If you slow your pace when strolling through neighborhoods like the West Village, Chelsea's side streets, Brooklyn Heights or Fort Greene, it is probably because you're staring longingly at the inviting and often majestic stoops that dot the tree-lined streets.

Luckily, we're past the days of traveling by horse and carriage (and manure-filled streets), so we don't exactly NEED stoops or boot scrapes (have you seen those nifty things?). But the appeal lives on....Above, 12 stoops upon which we wouldn't mind shooting the breeze and sipping a cup of coffee.