We noticed a few things this week.
A few theaters, some roasteries, that cute florist you didn’t know existed, and more cozy spots from the cities we live in.
- Pull Up a Chair
Bar seats at Holiday Cocktail Lounge where the neon sign still flickers in cursive
A field note on the vinyl bar stools at Holiday Cocktail Lounge on St. Marks Place, where red neon, heavy pours, and a skipping jukebox define the East Village dive bar experience.
- Pull Up a Chair
The window table at Caffè Reggio where the 1902 espresso machine still gleams
A field note on the small marble-top tables at Caffè Reggio, the Greenwich Village coffeehouse where a brass espresso machine towers like an altar and cappuccino still means something.
- Pull Up a Chair
Counter stools at Veselka where the pierogi order hasn't changed since 1954
A field note on the Formica counter stools at Veselka, a 24-hour Ukrainian diner on Second Avenue where hand-rolled pierogi and open-kitchen sightlines anchor the East Village's round-the-clock ritual.
- Pull Up a Chair
The red leather booth at Bemelmans Bar beneath the hand-painted Madeline murals
Inside the Carlyle Hotel, Ludwig Bemelmans' 1947 Central Park murals wrap a gold-leafed cocktail room where nightly piano music plays without a cover charge and red leather banquettes offer front-row seats to Manhattan's most charming bar.
- Pull Up a Chair
Bar stools at Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Café where the ceiling holds a century of sailor junk
North Beach's maritime-junk-cluttered dive bar offers mismatched bar stools beneath a ceiling wallpapered with whale bones, naval flags, and merchant marine ephemera—a cabinet of curiosities with a liquor license.
- Pull Up a Chair
The window counter at Abraço Espresso where the olive oil cake sells out by 9am
A sliver of a café on East 7th Street with no seats, just a narrow wooden counter facing the street. The olive oil cake disappears by nine, the barista knows your ratio, and fifteen minutes is all you need.
- Pull Up a Chair
The corner booth at Doyle's Café that faced Washington Street for 137 years
Doyle's Café closed in 2019 after 137 years, but its corner booth—facing Washington Street and the 41 bus stop—remains the measure of what a neighborhood pub should be. A search for its successor in Jamaica Plain.
- Pull Up a Chair
Bar seating at Peter's Since 1969 where the cash register still prints carbon receipts
A narrow Midtown East holdout where vinyl bar stools face Nixon-era wood paneling, the National cash register cranks by hand, and the bartender knows your drink by your coat.
- Pull Up a Chair
The corner stool at McSorley's Old Ale House that faces the 1854 potbelly stove
A field note on the worn wooden corner stool at McSorley's Old Ale House in the East Village, positioned to face the original cast-iron potbelly stove and the sawdust-covered floor that hasn't changed its sweep pattern since Prohibition.
- Nice but Free
Randalls Island Salt Marsh Loop and Little Hell Gate Overlook
A restored tidal wetland on Randalls Island's eastern shore offers boardwalk birding, quiet East River views across Little Hell Gate, and a rare pocket of coastal habitat minutes from Manhattan's footbridges.
