No matter what you think you see, there are no empty chairs at 414 Broadway - because they're all taken by ghosts from Albany's colorful past. Most are just anonymous spirits, but a few are well known, and virtually all of them are old Albany treasures. So keep your eyes, ears, and sixth sense tuned - and across the room you might catch a glimpse of Babe Ruth, who hoisted a few here in the 1940s when the second floor was a meeting room for the Albany Baseball Club. Or maybe it wasn't the Babe at all, but one of the old Albany Senators like Rusty "Hot Stuff' Peters, who didn't stick in the majors because he couldn't hit a curve ball. Two tables away, you might catch Mayor Erastus Corning speaking sotto voce to several men huddled attentively. The mayor had many "business" meetings on the second floor of 414. And if one of the men sitting with him is wearing a brown wide-brimmed fedora, you can bet it's Dan O'Connell, who ran the fabled Albany Democratic machine from the 1920s into the 70s. In Albany politics, Dan was simply "the boss."

Indeed Albany has been called a town of secrets, bosses, and smoke-filled rooms - and 414 Broadway has been part of all three. But 414 has been many other things, too. Starting in 1820, it's been a hard-ware store (under first owner Henry Delevan), an import business, coffee and spice manufacturer, china and glassware dealer, pharmaceutical firm, dry goods store, hat and cap company, print shop, fruit dealer, and finally (after 1912) a restaurant. In 1933, it became The Plaza Grill and remained so until it was sold to Patrick Hall in 2004 and renamed Franklin's Tower. But no matter what the name, all the ghosts, famous and otherwise, are still here. Just ask Patrick. The fact is, some things have to be believed in order to be seen.