Seinfeld Declassified Episode 38: Is the forbidden city real?

Hello, Newman & welcome to season eight. So we kick off the new season with an episode so zany that this isn’t even the craziest storyline. So the crux of the story revolves around George using Susan’s picture to get into the “forbidden city” only to come back later & find nothing but a meat-packing plant. So did they make the whole thing up or is there any basis for this in real life? Well, our researchers were able to dig up this intel.

So obviously since most of it is kept under wraps, they weren’t able to uncover that much but thanks to the generosity of others, they did find this. Apparently, it’s a reference to the exclusive clubs in NYC that were typically hidden away in the meat-packing district. As to whether or not they actually did relocate a lot, that’s anyone’s guess but I imagine if they did, it was not all that frequently as you got to figure it’s not always easy to bug out on such short notice.

Now I know what you might be thinking: why did they have them in former meat-packing plants? Well, according to my research, the meatpacking industry in NYC first took off in the early 1900’s. By the 30’s, NYC had more than 250 slaughterhouses across the city which produced the third-largest volume of dress meats in the nation. But this is where things take a turn for the worse.

By the swinging sixties, the meatpacking industry began to fizzle out & no one is really sure why (presumably it was sparked by a rise in popularity of vegetarianism). So by the time the 80’s rolled around, many of those plants had closed up shop & were just sitting there as empty storefronts. This naturally led to the rise in nightclubs from the mineshaft to the manhole to the hellfire club (many of which were actually lgbtqia friendly such as the latter).

& that, my friends, is the true origin of the forbidden city. Were any of them actually called the forbidden city? No one is really sure. I doubt it but you never know. Whether any of those clubs are still there to this day is anyone’s guess but if you look a bit closer, you just might find a forbidden city of your own. So that’s about all I have for you guys today but thank you so much for reading. Have a great weekend & I will see you back here next weekend for a brand new episode of Seinfeld declassified. Until then, this is the x factor signing off.