Rejoice: Montero Bar in Brooklyn Heights Reopens Tomorrow
"Beloved Brooklyn Heights dive is reopening after 15 months of darkness, with its iconic neon sign once more aglow (though it short-circuits in rain). Family-run since 1939—the bar’s original location was moved in 1947 during Robert Moses’s BQE projects—it has survived blackouts, Hurricane Sandy, and blizzards, but the pandemic closure was its longest. Owner Joseph “Pepe” and his wife Linda are testing a soft reopening starting tomorrow night, handling the door and the bar themselves while trying to interpret rapidly changing rules about curfews, limited occupancy, temperature checks, ID screening and vaccination questions. Staffing will be phased back as conditions allow, and karaoke—which patrons have been clamoring for—will return on a limited basis this weekend and, they hope, regularly thereafter." - Jamie Feldmar