25 Years Ago, the Infamous ‘Seinfeld’ Finale Took Place Right Here in New England

1998 was a major year in terms of New England's imprint on pop culture.

Just before a tiny album release party in Boston's City Hall Plaza essentially shut down the city when 80,000 fans showed up (and made a small, niche band from Canada an overnight sensation), the region also served as the surprise backdrop for the end of one of television's most beloved comedies.

It was 25 years ago that we said goodbye to Seinfeld (more accurately, most of us said "Huh??" to the finale. But keep that under your Urban Sombrero if you run into Larry David on Martha's Vineyard).

While Seinfeld is the quintessential New York City sitcom, it has several New England ties, both real and fictional (including one that, in the end, wound up being crucial).

Long before he played George Costanza, Jason Alexander attended Boston University. However, in a move similar to his Seinfeld counterpart, Alexander left the school after just one year. Larry David is known to vacation on Martha’s Vineyard in the summertime, and even shot a movie set there for HBO called Clear History. More famously, though, David made news when he got into a shouting match at a grocery market with attorney Alan Dershowitz (he should’ve hired Jackie Chiles).

John “J. Peterman” O’Hurley hails from Kittery, Maine, and attended Providence College. He is also a diehard Boston Red Sox fan and has been spotted several times at Fenway Park.

Seinfeld writer Dan O’Keefe struck gold – gold! – when he cowrote the episode “The Strike,” which marked the mainstream introduction to his father’s bizarre secular holiday Festivus. O’Keefe was one of a few Seinfeld writers to attend Harvard University.

What’s odd, however, is that many forget that Seinfeld ended not in New York City, but here in New England, in the fictional town of Latham, Massachusetts.

(SPOILER) In the show’s finale, written by David, the show’s four main characters are sentenced to prison following their violation of the “Good Samaritan Law.”

However, there were also several real New England towns and locations mentioned throughout the show’s nine-season run.