<b>Imagine that Alice had walked into a bar instead of falling down the rabbit hole. In the tradition of J. R. Moehringer’s<i>The Tender Bar</i> and the classic reportage of Joseph Mitchell, here is an indelible portrait of what is quite possibly the most wonderful bar in the world—and the mercurial, magnificent man behind it.</b><br>&nbsp;<br>The first time he saw Sunny’s Bar, in 1995, Tim Sultan was lost, thirsty for a drink, and intrigued by the single neon sign among the forlorn warehouses lining the Brooklyn waterfront. Inside, he found a dimly lit room crammed with maritime artifacts, a dozen well-seasoned drinkers, and, strangely, a projector playing a classic Martha Graham dance performance. Sultan knew he had stumbled upon someplace special. What he didn’t know was that he had just found his new home.<br>&nbsp;<br>Soon enough, Sultan has quit his office job to bartend full-time for Sunny Balzano, the bar’s owner and one of the great characters of contemporary New York. A wild-haired Tony Bennett lookalike with a fondness for quoting Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett, Sunny is the most original man Tim has ever met. Born next to the saloon that has been in his family for one hundred years, Sunny has over the years partied with Andy Warhol, spent time in India at the feet of a guru, and painted abstract expressionist originals. But his greatest masterpiece is the bar itself, a place where, over the decades, a sublime mix of artists, mobsters, honky-tonk musicians, neighborhood drunks, nuns, longshoremen, and assorted eccentrics have rubbed elbows. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly transforming city, <i>Sunny’s Nights</i> is a loving and singular portrait of the dream experience we’re all searching for every time we walk into a bar, and an enchanting memoir of an unlikely and abiding friendship.<br>&nbsp;<br><b>Advance praise for <i>Sunny’s Nights</i></b><br>&nbsp;<br>“<i>Sunny’s Nights</i> is more than an elegy for a bar and a neighborhood—it’s also a vivid and loving portrait of the larger-than-life eccentric who&nbsp; gave the bar its name and its spirit, and a moving memoir about friendship and finding a home. Tim Sultan is a wonderful writer, wry and observant, with a sly sense of humor and a big heart.”<b>—Tom Perrotta</b>