The Standard By A. W. O'Brien 6 August 1938
Don't look now but practically every travel circular refers to our little island habitation as "Quaint Montreal."
Nice worked, "Quaint," but, dash it all, did you ever look up its real meaning? According to Funk & Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary, the word means: "Combining an antique appearance with a pleasing oddity, fancifulness or whimsicalness."
Courtesy demands, I suppose, that we smilingly allow our good tourist friends to call Concordia what they will, but it gets under my supposedly thickened journalistic skin to think of them returning home and referring to us as: "Those quaint Montrealers."
""Antique appearance?"
"Pleasing oddity?"
"Fancifulness?"
"whimsicalness?"
Frankly, it burns me up!
However in the interests of fair-mindedness an Investigating Committee of two was formed, consisting of Cameraman Sam Preval and myself, to probe the alleged libel by seeking "Qquaint-ities" around the Island of Montreal. Just to make the whole business sort of official-like we issued our findings in a series of reports, as follows;|
Report No. 1...New Wrinkle in Ferries It is hard to imagine, but between Laval-sur-le-Lac and Ile Bizard, there is a ferry operating without any motor power whatsoever, transporting autos in both directions across Rivieres de Prairies.
The current supplies the power and when hte ferry is moving towards the Ile Bizard side the ferryman pulls the vessel around so that the current hits the fery on its right side. When he returns, he has the current hit the ferry on the left side.
he switches the ferry around through a cable attached to an overhead cable and attached to a revolving wheel. The ferry moves at an incredibly fast clp and hits the exact same point of each dock on every trip.
Jean Bourgeouis operates the ferry and has been doing so for two yeras. The cable and self-drive angle is a compariteively recent innovation in the ferry's 35-yera history. He works 18 hours daily seven days per week in the busy summer months during which he transports 300 cars a week at 50 cents each per round trip.
"Quaint? " ...no doubt about this one.
Report No. 2...A railway station That Ain't Up in the North End of the City there is as near a little railway station and you'll find anywhere - a credit o the CPR. But you would have a long wait if you tried to catch a train there.
CPR trains for Quebec and the Laurentians speed right through it -- in fact, only the odd freight train stops there and usually because it just happens to pause at that spot while shunting.
it is the old Mile End Station which as been abandoned by the CPR in favor of their ultra-modern station at the top of Park Avenue.
So this Mile End Station was rented out to a manufacturer of laundry machines.
Which provides us with a new riddle...When is a railway station not a railway station? ...)(Answer) When it's a laundry machine plant.
"Quaint," eh?
Report No. 3...Trainless Railway Abutments When you see railway abutments, you naturally think of trains passing, but don't let the abutments out along Roen Street in the East End fool you - they've never carried a train!
out near where Jacques Cartier found the little Indian village of Hochelaga standing in 1536, the CPR decided in the early part of this century to build a short line to Quebec.
In 1913 some 19 abutments were built through Prefontaine ward and into Maisonneuve ward. Only a few were constructed in the afterward, however, before trouble broke.
The good citizens of Maisonneue protested the railways' right to go over certain land and to erect stone pillars in the centre of the street. In fact, acts of violence on the pillars were made.
then followed court action. The case went from Superior Court to the Privy Council where the decision was awarded in favor of the CPR. But the railway apparently decided to forget the whole affair.
Now, Alderman Armand Taillon of Prefontaine is heading a movement to have the deserted abutments removed and is highly optimistic of results.
But he fact remains that the presence of 19 railway abutments in a congested part fo the city and which have never been used by a train, might be construed as a slightly odd... or "Qauaint."|
Report No. 4... Liquor in a Jail About 20 year ago, over-enthusiastic celebrants were conveyed to the Montreal Jail to repent in leisure, relaxing in the solace of a hangover.
The Jail was located at the corner of Delormier and Notre Dame Streets. They hanged men and attended to hangover on that site.
But that was 20 year ago. They erected a new and more modern jail out at Bordeaux and moved all the boarders up there, leaving the old Montreal Jail deserted.
For years it remained forsaken, then governmental action provided the ancient building with new tenants...and so the place where excessive liquor imbibing was once punished, became the Montreal headquarters of the Quebec Liquor Commission!
"Combining an antique appearance with a pleasing oddity..." well, I guess it is a bit "Quaint" at that.
Report No. 5...A church that ain't For many years we have heard remarks about that 'quaint little old church at the corner of Drolet and....
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Who needs that German plastified corpse crap when we had the Eden!
According to Coolopolis' board of elders, the nastiest thing the St. Jean Baptiste Society ever did was to evict the incredible wax museum from the Main. The city forever lost Satan's imps, an 8 foot tall Quebec guy, a gorilla stealing a woman... it brings a tear to the ol' eye to think what we lost.
Old Montreal Waxwork Museum to Close After Half a Century
Eden Musee on St. Lawrence Boulevard Housed Figures of Noted Men, Historic Scenes and a Well Known Freaks of Nature
10 June 1940 Montreal Gazette
By Tracy S. Ludington
Figures of Wolfe and Montcalm, of King Solomon and Joan of Arc, Victoria, of Edith Cavell and Louis Riel, of the German Kaiser and Marshal Foch, of General Pershing and Field Marshal Joffre, as well as sundry murderers and freaks will be homeless after October 1.
The Eden Musee - Montreal's half-century-old waxwork museum - is to close. The St. Jean Baptiste Society, owner of the building, ahas decided not to renew the lease of the celebrated amusement centre.
Opened in its present location at 1168 St. Lawrence boulevard in 1892, after a short period of time on Notre Dame street, the museum was originally designed as a notice published by its founders, International Shows, Limited said, "to organize in the metropolis of Canada an undertaking especially consecrated to fine arts and the glorious episodes of the history of the world."
The directors of the company sought, the notice continued, "subjects for the instruction and amusement of the public, carefully excluding the vulgar or offensive." The galleries of the Eden Musee, the notice added, "are principally for the young people, a continual source of instruction and amusing recreation, the actual reproduction of events in was being more lasting than a page of history learned off by heart."
"The directors have spared no trouble or expense" the notice concluded, "to make the halls of the Musee as perfect as possible from an artist and historic point of view, and then rely on the patronage of the public to help them to continue an unrivaled undertaking a patriotic work, and an imperishable tribute to artists of different countries."
For a half century the public has responded to this appeal. Thousands of Montrealers and thousands of visitors to the city have gone through the museum to thrill to the reproduction of battle scenes, admire the faithful reproduction of detail in historical scenes and wonder at the errors of nature as portrayed in the many freaks on exhibition
A visitor to the museum today - and for the next three and a half months - will see reproductions of the death of General Wolfe and Montcalm, heroes of the Battles of the Plans of Abraham: Maisonneuve, Olier, Dauversiere and D'Ailerboust as they signed the document which founded the city of Montreal: a statue of Edward Beaupre, the French-Canadian Giant who stood 8 feet 2 inches in his stocking feet and weighed 346 pounds; Mrs. Thomas, who slept for 18 months; Dr. Crippen, the famous murderer; Joan of Arc, her visions, her imprisonment and her execution; Madame de Vinci he mother of 62 children; the Rawdon shack of the Nulty family where Thomas, the cider brother, murdered his three sisters and younger brother; Loeb and Leopold in their cell; and Jack the Ripper.
Other exhibits include an opium den, realistically reproduced; a large reproduction fo a scene from the last war complete with sandbags, barbed wire and soldiery; an ossified man; mummies from Mexico; a skeleton of a "devil-child" born with feet and tail like a calf.
The larger tableaux, which are reproduced in detail, include the discovery of Canada, with Jacques Cartier. Captain Mace Jalabert, a member of the boat crew and an Indian; the Siege of Quebec with DeVarennes, Frontenac, an English officer and a soldier; Jacques Cartier at the Royal Court in France.
The horror section includes reference to the Rawdon murder, the St. Canut murder, the St. Henry mystery, the Valleyfield murder, the St. Cunegonde tragedy and shows a gorilla carrying off a woman after having killed her husband. (ed note: photo above...the other photo shows two-nosed Mrs. S. Trahan, sleepy Mrs. Thomas and Marie Scapulaire, who murdered her husband as retribution for treating her like a slave).
Another feature of the exhibit is the Devi's Kitchen, showing Satan and his Imps roasting a human over a large fire.
Following in the footsteps of Dominion Park, playground of several decades ago, the Eden Musee is also bowing to the newer form of amusements.
Its passing severs yet another link with "Old Montreal."
Old Montreal Waxwork Museum to Close After Half a Century
Eden Musee on St. Lawrence Boulevard Housed Figures of Noted Men, Historic Scenes and a Well Known Freaks of Nature
10 June 1940 Montreal Gazette
By Tracy S. Ludington
Figures of Wolfe and Montcalm, of King Solomon and Joan of Arc, Victoria, of Edith Cavell and Louis Riel, of the German Kaiser and Marshal Foch, of General Pershing and Field Marshal Joffre, as well as sundry murderers and freaks will be homeless after October 1.
The Eden Musee - Montreal's half-century-old waxwork museum - is to close. The St. Jean Baptiste Society, owner of the building, ahas decided not to renew the lease of the celebrated amusement centre.
Opened in its present location at 1168 St. Lawrence boulevard in 1892, after a short period of time on Notre Dame street, the museum was originally designed as a notice published by its founders, International Shows, Limited said, "to organize in the metropolis of Canada an undertaking especially consecrated to fine arts and the glorious episodes of the history of the world."
The directors of the company sought, the notice continued, "subjects for the instruction and amusement of the public, carefully excluding the vulgar or offensive." The galleries of the Eden Musee, the notice added, "are principally for the young people, a continual source of instruction and amusing recreation, the actual reproduction of events in was being more lasting than a page of history learned off by heart."
"The directors have spared no trouble or expense" the notice concluded, "to make the halls of the Musee as perfect as possible from an artist and historic point of view, and then rely on the patronage of the public to help them to continue an unrivaled undertaking a patriotic work, and an imperishable tribute to artists of different countries."
