. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.739386 -73.998824 25 Thomasville Furniture , 91 Seventh Ave., Chelsea . Where Jerry buys "The Couch" that Poppie ends up peeing on. Closed, but if you were hoping to take this opportunity to make like Jerry and upgrade your living room, you're in luck: the building is now the Chelsea branch showroom of Jensen-Lewis Furniture . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.736259 -73.98896 26 Surgical Appliances , 44 Union Square East . Medical supply shop where George and Kramer go to pick up a new wheelchair for Lola, a handicapped woman that the latter has fallen in love with. As is George's wont, they picked the cheapest model possible, with predictably disastrous results. Closed, now a plumbing and heating contractor. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.734725 -73.992995 46 New York Health and Racquet Club , 24 E. 13th St., Greenwich Village , ☏ +1 212 924-4600 . M-F 6AM-11PM, Sa-Su 8AM-9PM . Jerry and George's favorite health club, where the latter is caught peeing in the shower in "The Wife", and the former, curious to know if his girlfriend has breast implants, enlists Elaine to get in the sauna with her and "do a little investigative journalism". ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.734391 -73.982999 47 NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases ( now NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital ), 301 E. 17th St., Gramercy , ☏ +1 212 598-6000 . The scene of the alleged theft of Morty's wallet, who was in from out of town to see a specialist for his bad back. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.733175 -73.993647 27 Bradley's , 70 University Place, Greenwich Village . Old jazz club where Elaine's saxophonist boyfriend bombs onstage with a rendition of "Hot and Heavy", a song he wrote for her. Closed in 1996, only a few months after the episode aired. Now a bar with an entirely different clientele: Reservoir , catering to football fans from nearby NYU. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.733126 -73.996003 12 24 Fifth Avenue , Greenwich Village . The elegant apartment of Mr. and Mrs. Ross, Susan's parents, and location of the many interminable Susan Ross Foundation meetings George is forced to sit through in Seasons 8 and 9. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.732563 -73.983678 28 Bowen Fertility Clinic , 320 E. 15th St., Gramercy . Where the results of Kramer's fertility test inspire him to switch from briefs to boxers, and finally to no underwear at all. Closed; now a student residence hall for The New School . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.732527 -73.993811 48 Sunshine Cleaners , 51 University Place #3, Greenwich Village , ☏ +1 212 777-0896 . M-F 7AM-7PM, Sa 8AM-5PM . Where Jerry's girlfriend Meryl poses as "The Wife" to save money on dry cleaning. Still open as of December 2018, but no word on whether the 25% family discount policy is still in effect! ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.731375 -74.002545 29 Pó , 31 Cornelia St., Greenwich Village . Where, in a desperate attempt to prove to his girlfriend Janet that he likes her for more than just her looks, George strains to find any conceivable reason for them to be together — and the best he can come up with is their shared love of chewing gum. The restaurant once co-owned by celebrity chef Mario Batali closed in 2017, but if you're hungry for Indian food, check out its successor, the West Village branch location of The Drunken Munkey . ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.73027 -74.003165 31 Flash Foto , 31 Carmine St., Greenwich Village . After George discovers himself in the background of a photo his new boss, Mr. Kruger, took with his family at the beach, he absconds out of his office with it and takes it here to have his image airbrushed out — with disastrous results. Closed, now a restaurant. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.729264 -73.984357 51 Iggy's Pizzeria , 173 First Ave., East Village , ☏ +1 212 353-3331 . Daily 11AM-11PM . Stand-in for Mario's Pizza , Jerry and George's old high-school hangout where the latter's high score on "The Frogger" machine still stood all those years later. Jerry and George's visit to Mario's was on the cusp of its closure, but its counterpart Iggy's is still in business as of December 2018 — for anyone who wants to recreate George's daring traverse of First Avenue, you'll be disappointed to know their arcade machines are probably not for sale. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.729082 -73.993494 32 Ricky Pharmacy , 720 Broadway, East Village . Fed up with his constipation in "The Pilot", Kramer finally stops in here to pick up "the dreaded apparatus". Now closed and vacant. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.728971 -74.00228 33 Da Silvano , 260 Sixth Ave., Greenwich Village . Venue of Ellen's birthday dinner with Jerry in "The Van Buren Boys", which aggravates Jerry's suspicion that she may be "a loser": why is she not out celebrating with her friends on her birthday? Closed in 2016, now vacant. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.728905 -73.993634 34 Rudy's Antique Boutique , 714 Broadway, East Village . The vintage shop to whom Kramer sells a bunch of old clothes: a parcel of "Executives", a beltless trenchcoat invented by Morty Seinfeld in the 1960s, and a trunk of Frank Constanza's moth-infested "cabana wear". Later on a tag from Rudy's, torn out of Kramer's shirt, served as the crucial evidence leading to his arrest for dognapping in "The Engagement". Closed sometime between 2005 and 2011, now a vacant storefront. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.726538 -73.990582 52 Paradise Twin Theater ( now IATI Theater ), 64 E. 4th St., East Village , ☏ +1 212 505-6757 . In "The Movie", the gang head to this downtown movie house to catch CheckMate , but — stuck at the end of a long, slow line — they give up and end up seeing Rochelle, Rochelle ("a young woman's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk "). ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.725342 -73.983332 35 Gladiator's Gym , 503 E. 6th St., East Village . Where Izzy Mandelbaum, an acquaintance of Morty and Helen's, takes Jerry "aboard the pain train" as his trash-talking personal trainer. Long closed, the site now handles "doughboys" of a different type as Carma East , a dim sum restaurant. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.724429 -74.003151 36 Country Cafe , 69 Thompson St., SoHo . "You call yourself a lifesaver; I call you Pimple Popper, M.D.!" Site of Jerry's "revenge date" with Sara, a dermatologist who, on an earlier date, had made Jerry feel "like if [he doesn't] save lives, [he's] worthless". Country Cafe closed in 2010, but the current occupant of the space — classy French bistro Vin et Fleurs — is still a great choice for all your revenge-dating needs. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.723306 -74.006391 53 New York State Department of Labor , 75 Varick St., SoHo , ☏ +1 212 775-3584 . M-F 8:30AM-5PM . Where George offers to take his unemployment officer's unattractive daughter on a date to avoid getting his benefits cut off, only to get dumped at the end. ("You've got no job, you've got no prospects. You're like Biff Loman.") ( updated Dec 2018 )

