The Twilite is listed under dives because I didn’t have Comfortable-Neighborhood-Bars-Where-Nice-People-Hang-Out as a category. Even if I did, that wouldn’t be quite right either. The truth is, the Twilite Lounge defies categorization. An old bar run by an old man, the Twilite attracts an eclectic mix of young grad students, teachers, and gray-haired barroom intellectuals (no, the two terms aren’t necessarily oxymoronic, just usually). Seventy-eight-year-old proprietor Bob Cairo started working at the Twilite Lounge when it was part of his father’s Busy Bee restaurant, which opened in 1919. "When I was 12, he told me to start washing dishes and not to stop until he said so," said Cairo. "I’m still at it." Cairo, who works the bar daily, has definite ideas about how a joint should be run. "I won’t sell a membership to anyone under 23," he said. "They just don’t know how to handle liquor yet." So if you’re 21 or 22, don’t bother with the Twilite. This is also not a place where pugilists or big mouths want to wander; the police station is next door. The decor, which Cairo still speaks about as "the remodel," dates from 1961 and reflects the straight-ahead solid-color tone of the prehippie early 1960s. Jet-black hand-carved chess pieces are mounted to a deep red wall (was it a law back then to paint the inside of every bar red'), and you can still get a game of chess on two boards in the back room. Ask for the pieces at the bar. The jukebox, which has everything from Miles Davis to Black Sabbath, provides the tunes, and the clientele shifts with the clock. At about 10:30 p.m., the Twilite fills with just-off-work waiters and waitresses, grad students, and professorial types. Private club.

Hours:
Monday–Friday 11:30 a.m.–1 a.m., Saturdays 6 p.m.–1 a.m. Closed Sundays.