For a half century the public has responded to this appeal. Thousands of Montrealers and thousands of visitors to the city have gone through the museum to thrill to the reproduction of battle scenes, admire the faithful reproduction of detail in historical scenes and wonder at the errors of nature as portrayed in the many freaks on exhibition
A visitor to the museum today - and for the next three and a half months - will see reproductions of the death of General Wolfe and Montcalm, heroes of the Battles of the Plans of Abraham: Maisonneuve, Olier, Dauversiere and D'Ailerboust as they signed the document which founded the city of Montreal: a statue of Edward Beaupre, the French-Canadian Giant who stood 8 feet 2 inches in his stocking feet and weighed 346 pounds; Mrs. Thomas, who slept for 18 months; Dr. Crippen, the famous murderer; Joan of Arc, her visions, her imprisonment and her execution; Madame de Vinci he mother of 62 children; the Rawdon shack of the Nulty family where Thomas, the cider brother, murdered his three sisters and younger brother; Loeb and Leopold in their cell; and Jack the Ripper. Other exhibits include an opium den, realistically reproduced; a large reproduction fo a scene from the last war complete with sandbags, barbed wire and soldiery; an ossified man; mummies from Mexico; a skeleton of a "devil-child" born with feet and tail like a calf.
The larger tableaux, which are reproduced in detail, include the discovery of Canada, with Jacques Cartier. Captain Mace Jalabert, a member of the boat crew and an Indian; the Siege of Quebec with DeVarennes, Frontenac, an English officer and a soldier; Jacques Cartier at the Royal Court in France.
The horror section includes reference to the Rawdon murder, the St. Canut murder, the St. Henry mystery, the Valleyfield murder, the St. Cunegonde tragedy and shows a gorilla carrying off a woman after having killed her husband. (ed note: photo above...the other photo shows two-nosed Mrs. S. Trahan, sleepy Mrs. Thomas and Marie Scapulaire, who murdered her husband as retribution for treating her like a slave).Another feature of the exhibit is the Devi's Kitchen, showing Satan and his Imps roasting a human over a large fire.
Following in the footsteps of Dominion Park, playground of several decades ago, the Eden Musee is also bowing to the newer form of amusements.
Its passing severs yet another link with "Old Montreal."
Photo du jour: J.B. Mailloux Wood and Coal
This 1903 picture by Notman & Son photographer shows a house scheduled for demolition at 115 Barre Street (north side) at the corner of Aqueduc Street. That's the nowheresville street that runs between Guy and Mountain, one south of and parallel to Notre Dame.
Quiz: Wherezidat?
Some dogenhead got it into the brain of Chimples, our trained chimp Friday, that he'd get the summer off to look for his ancestors in the mists of Rwanda. The whole thing's ridiculous. He was born in San Diego, fergawdsakes. After we took him aside to burst his bubble, he screeched and made for the window, scampering in a cloud of whimpers down the fire escape. Summer intern Houri Helfrost who is ever the keener spotted him perched on this gargoyle while on her way back from her annual pedicure, but before we could get a camera to the scene, Chimples had given up on his pouting and was already across the street in a rug shop, snoozing in a pile of machine-loomed Turkmeni carpets. We never waste a photo op, so here's the gargoyle and want to know: where is it? Winner will be rewarded with a pocketful of creds.
Time's up! And the winner is .... nobody! The gargoyle is one of five perched atop the Park Building, northwest corner of Sherbrooke and Park.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
ICAO - not Montreal's biggest fans...
Montreal's International Civil Aviation Organization is a big deal and it makes us look like a real city to have such a thing. But many might not realize that it's not the first choice on earth for many of the delegates to be. In February 1969 there was a push within the organization to move it to Vienna. In January 1968 France and Argentina led an initiative to get it moved out of Montreal, the vote was close 17-13, but ICAO vowed to stay. It seems that the federal government, city administration and CN Rail have always looked at ICAO as a cash cow to gouge for moolah. Here's an article translated by our fabulous translating Orangutan intern who has benefited with an experimental brain implant which makes him able to perform certain basic translating tasks.
Montreal's capital as capital of aviation is threatened
La Patrie 27 April 1952
Jacques Trepanier
The high cost of living, taxes of all types, an expensive lease and perhaps, a certain apathy on the part of Canadians, specifically Montrealers, are among the main reasons why ICAO might be moving to set up operations in another country.
The move is not yet confirmed. But what they're talking about at ICAO, an organizations affiliated with the United Nations and City of Montreal, might lose its title as the world capital of aviation which was given it five years ago when the ICAO moved to Montreal.
CD Howe, then Minister of Reconstruction represented Canada at the ICAO Chicago conference in which the organization was formed. His Honor Mayor Camillien Houde led this prestigious organization to be based in our city.
Soon, specifically May 15, there will be another General Assembly of the ICAO members and the question of moving the organization will be raised. It was recommended during a public meeting of a session of the council. After a discussion, the council resolved to ask the federal government to resolve the problem of the cost of functioning the ICAO in Montreal.
The reasons invoked by the delegates of certain countries in favour of the move are general and specific.
Firstly it's believed that the rent that ICAO pays to the CN for the five floors that it occupies in the civil aviation building on Dorchester is higher than any other UN agency in any country.
The rent is $4 per square foot. That's the price other aviation companies pay in the same building. However ICAO pays a little less, as the CN pays a stipend to compensate the landlord. However even the $3.66 per square foot paid by ICAO is higher than the rent paid in any other country.
For example, if ICAO's headquarters was the the UN building in NEW York, the rent would be much lower as this building, in which a locale was planned for ICAO during its construction, belongs to the UN.
UNESCO in Paris pays just 60 cents and 32 cents per square foot annually.
Other agencies are willing to offer lower prices to ICAO. One even offered ICAO a free rent in another country.
As well as the rent, ICAO must pay taxes taxes like any other company.
Neither Canada nor Montreal consider ICAO to be a tax-exempt organization.
As for the delegates themselves, they're taxed like any Canadian citizen and many complain of the high tax of living in Montreal compared to the their pay .
ICAO wants
-Governments to give them a tax break
- A refund of the water tax they've been forced to pay
- recognition of their diplomatic immunity.
After consulting city authorities, as well as provincial and federal, it seems the only the first of these suggestions that has a chance.
Signage tech
Ah, plastic sign technology. Woody Guthrie would never have agreed to paint one of these suckers. Coolopolis Towers was once fitted with one of these until the sign was stolen by three short guys from the east end standing on each other's shoulders. They later formed a circus and became billionaires and sent us some guilt money which we donated to charity. If anybody can name where this sad signage is located in the city, consider yourself on the cutting edge. (What is the cutting edge anyway?) Answer: The top one is in RdP, around 7300 Henri Bourassa East, the second is in St. Henry on Notre Dame near the Turcotte Yards and the third is Complexes Desjardins.Sunday, June 24, 2007
Montreal's bad tenants list
An article in the local English language daily today by the excellent Christopher Dewolf reports a fledgling website which rates landlords and encourages people to report and detail their experiences with specific landlords.
It's a good initiative. Let the info flow.
Landlords are said to have long communicated lists of bad tenants with each other. Access to the blacklist is said to be part of the memership priveleges that a landlord receives after popping down a couple of hundred bucks a year for dues at one of the local landlords associations.
The tenant blacklist has made tenants rights activists unhappy, as they claim that the people on the list are often people simply fighting for their rights as tenants. Landlords, of course, would reply that they're tracking deadbeats and just trying to weed out deadbeat non-payers.
For the last decade or so, any landlord or tenant is free to pump any name into the computer at Mackay and Dorchester or the one in the Olympic Village to check out a prospective tenant or landlord. Every year grows that much more. Sadly it's not available on line, but perhaps one day it shall be.
One of the informal things landlords do is pass around lists of tenants they'd steer clear of. Here's one of those lists that Coolopolis received of Montrealers on the blacklist. Many of the names are very common, so it's unclear who these people are exactly.
Only in about five examples can Coolopolis authoritatively attest to the scumbaggery of those listed below (say hello to Ralph Jenkins!) but it's quite likely a money - or lack of money - thing.
According to one local article from 1987, such a list is legal, however using it to discriminate against a prospective tenant is not. Not sure how that works exactly.
ALLARD, Steve.. Adams, Debora..Aubry, Pierre.. Armand, Arrell..Arrelle, JP..Abbott, Sylvie.. Abed, Mouna..Adamson, Laura..Archambault, Steve..Arbour, Steve..Abbott, Yves..Auclair, Jacques..Abbott, Maria..Blanchette, Dany..Beaumont, Jason..Benoit, Lucie..Bissonnette, Jean-Francois..Brisebois, Sylvain..Boisvert, Mark.. Boivin, Daniel.. Bently, Glen..Brisebois, Sylvie..Bois, Jean-Guy..Brisebois, Stephane...Beaudoin, Stephane..Brousseau, Brigitte..Belanger, Marc...Bigras, Denis...Beaubien, Lucien...Bergeron, Robert..Blanchette, Suzanne..Berlus, Robert.. Burt, Rodney...Bosse, Eric..Brousseau, Eric...Bedard, Jean-Pierre...Beauvais, Leonard...Bergeron, Matthieu...Barrette, Sylvain...Berry, Darren...Chapdelaine, Yves..Clouthier, Francois...Cyr, Steve..Cote, Noel...Cagnon, Marie-Lynn...Cousineau, Guy...Chasse, Steve..
Claros, Marques-Anibal...Cantin, Pasqual...Chasse, Emilie..Chapin, Nancy...Cartier, Okim...Couture, Marie-Eve...Champagne, Andre...Coderre, Pauline...Cromwell, Grant...Clement, Patrick...Cyr, Michel...Comeau, Michel...Christophe, Robert...Carriere, Andre...Cyr, Diane...Complaisance, Roxanne...Desrosiers, Marguerite...Desautels, James...Dubondin, Stefane...Delangis, Daniel...Dansereau, Manon..Dumont, Claude...DeLibero, Carlos...Duval, Jean-Pierre...
Dominico, Dominique...Dubois, Richard...Daigle, Ginette...Decoste, Sylvain...De Repentigny, Luc...Durocher, Julie...Darveau, Martin...Dupuis, Laurent...Doite, Serge...Dufresne, Jean-Pierre...Duguay, Karine...Dugal, Karine...Dufour, David...Dube, Dany...Desjardins, Denis...Durivage, Martin...Dardoux, Rachid...