Outer boroughs [ edit ]

• 40.773021 -73.908266 13 22–37 37th St. , Astoria, Queens . Home of the neurotic, bickering Frank and Estelle Costanza — and their son George too, for most of season 5. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.682111 -73.99475 14 329 Union St. , Carroll Gardens , Brooklyn . The apartment of Mr. Peterman's ailing mother, to whom George entrusts the secret of his ATM code. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.683506 -73.995189 58 D'Amico Fresh Roasted Coffee , 309 Court St., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn , ☏ +1 718 875-5403 . M-F 7AM-7PM, Sa 7AM-6PM, Su 9AM-3PM . Where Elaine buys George a bag of expensive coffee, which he misinterprets as "stickin' it to [him] that she makes more money than [him]". ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.583138 -73.815336 63 Rockaway Beach , Queens . An ersatz driving range for Kramer, and the site of "marine biologist" George's daring rescue of a beached whale. "The sea was angry that day, my friends..." ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.694035 -73.984233 65 Visiting Nurses Association of Brooklyn , 15 Metrotech Center, Downtown Brooklyn , ☏ +1 718 923-7100 . Stand-in for the County Blood Bank, where a hike in service fees leads Kramer to angrily take his business (of stockpiling his own blood, "just in case”) elsewhere. ( updated Dec 2018 )

California [ edit ]

Filming locations [ edit ]

Hate to break it to you, but the vast majority of Seinfeld was not filmed in New York — aside from establishing shots of building exteriors, what's on your TV screen at any given time is usually a Hollywood soundstage.

Some scenes were shot on location in the Los Angeles area, too.

• 34.046366 -118.409769 72 Cheviot Hills Sports Center , 2601 Motor Ave., Culver City , ☏ +1 310 837-5186 . M-F 9AM-10PM, Sa-Su 9AM-5PM . Where the scenes from "The Understudy" with Bette Midler and the charity softball game, set in Manhattan's Central Park, were in reality filmed. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 34.047972 -118.255994 73 Corner of S. Grand Ave. and Wilshire Blvd. , Los Angeles . Where the "runaway rickshaw" scene from the Season 9 episode "The Bookstore" was shot. ( updated Dec 2018 )

• 34.058216 -118.293059 15 The Shelley , 757 S. New Hampshire Ave., Los Angeles . This old brownstone apartment building in L.A.'s Koreatown wouldn't look out of place on the other coast — and indeed, it was the stand-in for exterior shots of Jerry's Upper West Side apartment. ( updated Dec 2018 )

"The Keys" and "The Trip" [ edit ]

A trio of episodes that were both set and filmed mostly in L.A. In a story arc spanning the Season 3 finale and the two-part Season 4 premiere, Kramer catches the acting bug and moves to Hollywood to try his luck, only to become a suspect in the ongoing (fictional) "Smog Strangler" serial-killer scare. Meanwhile, Jerry is booked to perform on the Tonight Show , with George tagging along.

