Extra Chinese Restaurant. Have the ChongQing Wings if you Dare.

This burlesque club contains a stripper pole, but is hardly worth it unless you know someone who will hook up drinks.

An unchanged 1940s lounge known for its masterpiece Martinis and whimsical murals painted by the author of “Madeline,” Ludwig Bemelmans.

It’s photographer Jay Maisel’s studio building on the Bowery. The fact that he hasn’t sold out to the manic gentrification of everything in New York is even cooler. Makes me happy that the whole place is covered in piss stains and graffiti when everything around it is all polished and shiny and expensive. It’s like a giant middle finger raised to those disgusting, bloodthirsty, city-raping real-estate developers. Awesome.

I keep going there when I miss my friend Aggeliki. We meet on the line waiting to watch Martha Marcy May Marlene. I just arrived in NYC, I remember we both were in the same situation. We became very close since that day.