Danis, Marriette...Denome, Johanne...Dewling, Joel...Dion, Yves...Duteau, Rolland...Dubeau, Theresa...Dubeau, Sabrina...Downer, Raymond...Evans, Suzanne...Evans, Edward....Eldon, Joseph...Foisy, Daniel...Fournier, Roger...
Farinacio, Francesca...Fournier, Jay...Faycal, Zirari...Francoeur, Rose... Francoeur, Paul...Freshnet, Claude...Goulet, Valerie...Gauthier, Sylvain...Gagne, Eric...Gagne, Wally...Glover, Betty-Ann...Galasso, Robert...Guillemette, Aldea...Garbanzo, Max...Gendron, Pierre...Guigue, Amber...Gagne, Henri...Gagnon, Daniel...Gerro, Barbara...Geymour, Eddy...Gagnon, Martin...Gabriel Sheldon...Gagnon, Benoit...Gilbert, Leonard ...Hanlo, Gary-Donald...Hamel, Genevieve...Haiying, Xion...Harrisson, Glenn...Halligan, Rex...Hannaford, Debra...Hamon, Andre...Henry, Nancy...Hicks, Kelly...Hall, Christian...Hirniack, Terry...Hays, Bernard...Imbeault, Samuel...Izzard, Caroline...Isabelle, Chantal...Joseph, Eldon...Jenkins, Ralph...Khan, Arif...Khan, Carmella...King, Nathalie...Key, Darryl...Kasimir, Rose...Keough, Lloyd...Lavalle, Gaetan...Lafontaine, Alain...Luller, Glen...Leduc, Christianne...Laurin, Pierre...Light, Brian...Light, Allen...Lamarre, Dominique...Laramee, Albini...Lester, Luce...Lombart, Mark...Lajeunesse, Michel...Laramee, Sylvain...Landry, Mathieu...
Leclerc, Micheline...Legault, David...Lennon, Elizabeth...Langlois, Elizabeth...Leclerc, Sylvain...Lonare, Isabelle...Leblanc, Nicole...Lapointe, Serge...Lantin, Chantal...Labelle, Sebastien...Levis, Steve...Landry, Alfred...Lemay, Suzanne...Lamonane, Eric...Lamirande, Marc...Lachaine, Benoit...Loiselle, Helen...Lepage, Manon...Levesque, Eric...Lavigne, Pascal...Lenore, Gina...Lefebvre, Mario...Lussier, Francois...Lebrun, Philippe...Lussier,Linda-Francoise...Lemieux, Georges...Lecombe, George...Londerman, Julie...Lachapelle, Arthur...Mantha, Michel...McClean, Corey...Molaison, Andre...March, Heather...Martel, Richard... Matte, Michel...McEvoy, Suzanne...Monga, Remi...Menard, Rejean...Massicotte, Richard...Moore, James...Massee, Ginette...Miron, Daniel...Maeschicks, Kelly...McGuire, Donald....Murphy, Jean-Francois...Mcgiven, Robert-Claude...Martin, Arita...Millsted, Debra...Marten, Richard...Martin, Nathalie...Merrier, Georges...Martinet, Richard...Moore, Robert...Moquin, Laurent..Mixon, Linday..Nylund, Charles...Owchar, John...Ostropkevich, John...Ouimet, Sylvain...Ouellet, Jean-Paul (Sonny)...Paradis, Patrick...Paradis, Michel...Portebois, Eric...Perron, Gilbert...Poirier, Andre...Porter, Michael...Plouffe, Jacques...Proulx, Michel...Porter, Ashley...Poupard, Gail...Potlog, Olga...Parent, Louise...Pratt, Eric...Primeau, Stephane...Poirier, Paul...Poirier, Sylvain...
Provencher, Alain...Pelchat, Diane...Piper, Maryline...Pellerin, Michel...
Quinty, Derik...Quesnel, Josee...Rioux, Patrick...Ranno, Dominico...Racette, Claude...Robichaud, Alain...Rivorin, Isabelle...Rouisne, Denis...Roy, Diane...Rheaume, Josee...Robertson, Rubin....Rioux, Patrick...Rousseau, Eric...Robidoux, Josee...St.Louis, Raymond...Smith, Guisseppe...St. Amand, Mathieu et Pascal...St. Cyr, Mark...Sheehy, Linda...Stewart, Veronique...Sevigny, Christine...St. Louis, Andre...Susee, Donna...St-Laurent, Francoise...Savard, Paul...Savard, Daisy...Sarrala, Jonathan...Senecal, Serge...Smith, Turrell...Seguin, Monique...Stevenson, Mark...Sanchez, George...Sparrow, Dominique...Sisk, Michel...Samson, Melanie...Sebastien, Luc...Seguin, Dominique...Sheard, George...Tarrik, Iraneus ...Tremblay, Pierre-Marc...Thompson, Donald...Thibert, Martin...Therien, Michel-Paul... Tutino, Frank...Trudel, Sylvie...Taylor, Trevor...Turcotte, Monique...Turcotte, Matthieu..Tysick, Susan...Thibault, Guillaume...Vermette, Michel...Viau, Sylvie...
Viau, Nadia...Vallee, Richard...Vargas, Hans...Van Koughnette, Robert... Vinet, Gilles...Valcourt, Julie...Varin, Richard...Wise, Lester...Warwick, Olga...Walter, Princess...Williams, Leon...Yorston, Marc...Zelinotis, Gregory
More deadbeat/bad tenants in Montreal, added early 2008:
Serge Guerette (white 5'9" born c. 1980),
Yolande Talarico (white c. 1952),
Jason Magoon (white c. 1975),
Sylvain Proulx (white 5'8" c. 1970),
Morton Brown (black, 5'11" c. 1989)
Francis St. Gelais (white 5'10" c. 1989)
Mario Doyle bald, beard 5'6 c. 1968
Yolande Talarico (extreme mental issues) glasses, grey hair 5'7" c. 1953
Robert Grenier, aka Bobby Grenier, 6'1" looks native Indian, bad teeth c. 1957
Jennifer Costan dark hair Italian type accent c. 1989
Joel Morrissette 5'10" brown hair, (born around 1985)
Shane Tierney, born c. 1978.
Mark Green, born c. 1978.
Jacques Pothier 5'9 grey hair, claims to work in computer networking, respectable looking, compulsive liar.
Stephane Pelletier and Carole Methot, drug issues, theft issues, non payment issues.
Mark Green, 5'11" born c. 1974, blonde, musician.
Shane Tierney, 5'9" born c. 1977, blonde, roofer.
Thomas Cromwell, 5'11, born c. 1958, grey, heavyset.
Mussarat Latif - female about 30, mother of young child, Pakistani, former address 3611 Wellington Mtl, cheque fraud, paying with what she knew was a bad cheque.
Ernest Wilson - male - born c. 1960, 6 foot 2, English speaking. Handyman, pathological liar.
It's a good initiative. Let the info flow.
Landlords are said to have long communicated lists of bad tenants with each other. Access to the blacklist is said to be part of the memership priveleges that a landlord receives after popping down a couple of hundred bucks a year for dues at one of the local landlords associations.
The tenant blacklist has made tenants rights activists unhappy, as they claim that the people on the list are often people simply fighting for their rights as tenants. Landlords, of course, would reply that they're tracking deadbeats and just trying to weed out deadbeat non-payers.
For the last decade or so, any landlord or tenant is free to pump any name into the computer at Mackay and Dorchester or the one in the Olympic Village to check out a prospective tenant or landlord. Every year grows that much more. Sadly it's not available on line, but perhaps one day it shall be.
One of the informal things landlords do is pass around lists of tenants they'd steer clear of. Here's one of those lists that Coolopolis received of Montrealers on the blacklist. Many of the names are very common, so it's unclear who these people are exactly.
Only in about five examples can Coolopolis authoritatively attest to the scumbaggery of those listed below (say hello to Ralph Jenkins!) but it's quite likely a money - or lack of money - thing.
According to one local article from 1987, such a list is legal, however using it to discriminate against a prospective tenant is not. Not sure how that works exactly.
ALLARD, Steve.. Adams, Debora..Aubry, Pierre.. Armand, Arrell..Arrelle, JP..Abbott, Sylvie.. Abed, Mouna..Adamson, Laura..Archambault, Steve..Arbour, Steve..Abbott, Yves..Auclair, Jacques..Abbott, Maria..Blanchette, Dany..Beaumont, Jason..Benoit, Lucie..Bissonnette, Jean-Francois..Brisebois, Sylvain..Boisvert, Mark.. Boivin, Daniel.. Bently, Glen..Brisebois, Sylvie..Bois, Jean-Guy..Brisebois, Stephane...Beaudoin, Stephane..Brousseau, Brigitte..Belanger, Marc...Bigras, Denis...Beaubien, Lucien...Bergeron, Robert..Blanchette, Suzanne..Berlus, Robert.. Burt, Rodney...Bosse, Eric..Brousseau, Eric...Bedard, Jean-Pierre...Beauvais, Leonard...Bergeron, Matthieu...Barrette, Sylvain...Berry, Darren...Chapdelaine, Yves..Clouthier, Francois...Cyr, Steve..Cote, Noel...Cagnon, Marie-Lynn...Cousineau, Guy...Chasse, Steve..
Claros, Marques-Anibal...Cantin, Pasqual...Chasse, Emilie..Chapin, Nancy...Cartier, Okim...Couture, Marie-Eve...Champagne, Andre...Coderre, Pauline...Cromwell, Grant...Clement, Patrick...Cyr, Michel...Comeau, Michel...Christophe, Robert...Carriere, Andre...Cyr, Diane...Complaisance, Roxanne...Desrosiers, Marguerite...Desautels, James...Dubondin, Stefane...Delangis, Daniel...Dansereau, Manon..Dumont, Claude...DeLibero, Carlos...Duval, Jean-Pierre...
Dominico, Dominique...Dubois, Richard...Daigle, Ginette...Decoste, Sylvain...De Repentigny, Luc...Durocher, Julie...Darveau, Martin...Dupuis, Laurent...Doite, Serge...Dufresne, Jean-Pierre...Duguay, Karine...Dugal, Karine...Dufour, David...Dube, Dany...Desjardins, Denis...Durivage, Martin...Dardoux, Rachid...