• 34.144404 -118.394021 37 12033 Ventura Pl. , Studio City . Like most pay phones in the United States, the one from which Jerry and George called the police to try to clear Kramer's name in the murder case is long gone. But the adjacent parking lot is the one where they unknowingly help the real killer escape from police custody. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 34.136403 -118.358079 79 Hilton Los Angeles/Universal City , 555 Universal Hollywood Drive, Universal City , ☏ +1 818 506-2500 . The hotel where Jerry and George stayed while in Los Angeles for the Tonight Show — right next door to Universal Studios, where George hoped to take the studio tour (he didn't get to). ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 34.145544 -118.392588 38 idbox Productions , 4063 Radford Ave., Studio City . Where Kramer auditions for the music video, the horror movie, the exercise tape, and the infomercial. Closed; now Horsepower Entertainment , a presumably similar video production house. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 34.075999 -118.348454 80 Insomnia Cafe , 7286 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles , ☏ +1 323 931-4943 . Su-Th 7AM-7PM, F-Sa 7AM-10PM . Where Kramer talks to his new friend Chelsea about the part he has in mind for her — the title role in a miniseries about Eva Braun — and nervously chats up a creeped-out Fred Savage. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 34.102733 -118.335972 81 Las Palmas Hotel , 1738 N. Las Palmas Ave., Los Angeles , ☏ +1 323 464-9236 . The seedy flophouse where Kramer rents a room while awaiting his big break. Outside the Seinfeld universe, Las Palmas is best known as the residence of Vivian, Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman . ( updated Dec 2018 )

Elsewhere [ edit ]

• 40.97788 -72.13702 83 Amagansett Farmers Market ( now Amber Waves Farm ), 367 Main St., Amagansett , New York , ☏ +1 631 267-5664 . Daily 7AM-7PM . Where George stops on the way back from the gang's trip to "The Hamptons" to buy some Hampton tomatoes ("You can eat 'em like apples!"), only to get one in the face from Jerry's girlfriend Rachel in a passing car. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 41.797187 -74.744618 8 New Munson Diner , 12 Lake St., Liberty, New York , ☏ +1 845 747-9912 . Su-Th 6AM-9PM, F-Sa 6AM-10PM . Known on the show as Reggie's , this "Bizarro Diner" was located in Hell's Kitchen until 2005, when the building was moved to its new home in the Catskills via flatbed truck. In "The Soup", Reggie's is the workplace of Kramer's latest love interest, where, to the gang's consternation, egg white omelettes, "big salads", and decaf coffee are not on the menu. George, uncomfortable with his "worlds colliding", returns by himself a season later to avoid hanging out with Susan and his friends simultaneously. ( updated Dec 2018 )

Other places related to Seinfeld [ edit ]

• 40.783782 -73.975413 87 129 W. 81st St. , Upper West Side . The exterior shots were filmed in Los Angeles (see above), but this is the address used in the show for Jerry and Kramer's building — and it's the actual address of the apartment where Larry David and the real-life Jerry lived as young stand-up comedians in the '80s. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.761942 -73.99852 41 609 W. 43rd St. , Hell's Kitchen . Long-ago site of Bak's Market , a produce stand where Larry was once banned for squeezing the fruit too hard. This was the inspiration for the fictional Joe's Fruit Shop from the Season 5 episode "The Mango", whose owner banned Kramer for trying to return a rotten peach — and later Jerry too, after catching him trying to buy fruit for Kramer. Now a parking ramp. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.759534 -73.992083 42 Kam Wei Kitchen , 617 Ninth Ave., Hell's Kitchen . According to Kenny Kramer , the character of Ping, the delivery boy for the gang's favorite Chinese takeout who makes a handful of appearances in seasons 3 and 4, was based on an employee of this long-closed restaurant whom Larry knew. Now a dry cleaner. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 40.771488 -73.953077 43 Lee's Market , 1494 First Ave., Lenox Hill . Larry David, speaking about the day in November 1988 when Jerry approached him to serve as co-writer for the TV sitcom that NBC executives had just offered him: "We left Catch a Rising Star and we walked into a Korean grocery store, and we started, as we invariably did, talking about some of the products in the store... it occurred to me that this is the kind of discussion that you never really hear on television. And that that, in fact, would be funny." (This was the inspiration for the scene in Monk's Cafe in the third-season episode "The Pitch", where a conversation between George and the fictional Jerry about salsa led to the idea for their show-within-a-show.) Lee's Market is now a pizzeria. ( updated Apr 2019 )

