GCI Places

Curated collection · Rainy day

New York Rooms That Stayed

Interiors that survived the city's habit of replacing itself: a luncheonette, a coffee house, a chophouse and a hotel bar.

Assembled and reviewed by Global City Intelligence on 2026-09-07. The order below is a suggested route, not a ranking.

The route

  1. Caffe Reggio

    Greenwich Village and the West Side

    A 1927 Greenwich Village coffee house with a 1902 espresso machine.

    The green shopfront and awning of Caffe Reggio on MacDougal Street, New York
    The MacDougal Street frontage of Caffe Reggio, with its awning and pavement tables. Michael Bednarek · CC-BY-SA-4.0

  2. Lexington Candy Shop

    Upper East Side

    An intact 1925 luncheonette counter on the Upper East Side.

    Photograph of Lexington Candy Shop in New York
    Exterior shot of Lexington Candy Shop in September 2025. PhotoSafariCarson · CC-BY-4.0

  3. Keens Steakhouse

    Midtown Manhattan

    An 1885 chophouse under a ceiling of clay pipes.

    Photograph of Keens Steakhouse in New York
    Keens Steakhouse , 72 East 36th Street, Manhattan , New York . Leonard J. DeFrancisci · CC-BY-SA-3.0

  4. Bemelmans Bar

    Upper East Side

    Murals painted in 1947 in exchange for a room upstairs.

    Photograph of Bemelmans Bar in New York
    Bemelmans Bar in Manhattan. Ɱ · CC-BY-SA-4.0

4 of 4 places shown on the map. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.