Danis, Marriette...Denome, Johanne...Dewling, Joel...Dion, Yves...Duteau, Rolland...Dubeau, Theresa...Dubeau, Sabrina...Downer, Raymond...Evans, Suzanne...Evans, Edward....Eldon, Joseph...Foisy, Daniel...Fournier, Roger...
Farinacio, Francesca...Fournier, Jay...Faycal, Zirari...Francoeur, Rose... Francoeur, Paul...Freshnet, Claude...Goulet, Valerie...Gauthier, Sylvain...Gagne, Eric...Gagne, Wally...Glover, Betty-Ann...Galasso, Robert...Guillemette, Aldea...Garbanzo, Max...Gendron, Pierre...Guigue, Amber...Gagne, Henri...Gagnon, Daniel...Gerro, Barbara...Geymour, Eddy...Gagnon, Martin...Gabriel Sheldon...Gagnon, Benoit...Gilbert, Leonard ...Hanlo, Gary-Donald...Hamel, Genevieve...Haiying, Xion...Harrisson, Glenn...Halligan, Rex...Hannaford, Debra...Hamon, Andre...Henry, Nancy...Hicks, Kelly...Hall, Christian...Hirniack, Terry...Hays, Bernard...Imbeault, Samuel...Izzard, Caroline...Isabelle, Chantal...Joseph, Eldon...Jenkins, Ralph...Khan, Arif...Khan, Carmella...King, Nathalie...Key, Darryl...Kasimir, Rose...Keough, Lloyd...Lavalle, Gaetan...Lafontaine, Alain...Luller, Glen...Leduc, Christianne...Laurin, Pierre...Light, Brian...Light, Allen...Lamarre, Dominique...Laramee, Albini...Lester, Luce...Lombart, Mark...Lajeunesse, Michel...Laramee, Sylvain...Landry, Mathieu...
Leclerc, Micheline...Legault, David...Lennon, Elizabeth...Langlois, Elizabeth...Leclerc, Sylvain...Lonare, Isabelle...Leblanc, Nicole...Lapointe, Serge...Lantin, Chantal...Labelle, Sebastien...Levis, Steve...Landry, Alfred...Lemay, Suzanne...Lamonane, Eric...Lamirande, Marc...Lachaine, Benoit...Loiselle, Helen...Lepage, Manon...Levesque, Eric...Lavigne, Pascal...Lenore, Gina...Lefebvre, Mario...Lussier, Francois...Lebrun, Philippe...Lussier,Linda-Francoise...Lemieux, Georges...Lecombe, George...Londerman, Julie...Lachapelle, Arthur...Mantha, Michel...McClean, Corey...Molaison, Andre...March, Heather...Martel, Richard... Matte, Michel...McEvoy, Suzanne...Monga, Remi...Menard, Rejean...Massicotte, Richard...Moore, James...Massee, Ginette...Miron, Daniel...Maeschicks, Kelly...McGuire, Donald....Murphy, Jean-Francois...Mcgiven, Robert-Claude...Martin, Arita...Millsted, Debra...Marten, Richard...Martin, Nathalie...Merrier, Georges...Martinet, Richard...Moore, Robert...Moquin, Laurent..Mixon, Linday..Nylund, Charles...Owchar, John...Ostropkevich, John...Ouimet, Sylvain...Ouellet, Jean-Paul (Sonny)...Paradis, Patrick...Paradis, Michel...Portebois, Eric...Perron, Gilbert...Poirier, Andre...Porter, Michael...Plouffe, Jacques...Proulx, Michel...Porter, Ashley...Poupard, Gail...Potlog, Olga...Parent, Louise...Pratt, Eric...Primeau, Stephane...Poirier, Paul...Poirier, Sylvain...
Provencher, Alain...Pelchat, Diane...Piper, Maryline...Pellerin, Michel...
Quinty, Derik...Quesnel, Josee...Rioux, Patrick...Ranno, Dominico...Racette, Claude...Robichaud, Alain...Rivorin, Isabelle...Rouisne, Denis...Roy, Diane...Rheaume, Josee...Robertson, Rubin....Rioux, Patrick...Rousseau, Eric...Robidoux, Josee...St.Louis, Raymond...Smith, Guisseppe...St. Amand, Mathieu et Pascal...St. Cyr, Mark...Sheehy, Linda...Stewart, Veronique...Sevigny, Christine...St. Louis, Andre...Susee, Donna...St-Laurent, Francoise...Savard, Paul...Savard, Daisy...Sarrala, Jonathan...Senecal, Serge...Smith, Turrell...Seguin, Monique...Stevenson, Mark...Sanchez, George...Sparrow, Dominique...Sisk, Michel...Samson, Melanie...Sebastien, Luc...Seguin, Dominique...Sheard, George...Tarrik, Iraneus ...Tremblay, Pierre-Marc...Thompson, Donald...Thibert, Martin...Therien, Michel-Paul... Tutino, Frank...Trudel, Sylvie...Taylor, Trevor...Turcotte, Monique...Turcotte, Matthieu..Tysick, Susan...Thibault, Guillaume...Vermette, Michel...Viau, Sylvie...
Viau, Nadia...Vallee, Richard...Vargas, Hans...Van Koughnette, Robert... Vinet, Gilles...Valcourt, Julie...Varin, Richard...Wise, Lester...Warwick, Olga...Walter, Princess...Williams, Leon...Yorston, Marc...Zelinotis, Gregory
More deadbeat/bad tenants in Montreal, added early 2008:
Serge Guerette (white 5'9" born c. 1980),
Yolande Talarico (white c. 1952),
Jason Magoon (white c. 1975),
Sylvain Proulx (white 5'8" c. 1970),
Morton Brown (black, 5'11" c. 1989)
Francis St. Gelais (white 5'10" c. 1989)
Mario Doyle bald, beard 5'6 c. 1968
Yolande Talarico (extreme mental issues) glasses, grey hair 5'7" c. 1953
Robert Grenier, aka Bobby Grenier, 6'1" looks native Indian, bad teeth c. 1957
Jennifer Costan dark hair Italian type accent c. 1989
Joel Morrissette 5'10" brown hair, (born around 1985)
Shane Tierney, born c. 1978.
Mark Green, born c. 1978.
Jacques Pothier 5'9 grey hair, claims to work in computer networking, respectable looking, compulsive liar.
Stephane Pelletier and Carole Methot, drug issues, theft issues, non payment issues.
Mark Green, 5'11" born c. 1974, blonde, musician.
Shane Tierney, 5'9" born c. 1977, blonde, roofer.
Thomas Cromwell, 5'11, born c. 1958, grey, heavyset.Mussarat Latif - female about 30, mother of young child, Pakistani, former address 3611 Wellington Mtl, cheque fraud, paying with what she knew was a bad cheque.
Ernest Wilson - male - born c. 1960, 6 foot 2, English speaking. Handyman, pathological liar.
10 Montreal predictions - prediction 4 Jewish Lightning
Coolopolis' demographic of readers over 12 years old will surely recall the state of this city in the mid 90s.
It was shit.
The city was suffering under the oppression of bad politics. Buildings were going for nothing: 90 k for a triplex, 120 for a sixplex.
In fact a company could easily have tripled its money by buying just about every apartment building in the city and walked away with a couple of billion, rather than lose their cash with the rest of the herd on Nortel and Bre-X.
But suddenly Montreal turned around radically and unexpectedly.
At around the turn of the century the city's perennially high vacancy rate was suddenly replaced by one of the lowest on the planet, for the first time in a long time more people were moving here from other provinces than were departing. Everybody just had to be here. Unemployment was way down, and the economy was suddenly booming.
What caused the sudden and radical change of fortune?
There were a whole series of reasons. The dot com bust led money back into real estate just when interest rates were falling, leading to a heightened interest in real estate. The city's long-simmering reputation as a low-cost artistic mecca had also attracted some bright minds that led to a snowballing demographic of artsy desirables. The separatist threat subsided. And other stuff.
But the one oft-overlooked wild card is something much stormier. And icier.
Not unlike San Francisco a few years earlier, Montreal - when hammered with a natural disaster - sprung back with a vengeance. The city benefited from a massive $2 billion plus insurance injection into the pockets of private property owners after the city was shattered by a massive ice storm in January 1998.
Massive amounts of insurance cash flowered into the city. People rang up their insurers and were soon cashing cheques with several zeros on 'em, regardless of whether their claim was legit or not. Two billion bucks for a couple of hours, or weeks of suffering, depending on where you were in or around the city. Not a bad deal.
The cash was instrumental in the city's renaissance.
Eventually the economy will slow down. The conditions will deteriorate. The city, remembering how all of its problems were fixed by a natural crisis, will start thinking of how bad fortune isn't always so bad. The taste of that delicious and free insurance money will be part of the local muscle memory.
What will our helpless administrators subject us to? Hurricanes? Floods? A massive breakdown of the electrical system? How about an earthquakes leading to a massive blaze while the firefighters are conveniently on strike.
We at Coolopolis are far too upstanding to even visualize anything as weird as this, but we suspect that another moderate disaster will hit this town eventually.
It was shit.
The city was suffering under the oppression of bad politics. Buildings were going for nothing: 90 k for a triplex, 120 for a sixplex.
In fact a company could easily have tripled its money by buying just about every apartment building in the city and walked away with a couple of billion, rather than lose their cash with the rest of the herd on Nortel and Bre-X.
But suddenly Montreal turned around radically and unexpectedly.
At around the turn of the century the city's perennially high vacancy rate was suddenly replaced by one of the lowest on the planet, for the first time in a long time more people were moving here from other provinces than were departing. Everybody just had to be here. Unemployment was way down, and the economy was suddenly booming.
What caused the sudden and radical change of fortune?
There were a whole series of reasons. The dot com bust led money back into real estate just when interest rates were falling, leading to a heightened interest in real estate. The city's long-simmering reputation as a low-cost artistic mecca had also attracted some bright minds that led to a snowballing demographic of artsy desirables. The separatist threat subsided. And other stuff.
But the one oft-overlooked wild card is something much stormier. And icier.
Not unlike San Francisco a few years earlier, Montreal - when hammered with a natural disaster - sprung back with a vengeance. The city benefited from a massive $2 billion plus insurance injection into the pockets of private property owners after the city was shattered by a massive ice storm in January 1998.