• 40.781746 -73.971825 90 Park bench at W. 81st St. and Central Park West , Upper West Side . The second bench past the corner of 81st Street on the east side of Central Park West was the scene of what the real-life Jerry describes as the two most important decisions of his professional life: in the summer of 1976, it was where he told his father that he intended to pursue stand-up comedy as a career, and later in December 1997, while on a walk through Central Park with his managers George Shapiro and Howard West, it was where he made the final decision to reject NBC's still-unprecedented offer of $5 million per episode for a tenth season of Seinfeld and instead end production of the show at the close of the current season. ( updated Apr 2019 )
• 40.759446 -73.991657 91 Westway Diner , 614 Ninth Ave., Hell's Kitchen , ☏ +1 212 582-7661 . Daily 6AM-1AM . The place where, some time after the initial flash of inspiration at Lee's Market (see above), Jerry and Larry met over lunch to formally sketch out the premise for what would become Seinfeld . The Westway was one of their favorite haunts back in the day, and in fact, it's often thought that it, rather than Tom's , was the true inspiration for Monk's Cafe. ( updated Dec 2018 )
• 33.861871 -118.399717 94 Paisano's Pizza , 1132 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach , ☏ +1 310 376-9883 . Daily 11AM-midnight . A favorite pizzeria of the Seinfeld writing staff, Paisano's lent its name to the Bronx (really Greenwich Village) eatery featured in "The Calzones".  

Activities for the Seinfeld fan [ edit ]

• Kramer's Reality Tour , ☏ +1 212 268-5525 , toll-free: +1 800 572-6377 . Departures Sa noon, Su on selected weekends (consult website for schedule) . "The Muffin Tops" episode is a classic case of art imitating life: at the helm of this three-hour bus tour is not Cosmo but Kenny Kramer, former neighbor of Larry David's and real-life inspiration behind the Seinfeld character. Kramer's Reality Tour takes you through the streets of Manhattan to some of the spots famously depicted on the sitcom — much the same as this article does, with the important difference being your host himself, who provides not only a depth of behind-the-scenes familiarity with the source material that you can only get from "the real Kramer", but also all the charming personality quirks of his TV counterpart. Tours begin at the Producers' Club Theatre on West 44th Street: the current site of one of Jerry's favorite old haunts, The Improv . $49.50 . ( updated Apr 2019 )

Go next [ edit ]

• Of course, after you wrap up your tour in either New York City or Los Angeles , you'd be remiss not to explore the myriad other attractions on offer in those world-class cities.
• While you're in the Big Apple, you could also check out the sites from that other group of '90s-era "Must See TV" twentysomethings on the Friends Tour .
• Or perhaps head to Albuquerque to follow along on the further adventures of Bryan Cranston a/k/a Dr. Tim Whatley, who, as Walter White in ABC's hit crime drama Breaking Bad , trades in his career as a mild-mannered science teacher for the high-stakes life of a drug kingpin.

• Previous Featured travel topics
• Has custom banner
• Has mapframe
• Maps with non-default size
• Has map markers
• Listing with Wikipedia link but not Wikidata link
• Listing without plain text name
• Do listing with no coordinates
• Guide topics
• Guide articles
• Fiction tourism
• Topic articles
• Pages with maps

Navigation menu

Experience The Original Soup Man, The Coffee Shop, And Other ‘Seinfeld’ Landmarks

The New York City of Jerry Seinfeld and friends is, mostly (and sadly), no more. Kramer’s H&H Bagels has been replaced with a Verizon store (much to President Obama’s chagrin ), and the Royale Pastry shop of West 72nd Street, also known as the Royal Bakery of the babka/black and white cookie/vomit-free streak’s end is now a Jenny Craig. Champagne Video? The place where George tried to return  Rochelle, Rochelle and rent  Breakfast at Tiffany’s ? It’s an optometrist that I sincerely hope carries glasses from the Gloria Vanderbilt Collection.   Even the   Westbury Hotel — where Jerry and George met Elaine’s gruff father, and where the comedian’s suede jacket was irreparably destroyed — is gone. It’s been replaced by condos.

It’s hard to imagine what’s featured on Kenny Kramer’s famous  Seinfeld  reality tour  anymore. Even the more polished On Location outing  has a disclaimer featured on the tour page:  “[We] cannot guarantee the presence of locations mentioned on our site.”

For diehards who just finished a Hulu series re-watch , however, there are still a few of the show’s iconic Manhattan locations open and available for a self-guided trek to serenity… now .

