Maybe most interestingly of all, where some dive bars paper over every surface with stapled dollar bills and fading newspapers, the look inside Cherry Tavern is wood-lined minimalist. The bar, the liquor counter, the walls, the floor, all of it is stark in its simplicity, again reinforcing the no-nonsense dive bar feel of the space. A handful of tables run along one wall, but this is a shotgun-style dive, only a few drinkers wide, the kind of place that heats up quickly with a crowd. Notable behind the bar is the presence of a pair of light fixtures that look like they could pass for predating the light bulb, porcelain white extensions with no shades above the register.
Framed prints of a red pattern dot the walls, creating a little bit of visual differentiation to the space. The wall just inside the front door to the left painted white with red stamped designs that give off a faux wallpaper look. These visual cues are repeated a handful of times in the space, adding just a splash of modernity to the space, but they provide a red-stamped drop in the visual bucket compared to the relentless wood found throughout Cherry Tavern. Even the pool table, hidden in back, and its purple felt pale in comparison to the well-aged brown color that surrounds it.
Cherry Tavern is a New York dive bar hidden amid a sea of upscale options that has taken great pains to retain its authenticity despite an update or faux wallpaper accent here or there. Cash only, covered in wood paneling and about as visually intense as a piece of balsa wood, Cherry Tavern is a 1975 throwback that persists in its beautiful, divey simplicity as the city continually evolves just outside.