Sunny’s Bar is part of a series of tidbits from the chapters of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, published by Rizzoli. You can order it online now at Powell’s, Amazon, Rizzoli, and Barnes & Noble. Signed prints of the bars in the book are available here.

Walk into Sunny’s in the late afternoon or early evening, and it’ll take your eyes a minute to adjust. Your very being may need to adjust too, especially if you’re in that New York state of mind, where you’re going at 108 RPMs. Sunny’s at that time of day, will be going about 33 1/3 RPMs, nice and easy, like the vinyl the bartenders sometimes spin. Pretty soon, though, you’ll slow down, then the sun will slide low over the harbor and flood the entire room with golden light, stem to stern, the long wooden bar glowing orange, and if it’s a night with live music, stick around. You’re in for a treat.

Best Times to Visit Sunny’s Bar

If you want a quiet time to really see the place, show up late afternoon when the light is good and you have room to roam. But to really feel the soul of Sunny’s, you’ve got to catch some live music. Almost every night Wednesday through Saturday, musicians and audiences crowd—sometimes at a nearly one to one ratio—into what Tone calls the “proportionately perfect” back room, whipping up a frenzy of joy and sonic therapy that’ll renew your spirit. You can’t go wrong with the weekly bluegrass/folk and country jam every Saturday at 9 p.m. and if you can catch the guitar wizards behind Smokey’s Round Up or Stevie from St. Lou, you’re in for a real treat. There’s never a cover charge, but you’ll want to tip the musicians. Gernerously. Good karma.

Best Seat in the House

Tone says it’s the seat in the farthest corner of the bar, next to the wall “with your back to the kitchen. From there you can see the whole length of the bar.” I agree that’s a fine seat, but sometimes I’ll take the fourth or fifth stool from the door as you walk in, and bask in the orange light of the setting sun.

What to Drink

Go for a beer and a shot, an homage to the “berlermakers” (as Sunny called them, in the old Brooklyn style), the drink of cherce of the dockworkers who used to pack the place. Order the special and you’ll usually get a cold can of Narragansett lager and a shot of Early Times whiskey • Not to be missed: Hot Buttered Rum (in season)

Next up:

The wonderful, wild, wacky Stan’s Sports Bar of the Bronx, another chapter of my book Bars, Taverns and Dives New Yorkers Love, which you can order right here. Limited-edition signed prints of the bars are available here.