The Soup Man –  Seinfeld ‘s   The Soup Nazi

Don’t worry, there’s  plenty  of soup for you. The show’s famous Soup Nazi  was based on Soup Kitchen International, which was a popular soup restaurant owned by Al Yeganeh at 259 West 55th Street and 8th Avenue. Seinfeld, Larry David, and friends used to frequent the shop for lunch. Yeganeh was far from grateful for the free promotion however, and resented his tyrannical portrayal. “He got fame through me! I made him famous,” Yeganeh once raged about Seinfeld during a CNN interview . He then closed the doors to the popular soup place back in 2004 – but kept the lease . The store reopened at the same location six years later, just under a new name – The Original Soup Man.

According to Yelp-ers , the line isn’t too bad, and no, you won’t face any verbal abuse. While prices are a little high, it appears the soup lives up to expectations.

The Original Soup Man is also a franchise , so, even if you can’t make it to the Big Apple, there’s still a chance for you to sample the crab bisque. There are locations in New Jersey and Connecticut, and boxed versions are available for purchase in major grocery store chain locations in several Western states (Oklahomans, you’re in luck!).

LOCATION:  259 W. 55th St. ( map )

Tom’s Restaurant –  Seinfeld ‘s Monk’s Café

Seinfeld gets all the credit for putting Tom’s Restaurant in Morningside Heights on the map, but really, back in 1987, Suzanne Vega gave the eatery its first big break. Ever heard a little ditty called “Tom’s Diner?”

Regardless, the exterior shots of Jerry and co.’s main hangout, Monk’s Café is the restaurant at 112th St. and Broadway. Fans be warned – Tom’s interior is vastly different than what you remember from TV. All those scenes were shot in a California sound stage. A plethora of  Seinfeld memorabilia now adorns the walls, but, apparently, the food doesn’t match the show’s colorful onscreen persona.  Yelp users call it “bland” and “tasteless.” Come for the nostalgia, but don’t expect gastronomic delights.

LOCATION: 2880 Broadway ( map )

Sardi’s

Sardi’s is best known as the caricature-covered Times Square restaurant that’s frequented by the after-theatre crowd and on-stage stars, alike. Open since 1927, it’s created and maintained its reputation as Broadway’s fine dining companion. For  Seinfeld fans, however, it’s where Kramer’s Tony took him.

In season eight’s “The Summer of George,” Kramer attends the Tony Awards as a seat filler, only to be mistakenly swept onstage with the producers of faux-musical  Scarsdale Surprise. Obviously, Kramer runs with it and begins to carry his award around much like “Anne Hathaway after the Oscars” ( thanks for that one, Amy ). With all the glory and none of the talent, Kramer uses the award to get a table at Sardi’s, only to be confronted by the  Scarsdale Surprise showrunners. Yada, yada, yada, Kramer has to fire Raquel Welch to keep the trophy.

Oh, if only Cosmo adorned the eatery’s star-filled walls.

LOCATION: 234 W. 44th St. ( map )

Gray’s Papaya –  Seinfeld’s  Papaya King

While the Paragon Theatre featured in “The Movie” appears to now be an AMC , there’s still one remnant of the season four episode you can visit: Gray’s Papaya. As the gang stands in a seemingly endless line to see the fictional movie Checkmate , Kramer gets a case of the munchies. Rather than waiting for cinematic snacks, he insists he’s got to get a hot dog from Papaya King (another NYC iconic dog dispensary). “I don’t wanna get a movie hot dog,” he whines to Elaine before embarking to have a wiener he dubs “better than filet mignon.”

While Papaya King, like we said, is very, very real, the actual restaurant  Kramer grabs food from is the also-classic Gray’s Papaya on the Upper West Side. The uptown Gray’s is, sadly, the only one left  in the city. The restaurant, which is famously inexpensive, first opened in 1973 and was once named the purveyor of the city’s best hot dog .

LOCATION:  2090 Broadway ( map )

West 81st St – Jerry and Kramer’s Apartment Building, The Shelby

While the facade viewers see of Jerry and Kramer’s apartment building is over on the West Coast, the address is very, very real. Our Upper West Siders lived near Central Park on West 81st Street between Columbus and Amsterdam. While your  Seinfeld  journey may take you all over the city, prepare yourselves for a little disappointment when it comes to the location of the comedian’s 5A one-bedroom apartment – the real building looks absolutely nothing like the L.A. complex you’ve grown to know.

Hulu recreated the bachelor pad to extremely accurate detail to promote the show’s addition to the streaming site, but, unfortunately, the exhibit was just a pop-up, one-time deal.

