The Bookstore (season 9, episode 17)

story by Spike Feresten and Darin Henry & Marc Jaffe, teleplay by Spike Feresten, directed by Andy Ackerman
original airdate: April 16, 1998

Jerry spots Uncle Leo shoplifting at a bookstore, while George gets in trouble for taking a book into the bathroom. Elaine gets drunk at the office party and makes out with a co-worker. Kramer and Newman start a rickshaw business.

FEATURED LOCATIONS

The Improv is not featured in this episode.

Jerry’s Apartment
Jerry finds out from his parents that Uncle Leo has prior convictions, and that they too often steal. Kramer and Newman debut their plan to have the homeless pull rickshaws across New York City.

Monk’s Café
Jerry confronts Uncle Leo for stealing books, and is later shunned by him after turning him in. Elaine reveals her embarrassing office makeout story. George complains about having to buy a “flagged” book, and outlines his scheme to return it. He later tries selling it to Elaine, before Jerry reveals the truth of its beginnings.

Brentano’s (NOW CLOSED)
597 Fifth Ave., New York, NEW YORK (map)
nearest subway: 47-50th Streets – Rockefeller Center (B,D,F,M)
Jerry catches Uncle Leo shoplifting books, and George is forced to buy a book he does not want after taking it into the bathroom.

Hong Kong, CHINA (map)
Kramer mentions how he wants to see Hong Kong’s pagodas “before it all goes back to China”; he also mentions how the city has outlawed the rickshaw, which he things would fit perfectly in New York…and has Newman ship a rickshaw from the Hong Kong post office to start their endeavor.

CHINA (map)
Kramer mentions that he wants to see the pagodas of Hong Kong before it is returned to China…only a year too late, as China overtook control of Hong Kong in 1997.

Puck Building
295 Lafayette St., New York, NEW YORK (map)
nearest subway: Broadway-Lafayette Street (B,D,F,M)
Elaine returns to the annual J. Peterman holiday party, one-upping “the little kicks” by making out with co-worker Zach in front of the whole party, “like our plane was going down.”

PAPUA NEW GUINEA (map)
Mr. Peterman quotes the wooly Melanesians of Papua New Guinea during a toast to his staff at his company’s holiday party.

FRANCE (map)
George is forced to buy a book of French impressionist paintings after taking it into a bookstore bathroom, which he finds conducive to- “thank…you…”

Hong Kong General Post Office
2 Connaught Place, Hong Kong, CHINA (map)
Kramer mentions that he and Newman are getting their rickshaw from a guy Newman knows in the Hong Kong Post Office. The GPO is headquartered in Connaught Place.

J. Peterman
Elaine tries passing on her dating story to her coworkers, until she sees Zach making out with someone else. Elaine is later forced by Mr. Peterman to help Zach’s opium detox, as its the job a true “girlfriend” would typically do.

Del Boca Vista
Talking to his parents about Uncle Leo, Jerry discovers that Leo has prior criminal charges, and could actually serve time in prison for theft.

THAILAND (map)
Mr. Peterman reveals he sent Elaine’s “work boyfriend” Zach to Thailand in search of low-cost whistles, and his stories of grandeur (and drug dealer contacts) got him hooked on “yam-yam.”

Elaine’s Apartment
Elaine helps her fake boyfriend go through real withdrawal…and discovers the detox poncho for the Peterman catalog.

Battery Park
New York, NEW YORK (map)
nearest subway: Whitehall Street (R)
Newman mentions to Kramer that their stolen rickshaw was discovered by a postal worker in the park, where they retrieve it from Rusty the homeless man.

Housing Works Thrift Shops
306 Columbus Ave., New York, NEW YORK (map)
nearest subway: 72nd Street (1,2,3)
George tries giving the book to charity for a tax write-off, but is again stopped by the flagged mark on the book. There are multiple New York locations, but the establishing shot shows that the store is along the M7 and M11 bus routes, which both head down this section of Columbus Ave.

Bunker Hill
624 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA (map)
The scene with Kramer dropping Newman downhill in the rickshaw was filmed here (including One Wilshire Center).