Mar 11, 2016

Venice Tavern, one of Highlandtown’s last basement bars, was born after Prohibition was repealed in 1933 when Mary Victoria and Frank DeSantis Sr. added a side stairwell to their corner house. The compact bar, located at South Conkling and Bank streets, started out serving shots, beers and spaghetti with meatballs.

: Mike Tuite, center, who lives in the neighborhood, chats with barmaid Mari Wick in the mid-afternoon while nursing a Coors Light draft. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Alfred Simmons, started coming to the Venice Tavern after his retirement. He was in the military for thirty years, then worked as a Veterans Administration benefits counselor and a teacher. He prefers Coors beer. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Bob Piercey of Dundalk takes a smoke outside the Venice Tavern. He said, “When I get up to Highlandtown, this is the first place I come. I like the atmosphere. It’s quiet, never any trouble.” (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Dominic DeSantis, who purchased the bar from his grandfather, Frank DeSantis Jr., changes the craft beer offerings on the blackboard. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Eydie Magliano, a regular customer, stopped in at the Venice Tavern to socialize on a Sunday evening. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Snapshots provided by Frank DeSantis Jr. shows the intimate atmosphere when his mother, Mary Victoria DeSantis presided over the bar at the Venice Tavern. She is pictured in the background at right in the top left photo, and seated behind the bar in the top right photo. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Lauren Loeffler, and Brigid McAteer chat with friends John Cornwell, Kyle Turkot, and Matias Blackhorn. The bargain craft beers are attracting a younger crowd to the Venice Tavern. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Mary Victoria and Frank DeSantis Sr., founders of the Venice Tavern, in a photo from the early 1940s, when beers were 15 cents. Mary Victoria was from Naples, but her son Frank DeSantis Jr. said her fondness for Venice led her to name the bar the Venice Tavern. (Courtesy of Dominic DeSantis)

: Frank DeSantis Jr. reminisces about the Venice Tavern, which he and his brother Vince DeSantis, a boxer (picture in mural on back wall) took over after his parents, Mary Victoria and Frank DeSantis Sr. died. Now his grandson runs it. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Travis Rhoades of MIddle River grew up in HIghlandtown, and stops by to have a beer and shoot pool. Pool is a dying game, unless you are in a league, he said, as he practiced by himself at the Venice Tavern. (Amy Davi/Baltimore Sun)

: A memorial sign for a popular barmaid, Barbara Mount, who died in 2015, is posted behind the bar with other friendly cautions for the customers. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Bob Cook, a regular, makes a music selection from the digital jukebox. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Bob Piercey of Dundalk stops in for a Pabst Blue Ribbon. He said, “They don’t sell what I drink anymore: Milwaukee’s Best. I don’t go for craft beers. I think beer should taste like beer, not pumpkins.” (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: At one time the Venice Tavern, like most of the bars in the area, had little kitchens. It was known for the spaghetti and meatballs. (Courtesy of Frank DeSantis Jr.)

: R.J. Schuler, of Washington, D.C., takes a smoking break outside. He and his wife are considering relocating to Baltimore, attracted in part to the character of places like the Venice Tavern. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: The mansion that houses the Venice Tavern at 339 S. Conkling Street was purchased by the DeSantis family in the mid-1920s. The house was built for the William Schluderberg family, of EssKay Meats fame. Their meat-processing business was nearby. This photo hangs in the farmers market store on the first floor of the building, called RoofTop Hot. (Courtesy photo)

: Frank and Mary Victoria DeSantis added the basement bar on the Bank Street side of their S. Conkling Street home after Prohibition was repealed. The Venice Tavern is one of Highlandtown’s last basement bars open to the public. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Walter Romero, left, chats with Carlos Cardona, who plays the slots and RaceTrax every day. The clientele at the Venice Tavern reflects the diversity of Highlandtown today. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Barmaid Mari Wick has worked at the Venice Tavern off and on since the 1970’s. She has worked there steadily since 2014. Wick observed, “We don’t need to have Happy Hours. These are our every day prices.” (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Barmaid Joanne Smith started working at the Venice Tavern in the 1970s. The Venice Tavern opens at 8 a.m., when customers mostly stop in for coffee and lottery tickets. The bar is open seven days. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: The owners, Frank DeSantis Sr. and Mary Victoria DeSantis stand behind the bar at center, and pose for this undated snapshot with their son, Alfred, the bartender at left, and some customers. (Courtesy of Dominic DeSantis)

: Barmaid Dawn Johnson fills a growler for Sabrina Mincey, right, who runs the local and organic farmers market store above the tavern, called RoofTop Hot. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: An old business card from the Venice Tavern in Highlandtown, from back in the day when there was a bar on almost every corner, and usually one in the middle of the block, too. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Regular customer Greg Adkins is reflected in a mirror, to the right of the portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which has hung over the bar since its beginning in 1933, when Prohibition was repealed under the FDR. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Barmaid Mari Wick, owner Dominic DeSantis, center, and regular customer Jeremy Leposa have some laughs together. Leposa said the Venice Tavern is “a little off the beaten path,” but “it’s got some old school charm to it.” (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

: Undated photo of owner Mary Victoria DeSantis, behind the bar at The Venice Tavern in her gingham apron. She kept the tavern going after her husband died in 1962. (Courtesy of Dominic DeSantis)

: Clippings about the local lightweight boxing career of Vince DeSantis are on display at the Venice Tavern. Vince DeSantis took over the bar with his brother Frank DeSantis Jr. in the 1970s, some time after their parents died. When Vince DeSantis passed away in 1987, his brother continued to operate the Venice Tavern until he sold it to his grandson Dominic DeSantis about ten years ago. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)

Inside, a portrait of President Franklin Roosevelt, the patron saint of Depression-era tavern owners, still hangs over the dimly lit bar. Another hero honored in this classic dive bar is Vince DeSantis, a lightweight boxer who ran the tavern with his brother Frank DeSantis Jr. after their parents died. Ten years ago this month, Franksold the family watering hole to his grandson, Dominic DeSantis.

Frank , 82, recalls when Italian, Polish and German families dominated this rowhouse neighborhood. When Dominic took over, Venice Tavern was still a rough and rowdy joint for thirsty customers loyal to Bud, Pabst, and Miller High Life in cans.

Dominic saw that the neighborhood was changing, and brought in three-dollar craft beers to attract a younger crowd. Today the customers are young and old, white and black, with old school local characters blending in with hipsters, Latinos, and doctors and nurses from Johns Hopkins Hospital. Some of the longtime customers are even trying the craft beers.

Venice Tavern, one of Baltimore’s last basement bars

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