LOCATION: 129 W. 81st St. ( map )

West Side YMCA

Former real-life Mets baseball player Keith Hernandez made three appearances in  Seinfeld episodes, but first met fictional Jerry at the Upper West Side’s creatively  named West Side YMCA . It’s hard to believe a pro baseball player would rely on the Young Men’s Club to work out, but times were different back then. The show’s male leads frequent the athletic club, but its most memorable appearance was season three’s “The Boyfriend.” Hernandez’s onscreen persona goes on to date Elaine and gets into a JFK assassination-style spitting fiasco with Newman and Kramer. And, at 61, he still makes around $3,000 a year in rerun royalties. The show about nothing still pays him for doing… very little.

The YMCA is still operational, and still features extensive athletic facilities. They’ve even jumped in on the  spin  cult– ahem — fitness trend. The building’s facade is classic old NYC, but it’s doubtful the locker rooms reflect our on-screen memories.

LOCATION:  5 W. 63rd St. ( map )

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Where to Go Now

A Food Tour of Seinfeld’s New York

By Justin Sablich

• June 23, 2015

It’s no secret that “Seinfeld,” arguably the most “New York” comedy in recent television history, was actually filmed in Los Angeles.

But that hasn’t stopped tourists from flocking to the Upper West Side of Manhattan to see if they really can order a “big salad” from the “Seinfeld restaurant.”

With the show making its streaming television debut on Hulu this month, New York food spots like Tom’s Restaurant that have become synonymous with “Seinfeld” could see an increase in business from nostalgic fans.

Just don’t try to get a bagel from H & H, Kramer’s one-time place of employment. The Kenny Rogers Roasters and its blinding red neon chicken is also long gone, as is the Royale Pastry Shop ( called Royal Bakery and Schnitzers on the show), the bakery responsible for a marble rye worth mugging an old lady for and a black-and-white cookie that could bridge racial divides.

Yes, a lot has changed in the 17 years since the series finale was broadcast, but “Seinfeld” reality-seekers can still get their fix.

Tom’s Restaurant

Despite sharing nothing more than a neon sign with Monk’s Cafe, the gang’s favorite hangout from the show, Tom’s arguably has become the most recognizable “Seinfeld”-related tourist attraction in the city.

Mr. Seinfeld and Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza, even revived their old roles there for an episode of Mr. Seinfeld’s web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee .”

The food at Monk’s was usually secondary to whatever the group was plotting over coffee, and at Tom’s, the food, which is no-frills diner fare served in large portions, takes a back seat to the “Seinfeld” mythology.

Fans will get a kick out of the signed photos and show memorabilia that grace the walls of this Greek-American diner and, yes, you can order a big salad. At $17 with grilled chicken, it was big and more than edible, but the food is not necessarily the draw.

That said, Tom’s is comfortable with friendly enough service and old-school charm; it’s hard to argue with a bacon cheeseburger deluxe for $9.25, and you will never go wrong with the milkshakes ($5.75).

But, really, cash only? What is the deal?

Tom’s Restaurant, 2880 Broadway; tomsrestaurant.net .

Of the many questions raised on the show during its nine seasons, few captured the essence of the show more than this one: Is soup a meal?

It will be debated until the end of time, but it all started at Mendy’s, when Kenny Bania, who was owed a free meal by Jerry, opted for soup.

“I’ll save that meal for another time,” Bania says, to a disgusted Jerry.

Mendy’s is a kosher delicatessen with five locations in the city. The one portrayed on the show, on West 70th Street, is no longer open, so I went to the flagship location on 34th Street, hoping to try what Bania said was the “best swordfish in the city” (I later learned that swordfish is not considered kosher, though it used to be, it’s kind of complicated).

That was not an option, so I went with the broiled Norwegian salmon ($24.95), which came with a side of mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. Meh.

You’re better off ordering half a pastrami sandwich and the split-pea soup ($15.95) to go, especially if you want to avoid the mandatory 18 percent tip for dining in.

“Soup and sandwich, that is a meal!” Jerry would later proclaim.

Mendy’s, 61 East 34th Street, mendysdeli.com

The Original Soup Man

“You can’t eat this soup standing up, your knees buckle,” Jerry raves to George and Elaine about the soup stand Kramer had recommended.

The only problem is, the stand’s owner is secretly referred to as the “Soup Nazi” because of the strict requirements he places on his customers.

“Just follow the ordering procedure and you’ll be fine,” Jerry says.

I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous as I approached the small soup stand on 55th Street. It’s not as if I was expecting a confrontation with Al Yeganeh, the man who inspired the gruff character on the show, but I couldn’t rule it out.

