(Photo: Victoria Jacob/Courtesy of Manhattan Inn)

• Manhattan Inn

  632 Manhattan Ave., at Bedford Ave., Greenpoint; 718-383-0885

  Like much at the Manhattan Inn, the old Wheelock baby grand in back was discarded and forgotten before Brooke Baxter and Rolyn Hu—the founders of the nearby performance space Glasslands Gallery—bought it on Craigslist in October from a heartbroken classical pianist. The pair painted it white, hired a tuner, and gave it a new life as the centerpiece of a raucous late-night scene that harnesses the camaraderie of Marie’s Crisis, the talent of the Bemelmans’s bench, and all the frenzy of Glasslands. Located in a spacious former Polish restaurant in Greenpoint, the bar has pulled in some impressive talent. Some nights, Smokin’ Billy Slater is at the bench pounding out boogie-woogie. Other nights, Joe McGinty, formerly of the Psychedelic Furs, leads epic karaoke sessions. Meanwhile, Erika Spring of Au Revoir Simone D.J.’s a weekly (non-piano) party on Wednesdays.

From the 2010 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine