Opened in 1953 at 927 Ninth Avenue in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood by Vito Santoro (1921-2000) and his brother James "Jimmy" Santoro (-1971), Vito's historic bar had slowly deteriorated after Vito retired and sold the restaurant in 1994. The bar was reopened and restored to its mid-century glamour and style in 2010 by new owners Greg Lundgren and Jeff Scott.

In this image Johnny O'Brien, left, sits with a group of friends whom he's been lunching with since 1959, identified clockwise from left as Pete Apostolou, Mike Dierdorff, Sid Campbell, Jack Dierdorff, Joe Merrick, Rolly Hofstedt, Mel Bogovich, Paul Gibbs, Jim O'Brien, Bob Ratcliffe, and Bill Taylor.

Caption information source: The Seattle Times, April 17, 2000, p. B1
Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.