Montero's New York

Quirky Brooklyn dive bar

Nick from New York

""Montero's" (est. 1939) in New York is one of the weirdest bars I've ever visited, in the best way possible; it takes you back to working-class Brooklyn..."

Montero's is one of the weirdest bars I've ever visited, in the best way possible. It's been a bar since 1939 when the regulars were the grisly longshoremen who worked on the docks just a block from the bar.

The clientele changed with the times, but the interiors stopped evolving sometime during the 1980s. That's when the bar froze as a time capsule filled with nautical ephemera inspired by the once-thriving industrial Brooklyn waterfront.

I can only describe the Montero's experience anecdotally. One Thanksgiving, my friend Molly and I went to the bar to get a drink in the evening. At first, we were the only two people there. But in the next hour, the bar exploded into a hectic party scene worthy of Paolo Sorrentino's film The Great Beauty.

There were preppy locals from the city and heavy New York accents from those who had come from deep Brooklyn. A shoulder-to-shoulder crowd passed slices of pumpkin pies through the air while groups belted karaoke tunes in the back.

Montero's is the kind of place where you can briefly go back in time to working-class Brooklyn, where people of all backgrounds and walks of life gather for (cheap) cocktails in an amazingly bizarre setting that you could only find in New York.

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New York Spotter Nick

About me I grew up in a supermarket family that created a “fantasy food store” on Long Island and in South Florida. Since 2011, I’ve been a copywriter, publicist, and social media manager for brands including Atlas Obscura, Booking.com, Cuba Travel Network, EDITION Hotels, Life House Hotels, and Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. Why New York? I'm a fourth-generation New Yorker on my mom's side and third-generation Brooklynite on my dad's side. Every corner of the city feels like home, but you're most likely to find me in South Brooklyn. Where can you fin...

About this spot

73 Atlantic Avenue

Beer:

US$

6467294129

Social

Oct 6, 2025

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