Best of Rhode Island 2009 Editors' Picks

Fresh from a three-year, $2-million renovation, Westerly's Knickerbocker Café has been restored to its original 1940s glamour with a 520-square-foot rock maple dance floor, original neon signs and memorabilia from the glory days. A former destination for legends like Count Basie and Coleman Hawkins, the music hall lay largely vacant for the last twenty or so years, but now nights at the Knick are rather indistinguishable from the way they were in the old days, with couples practicing their Charleston as musicians like Al Copley and the Mystic Horns play well into the night.