Corner Bistro, which has sat in a creaky, centuries-old three-story building on the leafy corner of West Fourth Street and Jane Street, in the West Village, since 1961, has never had the artistic cred of certain other downtown bars. Unlike the now-bulldozed Cedar Tavern, it was not the spot where de Kooning and Pollock crammed into booths during the 50s and 60s and brooded over bottles of cheap Beaujolais, in between posing for Life magazine shoots. No, Corner Bistro has always been something more valuable, and increasingly rare, in the Village: it’s a true neighborhood bar. That was and is the true gift of Corner Bistro—a regular place that is far from regular, because it makes anyone feel like they are a regular. I can’t count the number of Saturday afternoons I spent sitting by those windows, reading books, watching the seasons pass. Snow falling on the yellow traffic-light pole. Colored leaves scuttling down Jane Street toward the Hudson. —Michael Hainey

Michael Hainey is a Writer at Large at AIR MAIL