Michael Monti pretty much grew up on Mill Avenue, where his father opened the iconic steakhouse Monti’s La Casa Vieja on the corner of Mill and Rio Salado Parkway in 1956.

Monti graduated from Tempe High School and Arizona State University. He went on to run the family restaurant for 21 years and has lived through several iterations of downtown Tempe.

He doesn’t live far from the city’s most famous street. But these days, he rarely goes to Mill Avenue. The structure that was once home to his family's restaurant is big reason.

“It’s kind of hard for me to see the old place as it is now. There was a certain vitality. Its current use wasn’t what I envisioned,” says Monti, who hoped it would’ve remained a spot to grab a bite and drink. “I thought I’d be the charming old drunk at the bar who

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