A basement on Christopher Street that once held the legendary 55 Bar jazz club — shuttered in 2022 — reborn as Love Thy Neighbor, the West Village project from bartender-restaurateur Shigefumi Kabashima (ROKC, NR) and Elias Popa (the former Lower East Side Romanian room Oti). Jun Qin of Wild Form Design Studio shaped the space on a 'no straight lines' principle: hand-troweled microcement, vaulted archways, curved booths. The references run deep — a single brick salvaged from the neighboring Stonewall Inn set into the bar, a Marsha P. Johnson quote in the floor at the entrance. Cocktails were built with Atsushi Suzuki of Tokyo's The Bellwood; the kitchen leans Japanese, with karaage, pastrami tartare and a sushi program to come. Come for the design and the drinks before the rest of the room finds it.