Massive amounts of insurance cash flowered into the city. People rang up their insurers and were soon cashing cheques with several zeros on 'em, regardless of whether their claim was legit or not. Two billion bucks for a couple of hours, or weeks of suffering, depending on where you were in or around the city. Not a bad deal.
The cash was instrumental in the city's renaissance.
Eventually the economy will slow down. The conditions will deteriorate. The city, remembering how all of its problems were fixed by a natural crisis, will start thinking of how bad fortune isn't always so bad. The taste of that delicious and free insurance money will be part of the local muscle memory.
What will our helpless administrators subject us to? Hurricanes? Floods? A massive breakdown of the electrical system? How about an earthquakes leading to a massive blaze while the firefighters are conveniently on strike.
We at Coolopolis are far too upstanding to even visualize anything as weird as this, but we suspect that another moderate disaster will hit this town eventually.
St. Jean Baptiste Day from Anglo eyes, circa 1917
ST. JEAN BAPTISTE DAY.
Today our French-Canadian fellow-citizens, who constitute the great majority of the population of Quebec, will celebrate their national fete. It was no idle whim which impelled them to choose the Great Forerunner as their Patron Saint, a choice which was approved with delight by the Holy See.
The French-Canadian race has grown and flourished like a grain of mustard seed. What would the valuiant few who dared the uncharted seas with bold Jacques Cartier or stout-hearted Samuel de Champlain say if they could wake from the dead today and see the mighty proportions to which the French-Canadian race has attained? What would they think if they could behold Montreal and Quebec in their presence magnificence and prosperity? If they could see flourishing and populous towns today where in their time they took their lives in their hands to explore the trackless wilderness of forest, braving filth, ill-treatment and torture in order to carry the Cross, all for the greater glory of God, into the rude and squalid homes of the savage Red Men? With what astonishment would the men who fought: Dollard, Frontenac, Montcalm, Levis and de Salaberry, have reviewed the First Canadian Contingent at Valcartier or seen the famous Twenty-Second Regiment at Courcelette!
Few nations are richer in their wealth of historic past than the French-Canadians. Three centuries of effort, of religious devotion and patriotic attachment to the soil have enriched their character and left them powerful, ambitious and expansive. Behind them lies a glorious past.
Before them stretches a future of vast possibilities. May it find them ever flourishing and contented.
Quebec Chronicle, June 25, 1917
Today our French-Canadian fellow-citizens, who constitute the great majority of the population of Quebec, will celebrate their national fete. It was no idle whim which impelled them to choose the Great Forerunner as their Patron Saint, a choice which was approved with delight by the Holy See.
The French-Canadian race has grown and flourished like a grain of mustard seed. What would the valuiant few who dared the uncharted seas with bold Jacques Cartier or stout-hearted Samuel de Champlain say if they could wake from the dead today and see the mighty proportions to which the French-Canadian race has attained? What would they think if they could behold Montreal and Quebec in their presence magnificence and prosperity? If they could see flourishing and populous towns today where in their time they took their lives in their hands to explore the trackless wilderness of forest, braving filth, ill-treatment and torture in order to carry the Cross, all for the greater glory of God, into the rude and squalid homes of the savage Red Men? With what astonishment would the men who fought: Dollard, Frontenac, Montcalm, Levis and de Salaberry, have reviewed the First Canadian Contingent at Valcartier or seen the famous Twenty-Second Regiment at Courcelette!
Few nations are richer in their wealth of historic past than the French-Canadians. Three centuries of effort, of religious devotion and patriotic attachment to the soil have enriched their character and left them powerful, ambitious and expansive. Behind them lies a glorious past.
Before them stretches a future of vast possibilities. May it find them ever flourishing and contented.
Quebec Chronicle, June 25, 1917
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tenants vs landlords, a historical doq-u-ment
Coolopolis was tossing out an old couch yesterday. You know we launch our garbage down a specially designed tube straight into a massive recycling bin outside Coolopolis Towers. It's very neat. We found this old clipping stuck between the cushions and got Chimples the intelligent chimp and his intern Pewee the Translating Orangutan to retype it. It recounts the history of some of the legalities of the tenants versus landlords debate. It notes that landlords are largely responsible for getting the May 1 moving day switched to July 1. It also notes that the Rental Board had no authority over buildings put up prior to 1951.
A Suggestion of the Landlord's League Moving day: 1 July instead of 1 May
By Maurice Roy
Le Petit Journal Week of 5 April 1964
If it had the power, the Landlord's League of Montreal would gladly abolish the Provincial Rent Commission. Meanwhile the commission won't disappear because it offers good protection to tenants. What might lessen the power of the Commission is the Montreal City Council which has jurisdiction over city territory.
It seems however that the adoption of Bill 5 by the provincial legislation at the beginning of this month has delayed for another year the showdown between the the League and the Commission. In Montreal the question remains real as long at least until the city budget is passed. The owners, we know, don't hesitate to complain about school and city taxes. They're also critical of the Commission which, they say, prevents them from raising rental prices. The League is ready to publish a critical stud about the city's budget.
But what exactly is this League?
It started in Feb 1921, to defend owners rights. It cost $10 a year. The league published a journal called "Le Prioprio." and gave its members a discount on leases it prepares. It encouargedsits members to follow courses June 4 at the Lalement Pavillion of the Jean de Brebeuf collge. It also organized trips to Europe. ...etc..etc..
The Landlord's league took the time to consider a current problem - moving. "Why, wonders the league, keep the 1 st of May as the start of most leases?" The Leaguers believe that it would be better to make July 1 the moving day and the day that leases begin.
Their reasons are good: it would be more logical if families moved after the closure of school. Many heads of family are on vacation at that time of the year and wouldn't have to ask for a holiday from their employer, the season lends itself to the transport of goods and construction people would have to suffer fewer springtime problems, which often stop them from delivering the homes.
The League wants the Civil Code t, which established 1 May as the date of the start of new leases to be amended.
But this custom leaves the Commission indifferent. The controllers Mr. Pigeon says "Owners need money to pay their taxes but they can raise their rents, the control of rents in Montreal until 1967, that means the ruin of landlords, who will be underpaid, they're unable to improve their property, rent control is a wartime measure that's been extended in spite of the fact that similar laws have been repealed."
The Comission des loyers was born as the Commission federal des prix et du commerce en temps de guerre. It was called that until 1951 Regie des loyers but hasn't had that name since it was provincialized 13 year ago. Its constitution promises, "to promote conciliation between tenants and landlords." It has no jurisdiction on homes built before 1951. Gaston Massie, an advisor to the Regie isn't convinced that landlords want it to disappear because it provides service to both landlords and tenants.
In cases of eviction, says Masie, we avoid long procedures. The commission applies the law of conciliation and it's available to both tenants and landlords who otherwise have to spend a lot of money to act beyond our jurisdiction."
We asked Pigeon if the city would change its mind. "Everybody knows that 325,000 tenants, that's more people than 105,000 landlords, so it's more votes."
A Suggestion of the Landlord's League Moving day: 1 July instead of 1 May
By Maurice Roy
Le Petit Journal Week of 5 April 1964
If it had the power, the Landlord's League of Montreal would gladly abolish the Provincial Rent Commission. Meanwhile the commission won't disappear because it offers good protection to tenants. What might lessen the power of the Commission is the Montreal City Council which has jurisdiction over city territory.
It seems however that the adoption of Bill 5 by the provincial legislation at the beginning of this month has delayed for another year the showdown between the the League and the Commission. In Montreal the question remains real as long at least until the city budget is passed. The owners, we know, don't hesitate to complain about school and city taxes. They're also critical of the Commission which, they say, prevents them from raising rental prices. The League is ready to publish a critical stud about the city's budget.
But what exactly is this League?
It started in Feb 1921, to defend owners rights. It cost $10 a year. The league published a journal called "Le Prioprio." and gave its members a discount on leases it prepares. It encouargedsits members to follow courses June 4 at the Lalement Pavillion of the Jean de Brebeuf collge. It also organized trips to Europe. ...etc..etc..
The Landlord's league took the time to consider a current problem - moving. "Why, wonders the league, keep the 1 st of May as the start of most leases?" The Leaguers believe that it would be better to make July 1 the moving day and the day that leases begin.
Their reasons are good: it would be more logical if families moved after the closure of school. Many heads of family are on vacation at that time of the year and wouldn't have to ask for a holiday from their employer, the season lends itself to the transport of goods and construction people would have to suffer fewer springtime problems, which often stop them from delivering the homes.
The League wants the Civil Code t, which established 1 May as the date of the start of new leases to be amended.
But this custom leaves the Commission indifferent. The controllers Mr. Pigeon says "Owners need money to pay their taxes but they can raise their rents, the control of rents in Montreal until 1967, that means the ruin of landlords, who will be underpaid, they're unable to improve their property, rent control is a wartime measure that's been extended in spite of the fact that similar laws have been repealed."
The Comission des loyers was born as the Commission federal des prix et du commerce en temps de guerre. It was called that until 1951 Regie des loyers but hasn't had that name since it was provincialized 13 year ago. Its constitution promises, "to promote conciliation between tenants and landlords." It has no jurisdiction on homes built before 1951. Gaston Massie, an advisor to the Regie isn't convinced that landlords want it to disappear because it provides service to both landlords and tenants.
In cases of eviction, says Masie, we avoid long procedures. The commission applies the law of conciliation and it's available to both tenants and landlords who otherwise have to spend a lot of money to act beyond our jurisdiction."
We asked Pigeon if the city would change its mind. "Everybody knows that 325,000 tenants, that's more people than 105,000 landlords, so it's more votes."
10 Montreal predictions
Prediction 5
Donald Shoup is the new urban planning flavour of the month whose ideas will increasingly become local orthodoxy. He's sorta like Richard Florida was a couple of years ago, Florida being the guy who scored a six figure contract with Montreal to provide a little false hope about the economic benefits of urban coolness.