As it turns out, Mr. Yeganeh was not there, and I doubt he spends much time at his original restaurant, which opened in 1984 as Soup Kitchen International and reopened in 2010 as t he Original Soup Man. It is now a franchise, with several locations.

In his absence I received fast and friendly service, and a lunch that lived up to lofty expectations.

All soups, like the excellent and chunky lobster bisque ($10 for a large), come with a fresh slice of bread, an apple and a piece of chocolate.

I think that qualifies as a meal. But if you think you’ll still be hungry, add a passable lobster roll for $10.

The Original Soup Man, 259A West 55th Street, originalsoupman.com.

La Boîte en Bois

Date nights were never dull on the show, whether it was Jerry eating “discarded” pecans at Pappardella or George pleading with Jerry and Elaine to be less funny around his date at Isabella’s.

Oh, and don’t forget, “everyone breaks up at Pomodoro,” according to Jerry.

The most-frequented restaurant in Jerry’s neighborhood was La Boîte en Bois. You may remember George’s date Karen having a very animated reaction to a risotto dish there.

La Boîte en Bois is a tiny French restaurant offering traditional bistro fare. Its proximity to Lincoln Center makes it a popular pre-theater stop, so get there right when it opens if you’re brunching on the weekend.

There was no risotto to be found, but the goat cheese salad ($12.50) was a good enough start, although the lobster bisque ($9.50) had nothing on Mr. Yeganeh’s. For an entree, anyone who shares George’s love of cheese will be satisfied with the croque monsieur ($15).

La Boîte en Bois, 75 West 68th Street, laboitenyc.com.

Gray’s Papaya

“The characters on ‘Seinfeld’ did not eat well, but they ate very New York,” William Grimes wrote in The New York Times in 1998. With that in mind, let’s finish with a hot dog.

In the episode “The Movie,” after meeting up with George and Elaine at the theater, Kramer craves a hot dog, but not just any hot dog.

“I don’t want to get a movie hot dog, I want a Papaya King hot dog,” he protests to Elaine.

Since the movie theater portrayed in the episode is the Paragon Theater on the Upper West Side, it has been said that Kramer actually gets his fix at a Gray’s Papaya, since, in real life, there is not a Papaya King in the vicinity of the theater. The Gray’s Papaya on Broadway and 72nd Street, t he last remaining location of the chain, would be the closest hot dog-papaya establishment to the theater.

With what movie theaters charge for concessions, Kramer had the right idea. For less than $6, Gray’s Papaya offers two high-quality franks and a drink.

Those loyal to Papaya King can get similar fare at one of two New York locations, including the chain’s original location on the corner of Third Avenue and 86th Street.

Gray’s Papaya, 2090 Broadway, grayspapayanyc.com.

An article last Sunday about visiting food spots in Manhattan featured on “Seinfeld” misstated the cost of two hot dogs and a drink at Gray’s Papaya. It is now $5.95, not “less than $5.”

How we handle corrections

Follow Justin Sablich on Twitter: @JustinSablich

• pop Culture
• Facebook Navigation Icon
• Twitter Navigation Icon
• WhatsApp icon
• Instagram Navigation Icon
• Youtube Navigation Icon
• Snapchat Navigation Icon
• TikTok Navigation Icon
• pigeons & planes
• newsletters
• Youtube logo nav bar 0 youtube
• Instagram Navigation Icon instagram
• Twitter Navigation Icon x
• Facebook logo facebook
• TikTok Navigation Icon tiktok
• Snapchat Navigation Icon snapchat
• Apple logo apple news
• Flipboard logo nav bar 1 flipboard
• Instagram Navigation Icon google news
• WhatsApp icon whatsapp
• RSS feed icon rss feed

Complex Global

• united states
• united kingdom
• netherlands
• philippines
• complex chinese

Work with us

terms of use

privacy policy

cookie settings

california privacy

public notice

accessibility statement

COMPLEX participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means COMPLEX gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.

© Complex Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Complex.com is a part of

Jerry Seinfeld Says 'Movie Business Is Over' and Has Been Replaced by 'Disorientation'

The 'Unfrosted' director and star also pointed to depression, malaise, and confusion as having replaced "the movie business."

Jerry Seinfeld , whose feature directorial debut Unfrosted arrives next month, says the movie business has been replaced by constant "disorientation."

Indeed, in a recent interview with Brett Martin for GQ , the decades-strong comedian reflected on the experience of helming his first-ever feature while praising the "dead serious" hard work of the entire team behind the Netflix film. Per Seinfeld, who last went the film route by starring in and co-writing 2007’s Bee Movie , these individuals "don’t have any idea that the movie business is over."

