KGB Bar is on East 4th Street in the East Village, on the second floor of a building that was originally the Ukrainian Labor Home, a social club for Ukrainian socialists in the early 20th century. Dennis Woychuck, the son of a Ukrainian immigrant, opened the current bar there in 1993. The name sounds like it's referencing the Soviet intelligence agency, but it actually stands for Kraine Gallery Bar, after Woychuck's old art gallery.

The walls have Stalinist woodcuts, World War II posters, a portrait of Valentina Tereshkova, hammer-and-sickle flags, and the occasional Lenin bust. It is not subtle about its visual identity. The drinks are inexpensive and the bar itself is unadorned.

What KGB is genuinely known for is the literary programming. Authors read there on Sunday nights for fiction, Mondays for poetry, and most Tuesday through Thursday evenings for various series run by MFA programs and independent literary magazines. Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates, and Daniel Handler have all read here. The combination of cheap drinks, Soviet kitsch, and serious literature is specific enough to have lasted thirty years.