Shoup's message is about parking. This UCLA prof jumps from town to town to give lectures about his tome, The High Price of Free Parking. Among his central arguments is that city requirements that new condos provide minimum parking are neither desirable nor beneficial. In Montreal new condos must provide one spot per new unit as a rule. Expect this to change. Other cities like LA require over two spots per unit. Montreal has made plenty of exceptions to our rule. Concordia's downtown monstrosity at Guy and St. Cat has no parking whatsoever. (A bad idea, according to the Coolopolis' association of retired board of directors)
Shoup's message is that parking is a valuable resource that belongs to the community, and not just a freebie to be tossed at motorists. One study he conducted showed that those who had to pay to park near their work took public transit a lot more often. He also persuaded California to pass a law in '92 where employers gave money to those who don't want to use the parking provided by the company. The average car is parked 95 percent of the time. And in certain areas a similar proportion of traffic are simply cars looking for free spots, ergo, when parking in the city becomes more expensive, there's a lot less traffic. So when you study motorists and their behaviours, there's a lot of work to do to make the whole system more equitable and rational.
So to cut a long story short, parking will get a lot more expensive in the city, new condos won't require new parking (which will further encourage their construction) and free street parking will become a lot more coveted and hard to find.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lad had get-up-and-go. So he got up and went
(From the Quebec Chronicle, 85 years ago today.)
What this article fails to mention!---is the deliciously ironic fact that Dr. Alexander Mackenzie Forbes was - in spite of what his son thought- quite good with kids. He founded the city's first hospital for children, the Children's Memorial Hospital, in January 1904 on Guy just below Sherbrooke. Five years later it was moved to where the Montreal General now stands on Cedar and in 1956 it moved to Tupper.
One associate, Dr. F.W. Wiglesworth, spoke highly of Forbes: "His vision, enthusiasm, energy and toughness of character in the period from 1903 to 1929 were the reason that the hospital survived and grew."
According to an article written by Edgar Andrew Collard in 1994 kids saw him in a different light --- " Children playing at the hospital were overheard saying, 'I'm Dr. Forbes. When I'm wrong, I'm right.' Though nobody could more readily admit that he had been wrong, Dr. Forbes never allowed the chance of being wrong to inhibit his determination. Without that unshakable determination of his, the hospital might never have come into being in the first place."
How Chinatown got so amazing
New, Ultra-Modern restaurants Replacing "atmosphere " Cafes to which Occidentals Once Resorted to Sample Succulent and Exotic Dishes
Montreal Gazette 1 January 1947
Montreal's Chinatown is really going modernistic and could serve as a good example to the city councillors who are allegedly considering a slum clearance program for 1947.
The formerly dull, draeb and dreary sector round the intersection of Clarke and Lagauchetiere streets occupied by the majority of Montreal's 1,800 Chinese has now taken on the appearance of one of the more proggressive businesslike and better lighted districts of the metropolis.
New modernistic buildings, renovated establishments have replaced some of the old, dated structures which formerly housed the various popular Chinese restaurants - the night haunts of occidentals with an appetite for something different - and many of the Chinese sores and homes. The contrast between the new and the old structures is still vivid in the glare of the many neon lights on the large signs of the new and reconstructed restaurants and other business place.s
The conversion of what was described as a "slum district" before the Chinese started renovating about a year ago has not been completed, but it is being continued. and it is expected that eventually Montreal's Chinatown will be able to cope with any Chinatown on the continent insofar as appearance goes, although perahaps not in size.
The Chinese community district here, which rates about fifth in size on this contnent, is not expected to grow much larger as long as the Chinese Immigration Act adopted about 20 year ago remains in force.
Under that act no more Chinese can enter Canada, and even the Chinese men who are here can not bring in wives or children. As a result there are only bout 50 Chinese families in the community, despite the fact the total Chines population is about 1,800.
The Chinese have adopted Canadian ways to such an extend that, wiht the exception of some of the oldest residents, that they now celebrate the occidental new Year's holiday instead of the beginning of the new year prescribed by the ancient Chinese calendar.
The Chinese New Year, according to the Chinese calendar, occurs on varying dates in the month of February. But the majority of the Chinese residents were ready to join with Canadians in celebrating the occidental New Year's feast at midnight last night. As a result there was much activity in Chinatown in homes, business places and the restaurant, which were prepared to remain open all night as usual to take care of the "white" residents of Montreal, who enjoy eating most of the same food they could get themselves, cooked in oriental style and in an oriental atmosphere.
For years Chinatown has been the haunt of local occidentals and visitors to the city looking for something...something different whether it was in the lat hours of the night after a celebration or in the daytime. Things have not changed and today the eating place in Chinatown are still pretty well crowded at almost all hours.
people still like to go , usually in parties, to eat bird's nest soup which was never close to a brids' nest, or chop suey, unheard of in China.
Others like to get Chinese lichee nuts, specially imported Chinese tea or other oriental specialites in the various stores along the street s that make up Chinatown.
Nearly every one of the new modernistic spots had special menus prepared for the New Year festival with intriguing names applied to the various dishes to attract attention. Some of the older, small places, which still prove the oriental atmosphere and afford the contrast with the new modernism, retain the series of dishes that have attracted occidentals for years. And they were not worried because many of the visitors to the Chinatown still prefer to go the unrenovated places and enjoy the real oriental atmosphere.
The foresmost of the new buildings erected during the past year is the Nanking restaurant operated by Tam Wong at the corner of Clarke and Laguachitierere streets. The old place was demolished a year go, an the new establishment was erected at a cost of $100,000 with all modern improvements.
The restaurant section of the building is on the second floor with open tables nd private booths to suit hte fancy of all customers. The place is done up in the most modrenistic style and the services is beyond reproach.
The Nanking Cafe, like the well-known Sun Kwo Min restaurant at 67 Laguachitiere street and the others, has a menu from which customer may select their choice, but there was a special menu for New Year's Eve. The Sun Kwo Min restaurant, usually called "67" was renovated recently for the fourth time in 14 year and today is still one of the most popular spots in Chinatown.
An indication of the "high falutin" names applied tot he various dishes may be had by a glance at the special New Year's menu for the Nanking, which is similar to most of the others.
The food in every one of these places is sold at moderate prices compared to the prices in other places around this town. The Chinese themselves, who are noted for living on a much more simple scale than the occidentals, have their own small restaurant around the corner on Clarke street where they get their meals at an average rate of about 35 cents a meal.
Montreal Gazette 1 January 1947
Montreal's Chinatown is really going modernistic and could serve as a good example to the city councillors who are allegedly considering a slum clearance program for 1947.
The formerly dull, draeb and dreary sector round the intersection of Clarke and Lagauchetiere streets occupied by the majority of Montreal's 1,800 Chinese has now taken on the appearance of one of the more proggressive businesslike and better lighted districts of the metropolis.
New modernistic buildings, renovated establishments have replaced some of the old, dated structures which formerly housed the various popular Chinese restaurants - the night haunts of occidentals with an appetite for something different - and many of the Chinese sores and homes. The contrast between the new and the old structures is still vivid in the glare of the many neon lights on the large signs of the new and reconstructed restaurants and other business place.s
The conversion of what was described as a "slum district" before the Chinese started renovating about a year ago has not been completed, but it is being continued. and it is expected that eventually Montreal's Chinatown will be able to cope with any Chinatown on the continent insofar as appearance goes, although perahaps not in size.
The Chinese community district here, which rates about fifth in size on this contnent, is not expected to grow much larger as long as the Chinese Immigration Act adopted about 20 year ago remains in force.
Under that act no more Chinese can enter Canada, and even the Chinese men who are here can not bring in wives or children. As a result there are only bout 50 Chinese families in the community, despite the fact the total Chines population is about 1,800.
The Chinese have adopted Canadian ways to such an extend that, wiht the exception of some of the oldest residents, that they now celebrate the occidental new Year's holiday instead of the beginning of the new year prescribed by the ancient Chinese calendar.
The Chinese New Year, according to the Chinese calendar, occurs on varying dates in the month of February. But the majority of the Chinese residents were ready to join with Canadians in celebrating the occidental New Year's feast at midnight last night. As a result there was much activity in Chinatown in homes, business places and the restaurant, which were prepared to remain open all night as usual to take care of the "white" residents of Montreal, who enjoy eating most of the same food they could get themselves, cooked in oriental style and in an oriental atmosphere.
For years Chinatown has been the haunt of local occidentals and visitors to the city looking for something...something different whether it was in the lat hours of the night after a celebration or in the daytime. Things have not changed and today the eating place in Chinatown are still pretty well crowded at almost all hours.
people still like to go , usually in parties, to eat bird's nest soup which was never close to a brids' nest, or chop suey, unheard of in China.
Others like to get Chinese lichee nuts, specially imported Chinese tea or other oriental specialites in the various stores along the street s that make up Chinatown.
Nearly every one of the new modernistic spots had special menus prepared for the New Year festival with intriguing names applied to the various dishes to attract attention. Some of the older, small places, which still prove the oriental atmosphere and afford the contrast with the new modernism, retain the series of dishes that have attracted occidentals for years. And they were not worried because many of the visitors to the Chinatown still prefer to go the unrenovated places and enjoy the real oriental atmosphere.
The foresmost of the new buildings erected during the past year is the Nanking restaurant operated by Tam Wong at the corner of Clarke and Laguachitierere streets. The old place was demolished a year go, an the new establishment was erected at a cost of $100,000 with all modern improvements.
The restaurant section of the building is on the second floor with open tables nd private booths to suit hte fancy of all customers. The place is done up in the most modrenistic style and the services is beyond reproach.
The Nanking Cafe, like the well-known Sun Kwo Min restaurant at 67 Laguachitiere street and the others, has a menu from which customer may select their choice, but there was a special menu for New Year's Eve. The Sun Kwo Min restaurant, usually called "67" was renovated recently for the fourth time in 14 year and today is still one of the most popular spots in Chinatown.
An indication of the "high falutin" names applied tot he various dishes may be had by a glance at the special New Year's menu for the Nanking, which is similar to most of the others.
The food in every one of these places is sold at moderate prices compared to the prices in other places around this town. The Chinese themselves, who are noted for living on a much more simple scale than the occidentals, have their own small restaurant around the corner on Clarke street where they get their meals at an average rate of about 35 cents a meal.
10 Montreal predictions
Prediction 6
Concordia will find all sorts of weird treasures in the basement of the Grey Nuns Motherhouse when they take over the joint in a couple of years.