View this photo on Instagram

Elaborating further, Seinfeld gave his assessment of film’s current moment, arguing that movies don’t "occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy" as they did before. But Seinfeld does have some theories on what may have taken film's place.

"Depression? Malaise? I would say  confusion ," he said in the interview, available here . "Disorientation replaced the movie business. Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going,  What’s going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now? "

Unfrosted , also starring Melissa McCarthy and Jim Gaffigan, takes viewers back to 1963 Michigan, where a battle for what ultimately becomes Pop-Tarts takes center stage. As Seinfeld himself recently explained, while the battle between Kellogg’s and Post did indeed transpire, the rest of his film " is complete lunacy ." The cast also counts Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Bill Burr, Adrian Martinez, Fred Armisen, Christian Slater, and more.

View this video on YouTube

This month, Seinfeld popped in on Curb Your Enthusiasm for the beloved HBO comedy's series finale, which brilliantly brought the shared worlds of Curb and Seinfeld to a close by repeating the latter's finale 1998 finale. It was a move fans had been theorizing about since Curb 's final season began, and one would have a hard time imagining any better or more befitting a sendoff for Larry David 's undeniable classic.

Meanwhile, Seinfeld is set to be on the road through at least October, starting with back-to-back shows at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa later this week. Seinfeld is also set to hit Louisville, Nashville, New Orleans, Perth Sydney, and more in the coming weeks.

SHARE THIS STORY

Sign up for the

Complex Newsletter

Your leading source for what’s now and what’s next in Music, Style, Sports, and Pop Culture.

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our

Latest in Pop Culture

| BY ALEX OCHO

Keke Palmer and SZA to Lead Issa Rae-Produced Buddy Comedy Flick

| BY ANDREW WHITE

Fake Zendaya 'Challengers' Movie Poster Alluding to N-Word Sparks Both Outcry and Jokes

| BY TARA MAHADEVAN

Salma Hayek Celebrates 15th Wedding Anniversary With Francois-Henri Pinault

| BY TRACE WILLIAM COWEN

Ye and Vixen’s Potential Porn Collab 'Will Be Like Nothing We’ve Ever Seen Before'

| BY JOSE MARTINEZ

Ellen DeGeneres Speaks Out About 'Getting Kicked Out of Show Business' on Stand-Up Tour

Drake Shares New NOCTA x L’Art Racing Collection

| BY JOE PRICE

'Law & Order: SVU' Star Mariska Hargitay Slams Overturning of Harvey Weinstein's Rape Conviction: 'Incorrigible'

| BY JAELANI TURNER-WILLIAMS

Tiffany Haddish Opens Up About Endometriosis Battle and Suffering 8 Miscarriages: 'My Body Be Playing Tricks on Me'

Julia Fox on Dating Someone Famous Like Ye: 'I’m So Much More Than That'

Cardi B Says Her 'Baby Reindeer' Comments Are Being Used in 'Misleading' Headlines

• Things to Do
• Top High Schools
• Best Restaurants
• Taste of NoVA
• In This Issue
• Culture Features

Jerry Seinfeld to Perform at Wolf Trap This Summer

Tickets to see the comedic legend in Vienna in August go on sale to the general public on April 26.

By Michele Kettner April 22, 2024

As if the summer performances at Wolf Trap weren’t already exciting, Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center announced Monday that comedian Jerry Seinfeld is set to perform at there in August. 

The two-night performance will take place on August 19 and 20 at the Filene Center. Both shows will start at 8 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

The comedian, actor, and author is best known for co-creating and starring in NBC’s Seinfeld for nine seasons. In addition to the award-winning comedy series, Seinfeld has starred in his Netflix specials Jerry Before Seinfeld and 23 Hours to Kill and created Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee . The comedian’s latest project includes the upcoming movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story . 

Tickets for both performances start at $55. The general public ticket sale will start on Friday, April 26, at 10 a.m. Members of Wolf Trap currently have access to the presale. 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna

Feature image courtesy Wolf Trap

For more stories like this,  subscribe  to Northern Virginia Magazine’s Things to Do newsletter.

Trending in NoVA

Brood over it: this year’s northern virginia cicada forecast, diamond farm brewery and winery set to open in nokesville, where to take mom for mother’s day brunch.

Our Top Stories In Your Inbox

Our newsletters delivered weekly.

You May Also Like

Reston Sees Changes in Its First 60 Years

4 Broadway Shows to Hit Stage at Capital One Hall

David Baldacci Chats About His Newest Book, History, and His NoVA Go-To Spots