Monte’s Venetian Room, Carroll Street, 1960.

Monte’s, the storied mob and Rat Pack hangout near the banks of the Gowanus Canal, opened in 1906 as Angelo’s Tavern, after owner Angelo Montemarano. During prohibition, Angelo’s operated as a speakeasy, establishing its ties to Brooklyn’s extra-legal communities.

In 1938, Nick Monte, Angelo’s son, undertook an extensive renovation — including the addition of signature red booths — and reopened as Monte’s. Though impossible to corroborate, legend has it that Monte’s became a regular meeting place for Frank Sinatra (said to love the cheesecake) and Sammy Davis Jr. (who allegedly delivered an impromptu after-hours performance).

When Monte’s reopened in 2011, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz described its 1970s scene to the New York Post, “[Monte’s] was a power restaurant for people in public life and not-so-public life. The food was very good, but you went for the ambiance.”