Author Tim Sultan lets the love flow in his new book Sunny’s Nights, published by Random House. He just released it last month, and Colleen and I went to a reading at Book Court, an indy store in our neighborhood. The guest of honor that night was Sunny Balzano himself, owner of Sunny’s Bar, in all his glory. It was the kind of event you were glad not to miss. Now I’m doubly glad.

Sunny died on March 10, just 16 days after we saw him at Book Court, a packed-to-the-rafters lovefest which made me say afterwards, “I’ve really gotta talk to Sunny sometime.” And I really would have; I work just three blocks from his bar and stop in regularly. I’d see him around, but Sunny hasn’t bartended for years and except for a little chit-chat, I missed my window. Dammit.

Well, we’ve got Mr. Sultan’s book, and it’s a good one. The two passages that were read — or more accurately performed — at Book Court illustrated a seasoned raconteur’s prowess and heart. Sultan even had an actor read the part of Sunny while he, Sultan, read the rest. Rebecca Barry of the New York Times loved the book and tells you why here.

Why I Drew Sunny’s Bar

When I started my Great Good Places of Brooklyn series in 2013, Sunny’s was the first one I chose to draw. When you walk into a place like that, and it feels and looks like nowhere else you’ve ever been, and the staff is cool and the light is streaming in and milking up the dusty air with its late afternoon yellow rays and there’s jazz playing — not on Spotify or Pandora, but on vinyl, and there’s all these old Budweiser lamps and ancient maritime stuff on the wall from when the place was really a stevedore bar, just a couple blocks from actual working tough-guy Brooklyn docks, you really feel you’re someplace special. Sunny’s Bar is that kind of place. People love it for a reason, and Sunny himself was the cornerstone of it. From the maybe five times I met him I can state that he was a loving and light-hearted guy, and I’m glad we roamed the earth — and Red Hook — at the same time, if only briefly. He made Brooklyn and the entire universe better with his light, and with luck, his spirit will resonate for a long time.

By that I mean in one very obvious way, the bar. There’s no guarantee, though. It’s been there for about 100 years, but the family wants to sell the building, the New York real estate market hot as it is right now. I get it. Money is good to have, the family owns it, and it’s theirs to do with what they will. But it’d be missed. That’s life, though, especially in New York. Nothing lasts forever, nor is anything supposed to. But Sunny’s is still there now. Get it while it lasts.