Montrealers who passed the fenced-off fortress Grey Nun Motherhouse and its 24 hour a day security guard might've mused about the Catholic concept of community outreach.
All of the good community work they used to do has been reduced to a tiny women's shelter on the edge of the property. The reason they're defensive is that time has transformed some of their nice stuff into priceless antiques.
The same thing happened with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, now the EMSB, who received donations of worthless artwork that is now evaluated at over a million bucks. However the EMSB has been a bit more discreet with their security.
For those who have been inside the Grey Nuns property bounded by Guy, St. Catherine, St. Matthew and Dorchester, they'll notice a huge blue painting of Jesus outside the central chapel. The main chapel also has a sorta cradle deal donated by a woman about a century ago which is also priceless. Presumably they'll ship this stuff elsewhere before handing the place over to Concordia University but Coolopolis believes much historically fascinating stuff will be brought to the public eye for the first time in a generation.
According to the article "An underground cemetery and a treasure museum in the heart of Montreal" by Gisele Grignon La Patrie 30 July, 1961
-260 nuns were buried there between 1971 and 1896.
-The remains of 101 early nuns from 1752 are also down there. Among the notables whose crypts grace the subterraneans level are: Mr. Abbyu Francois d'Youville, the son of the Marguerite D'Youville, their founder, of MM, the abbeys Henri Lafaille, Forget, Gendreau, James Trunon, the three brothers hospitalier s Michel Andrew de Moyres, Alexandre Turpinet, Jean Jantot and two sisters of the Bienheurese Clemence Dufrost de Lajemmerais, widwo of Pierre Gameline Mongea and of Marie Louise Dufrost de Jammerais, widow of Igance Gameline.
-Marguerite d'Youville's tomb was also down there, complete with tiny holes the size of knitting needles. From 1884 to 1958 people would come to pray at her tomb and put papers with lists of their prayers inside. It wasn't easy as the papers had to be wound real tight to fit. These were eventually pulled out maintained in a glass receptacle at her own little oratory.
-There are (or were when the article was written) two rooms devoted recreated to the specifications of the old haunt of the Charron Brothers of the Freres Hospitaliers dating back to 1692 at Callieres Point between St. Pierre and Normand in Old Montreal. Every detail of that original property was recreated, each plank of wood from the old floor was numbered, transported and placed in the basement of the Mother House exactly as it was to begin with.
These and other surprises await.
Concordia will find all sorts of weird treasures in the basement of the Grey Nuns Motherhouse when they take over the joint in a couple of years.
Montrealers who passed the fenced-off fortress Grey Nun Motherhouse and its 24 hour a day security guard might've mused about the Catholic concept of community outreach.
All of the good community work they used to do has been reduced to a tiny women's shelter on the edge of the property. The reason they're defensive is that time has transformed some of their nice stuff into priceless antiques.
The same thing happened with the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, now the EMSB, who received donations of worthless artwork that is now evaluated at over a million bucks. However the EMSB has been a bit more discreet with their security.
For those who have been inside the Grey Nuns property bounded by Guy, St. Catherine, St. Matthew and Dorchester, they'll notice a huge blue painting of Jesus outside the central chapel. The main chapel also has a sorta cradle deal donated by a woman about a century ago which is also priceless. Presumably they'll ship this stuff elsewhere before handing the place over to Concordia University but Coolopolis believes much historically fascinating stuff will be brought to the public eye for the first time in a generation.
According to the article "An underground cemetery and a treasure museum in the heart of Montreal" by Gisele Grignon La Patrie 30 July, 1961
-260 nuns were buried there between 1971 and 1896.
-The remains of 101 early nuns from 1752 are also down there. Among the notables whose crypts grace the subterraneans level are: Mr. Abbyu Francois d'Youville, the son of the Marguerite D'Youville, their founder, of MM, the abbeys Henri Lafaille, Forget, Gendreau, James Trunon, the three brothers hospitalier s Michel Andrew de Moyres, Alexandre Turpinet, Jean Jantot and two sisters of the Bienheurese Clemence Dufrost de Lajemmerais, widwo of Pierre Gameline Mongea and of Marie Louise Dufrost de Jammerais, widow of Igance Gameline.
-Marguerite d'Youville's tomb was also down there, complete with tiny holes the size of knitting needles. From 1884 to 1958 people would come to pray at her tomb and put papers with lists of their prayers inside. It wasn't easy as the papers had to be wound real tight to fit. These were eventually pulled out maintained in a glass receptacle at her own little oratory.
-There are (or were when the article was written) two rooms devoted recreated to the specifications of the old haunt of the Charron Brothers of the Freres Hospitaliers dating back to 1692 at Callieres Point between St. Pierre and Normand in Old Montreal. Every detail of that original property was recreated, each plank of wood from the old floor was numbered, transported and placed in the basement of the Mother House exactly as it was to begin with.
These and other surprises await.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
10 Montreal predictions
Prediction 7
When this newly completed, but not-yet-active - off-ramp from the southbound Decarie at Demaisonneuve gets opened, Eastern NDG will be in for several years of traffic heartbreak.
When this newly completed, but not-yet-active - off-ramp from the southbound Decarie at Demaisonneuve gets opened, Eastern NDG will be in for several years of traffic heartbreak.
10 Montreal predictions: Prediction 8
Prediction 8: This neighbourhood will be totally transformed into something far
more alluring. Even the oldest Coolopolis staffer can't tell us much about this obscure area, but the building (owned by the guy in the BMW) used to be a schoolhouse. The area is largely industrial, (click for the view from above) & not easily accessible - but that situation could be reversed with a highway exit. It boasts an excellent location just a couple of minutes from downtown. It will be developed into posh housing within a decade or two. Anybody recognize where it is? Answer - as indicated in the comments section, this is the section of Cote St. Paul between Church and St. Patrick - ie: the Lachine Canal. An overhead peek on google shows that only the western tip of this area - on the edge of the St. Remy Tunnel, is inhabited by housing, the rest is just giant warehouse territory, the pallet company on the edge of the highway must be several dozen thousand square feet alone. Let's call it ripe for a savvy developer.10 Montreal predictions - #9
Prediction 9: A bridge will be built here at the cost of about $10 mil. Free Coolopolis ballpoint for the first who can pinpoint where this is. (small print - the winner has to perform a skill testing stunt - ten one arm pushups with a cement block on their back). Answer - this is indeed the chasm between mainland Verdun and the Nun's Island section of Verdun, namely Galt just south of Lasalle Boulevard just to the west of the Verdun Auditorium. The current Verdun administration probably lacks the will to force it through on the Islanders but it eventually will happen.
Ninja unmasked
YTV's hit TV series Prank Patrol, hosted by the charming Andre Simoneau, was filming in Oxford Park last weekend, which means that kiddies will be enthralled and delighted yet again this winter with new episodes of the trickster program. Nothing too exciting to report, unless you get worked up by the usually-masked ninja characters without their masks. Sorry for the poor quality photo, Chief Coolopolis photographer says it's hard to take a good photo while cradling his flask and piloting a helicopter.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Quiz - who wrote this and when?
Contest over, Coolopolis dubs Dave the winner of this latest round, having correctly guess that Modechai Richler, aka Morty Rickler, wrote this description of Montreal, while living in London in 1955. To understand what a fine place Montreal is when spring is coming you must know the winters that come first. Chill grey mornings; sun bright in the cold noon sky but giving off no heat to speak of; skies darkening again early in the afternoon; long frosty nights with that window-banging wind whipping in burning hard from the north, pushing people before it like paper, making dunes and ridges that hurt he eye to look at on the mountain snows, burning children's cheeks red and cutting like a knife across flat frozen ponds. Old men blowing on their wrinkled hands, boys with blue lips and women with running noses all huddled up and knocking their feet together in the bitter cold waiting for liquor commissions to open and banks to shut, late dates, streetcars...
So when the first rumours of thaw reach the city everybody is glad. That first rumour, coming toward the end of February, is usually hidden away in the back pages of the newspapers. It says that two government icebreakers, the d'Iberville and the Ernest Lapointe, have started poking their way down the frozen St. Lawrence toward Montreal. That's a while before the NHL hockey playoffs, and most people on the streetcars are talking about how the players are moving slow because of the heat. The reports up north stop advertising themselves as the St. Moritz or Davos of Canada: they begin to talk of the sun, their pamphlets saying how so many happily married couples first fell on their beaches. That first thaw is a glory. The big snow heaps on Fletcher's Field anda whole winter's caboodle of snowmen begin to shrivel and shrink away. Giant sweepers roar up and down the streets wiping a winter's precautionary sands off the pavement. You can make out chunks of yellow grass here and there like exposed flesh under the shrinking slush that still sticks to the flanks of Mount Royal. Occasionally it snows: but non comes and all the gutters are gurgling again. There is a green, impolite smell to the streets.
With the first thaw the change takes hold: there is a difference to everything, the difference between a clenched and an open hand. The kids get out on their roller-skate and make most side-streets a hazard. Belmont Park opens, so do the race tracks. Ships steam into port from Belgfast and Le Havre and Hamburg and Liverpool and Archangel and Port-of-Spain. NDG organizes softball teams, the ladies of Westmount plan their flower-shows, and the Jr. Chamber of Commerce sets aside one week as Traffic Safety Week. The man who reviews books for the Star will say that spring is here but J. P. Sartre is without that tradition Gallic charm, and young writers aren't cheerful enough. But best of all is St. Catherine Street on an April evening. Watch the girls, eh, their hair full of wind, as they go strolling past in their carton print dresses. Men, sporting smart suits and spiffy ties waving enticingly at them. See the American tourists having a whale of a time frantically, a Kodak strapped to one arm and a lulu of a wife to the other... Kids wandering in and out of the crowds yelling rude things at girls older than themselves... Sport fans clustering at corners waiting for the Gazette to appear...
in parks, playgrounds, and on Mount Royal, tattered men with leather faces loll on beaches, their faces upturned to the sun. Maiden aunts hopeful again after a long winter's withering knit near to baby carriages which hold the children of others. Come noon, lovers freed from the factory sprawl or the green mountainside while the children tease and the tattered men watch laconically and the maiden aunts knit near the baby carriages that hold the children of others.
