Best after-hours spot

Last year, Phoenix readers preferred snuggling under their comforters and putting their feet up on their coffee tables to all-hours carousing, voting for their own beds and living rooms as the places to be, post-partying. But this year, it seems our readers have a bit more energy, selecting the late-night shape-shifter News as their favorite place to head when no place else is open. At the diner/café/bar/restaurant/lounge, you can order a martini (until 2 a.m.), and sushi, steak tips, or chocolate-chip pancakes almost around the clock (from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m.); the place has more than diner stalwarts like greasy scrambled eggs and slimy sausage cylinders. You can flip through one of the many newspapers or magazines to catch up on current events, or gaze out the window in bleary-eyed delirium as the sun rises on South Station.

Phoenix readers proved that Boston's a city that needs its sleep with last year's after-hours pick. This year, they prove that it's a city that needs another beer. After most bars shut down, at one, you'll see revelers of varying ages and levels of intoxication stumbling down Mass Ave from Harvard and Central Squares toward the People's Republik. As one of the only area establishments that serves alcohol until 2 a.m., the Soviet-themed place -- complete with Russian propaganda posters and a bomb hanging over the bar -- gets packed. You'll be wedged in with a smattering of goofy students, more serious late-night lushes, and typical Cambridge types looking to ride out another last call. Call it the socialist rush or raising the iron curtain on prolonging the night.

News, 150 Kneeland Street, Boston, (617) 426-NEWS; People's Republik, 880 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 492-8632.