When there are no errands to be run or chores to be done, no appointments to be kept or parcels to be schlepped...what is it that you most like to do?

I’ll tell you what I like: I like to hang out in places where you can linger for an hour nursing a cup of coffee, doing little more than watching the passing scene. Preferably, places that open early and stay open late, with no reservation required. Growing up in Sherwood Park in southeast Yonkers—the most boring place in the world—the only exciting thing that ever happened was the opening of a diner on Yonkers Avenue. It was a classic All-American diner with a red neon sign, Formica counters wrapped in chrome, red leather booths with tabletop jukeboxes, and waitresses in black uniforms with pencils tucked behind their ears.