Everybody is full.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Raise the Shamrock
On July 8 (sometimes listed July 9) 1842 a small steamboat named The Shamrock left Lachine to frolic in the waters of Lake St. Louis with 66 passengers aboard, many Scottish immigrants. When they got 12 miles from Lachine the boiler exploded and all died.It's considered perhaps the darkest day in local Scottish history There was a plaque - it might still be there - to at least some of them at St. Paul's church in Lachine - it read: In memory of
Allan Peirson, aged 48 years. Hannah Peirson, ‘‘ 50 years John Peirson, ‘‘ 28 years Allan Peirson, ‘‘ 20 years Robert Peirson, “ 16 years Hannah Peirson, ‘‘ 7 years Sarah Peirson, ‘‘ 15 months. Mary Peirson, ‘‘ 21 years. William Peirson, ‘‘ 13 months. Hannah Peirson, ‘‘ 3 years. Erected by their son William
Friday, June 15, 2007
nOtre dAme Street, June 15, 2007
Mannequin in St. Henry
Fire near the Turcotte warzone
Tourist store in Old Montreal
Shopping on Antique row
Alcoholics Anonymous Restaurant in St. Hank
Mysterious door near University.
Loitering woman applying lipstick near the Black Jack Bar in St. Hank.
Antique store fare, this'll cost ya $125
Ice Cream on the Main and Notre Dame
Kid crying outside City Hall
Is that a banana in your shirt pocket ?
Thursday, June 14, 2007
1933 - last gasp of the horse-pulled cab
Here's an article from 1933 recounting the history of the local horse-pulled cab. The first few graphs are pretentious as hell, but the rest offers much insight into the clans that ran these cabs and how they viewed their job. If you're curious about Tom Tierney, he lived on Lucien Lallier, east side, just north of Notre Dame. McGarr lived on De Bullion (then Cadieux) just north of Sherbrooke).
Montreal Star Saturday May 13, 1933
Admirals of world's finest fleet of equipages pass on or seek other activity -memories of pre-taxicab days in Montreal
by Albert E. Perks
The high-masted, neat-hulled frigates and ships o the line of Nelson's day and the ponderous galleons of the Spanish main have given places to palatial 30-inot ocean greyhounds, battle-cruisers, torpedo boats and submarines; but so long as men go down to the sea in ships the world will not be allowed to forget the names of Drake, of Vasco da Gama, of Peirithoos, of that swashbuckling Trojan who stole a hundred Greek vessels and a king's daughter and sailed down the Mediterranean, looking for the Golden Fleece according to Homer; looking for a new Troy and finding and finding it in England, according to Bishop Geoffrey of Monmouth who lived long enough ago to know something about it.
The mail-clad ruffians who hacked each other to pieces with battle-axes or drove chariots with knives on the wheels; and the 'thin-red line' of Crimean fame have given place to expert mechanics operating complicated tanks and university-trained chemists pouring poisonous gases into enemy ranks many miles away; but history will cease to be read when the names of Coeur de Lion Gideon and hi s 71 warrior sons, Attila, Alexander, Tamelane, romantic heroes of 'cut and slash warfare are forgotten.
The characteristic "hansom cab" of London, the flacre of Paris and the dual service rig and sleigh of old Montreal are fast giving place to the hustling and of times holay tax-cab; but it will be shame indeed if the history of Montreal is so written that the world may forget the names of the Butlers, the McGarrs, the Moreys, those erstwhile admirals of the world's finest collection of horse-drawn cabs; or of men like Tierney, the two-fisted Hercules of the Phillips square fleet forty years ago.
Once 1800 fine rigs now barely fifty
They are fast disappearing. Many of the most picturesque figures of the old days have already gone to their last rest. Some have found their way into other occupations. Willis, the 'star' driver of the McGarry fleet, is now Chief W. B. Willis, head of Outremont Fire Department. Michael Barry, once admiral of that fleet has a nice job at the Windsor Hotel. Dan Larkin, veteran of the Sherbrooke street rank died a week ago last Sunday. Where 1800 fine rigs operated in Montreal half a century ago, there are barely half a hundred today. As the old-timers pass out of the picture, their successors turn to more up to date lines of business and the tradition of the cabby dies.
For cab-driving was more than a business or a profession in those days. It was a family tradition. Some inherited from their fathers not only rigs and hoses and harness, but a tradition and a standing in the community handed down from generations.
They were men of substance, too; their stock of horses and vehicles represented capital; they had a public reputation; their fares were their friends.
Listen to Pete Butler, last surviving scion of the Butler family who controlled and operated the Phillips square fleet for half a century: "You could have found any day 45 of the finest rigs you could wish to see, drawn up on Phillips square. There were some rigs there worth $2,000. Every rig was equipped with the best of buffalo rugs in winter. Lots of the men changed over to a new rig every year. We didn't need to advertise. The rigs adveritsed us.
"Right in front of us, where the Canada Cement Building is now, was Joyce's high-class boarding house. On the square, our boys had a big medicine bag hung up to a branch of a tree; and they had some heavy weights and gymnastic stuff around there to work with when they weren't driving.
"Mr. Vincent Meredith, who became Sir Vincent later, and Mr. C.S. Campbell, the great lawyer and a whole lot of the best young men in town lived at Joyce's and they use to come out on the square and punch our medicine bag and try the weights and box and wrestle with the fellows just like good friends together.
"They could do that. Our cab drivers were fellows like that. You couldn't pull any of the funny stuff in one of those rigs like what goes on in some of your taxi cabs. No sir. The cabby would have had something to say that the fare would have remembered a little while. Our fellow kept clean respectable rigs; there was no limit to the clean, decent fun that you cold have with a Montreal cabby. But they had a standing and a reputation to live up to and they did. "
Cabbies like to talk of old times.
O Michael Barry, former admiral of McGarry's Dominion square fleet: "There was our driver Ed Walsh now, he used to carry the keys of Sir Edward Clouston's house always with him. That was a house on Peel street. Lots of these people would have their own favorite drivers and we would always send the same driver up to them. When they drove the ladies out anywhere and took them home, the driver would sit on his rig and wait till the ladies were safe inside the house. Then he'd drive off.
"We furnished rigs and drivers for Price Louis of Battenburg when he came to Montreal. We had evn 600 rigs up on the Mountain one day when the Prince had a party up there. "
Let us listen a moment to some of the old time cabbies talking of old times together. Just drop the name Tom Tierney amongst a group of them.
"He was a two fisted tough lad all right.
"He wasn't. He was a great big baby. He wouldn't do a hurt to anybody."|
"I don't know. When Tom got a couple of drinks in him..."
"Aw. .. that was only them as set him on to do it."
"You betcha. Tom never went making trouble for anybody. But if you went to Tom lookin' for trouble you'd get it good and plenty."
"D'you remember when Tom fought the big giant at the abattoir? I'll tell you that mister. The people at the abattoir came down and said they had a great big strong man there that could break Tom Tierney across his knee. He was that strong he could take a bull by the horns and turn it upside down.
"Well sir, some of our gentlemen put up a bet of $200 that he couldn't lick our Tom. And they told Tom he could have the money when he won the fight."
"So they met in the abattoir. The strong man kept comin' at Tom and tried to come to grips. But Tom kept holdin' him off with his fists."
"The abattoir fellow fought rough and tumble, kick, bite, wrestle, everything. Tom only boxed but he did that good and plenty. Well, finally Tom got a chance and landed one on the jaw and the other fellow went down. He grabbed him by the scruff o' the neck, pulled him t his feet, and then knocked him down again. When he'd knocked him down so often he was tired of it and the other fellow didn't show any sign of getting up on his own, Tom looked at him kinda pitying. 'You poor son of a gun, it's a shame you should die without a wreath' he said. Well sir, there was a great big iron ring buried int he cement floor near by. Tom grabbed the ring, tore it out of the cement. 'There's your wreath' says he, and threw it down on the other fellow's chest. Darn near flatted him out for good, too."
When Tom Tierney Fought Three Policemen
"Then there was the time that Tom Tierney got in bed with the police. Another driver remembers the story. "It wasn't Tom's fault. It was a big silly fellow that wanted to fight. Tom told him to lay off. 'Don't fight' says he. 'It's bad for the eyesight." But the other fellow wouldn't lay off. He kept on pestering Till tom got fed-up. 'If you don't leave me alone I'm gonna hit you' says Tom. Well finally he hit him not too hard, but the fellow went to the police and showed his face, all blood and says 'Tom Tierney did that to me.'
"Well, the chief of police sends three men up to arrest Tom Tierney. But once Tom started to fight he didn't stop very easily. They found the three policemen lying out in the snow later on."
Let us look at the Butler family again. There were three brothers, Nicholas, John and peter. Peter is the only survivor, and he still operates a few rigs on Phillips square when the weather is favorable.
Their grandfather built, in 1820, the first house in Montreal to be erected above Lagauchetiere street. It was demolished about two years ago, on Aylmer street. In those days, they called him a squatter he was so far out of town.
Some years later the family went into the cab business and at one time operated a fleet of 45 of the most expensive sleighs and rigs to be seen in town. "We paid our drivers $10 a week , and $2 a day spending money, and they made lots of tips. They did good business those cab drivers. A cabby would often pay as much as $300 or more for a horse and they took care of them."
Mr. Barry was asked what became of the old drivers and where their rigs went.
"Well, when they die usually their rigs and horses are sold off. The younger people don't want to take up that kind of business. "There aren't many of the old timers left now."
Would like easier time for the horses
Across on the square where the cabs stand, the drivers have a couple of grievances that they would like to be remedied.
"It's the worst cruelty to animals," they says, "expecting our horses to pull sleighs with a load of people up tot he mountain on ashes. As soon as there gets to be enough snow about to make a sleigh ride comfortable out they come with a truck load of of ashes and smother the snow with it. It's killing the horses. A busy winter breaks a horse up altogether, because it's cruelty to have to drive them up a steep hill on ashes.
"They ought to give us a road somewhere and keep snow on it in the winter. They could save one of the roads for rigs; or else they could keep just a strip at once side of the road, just wide enough for a rig, with plenty snow on it. The automobiles don't use the side of the road anyhow. They come down the middle. But seeing you have to take a rig to go up the mountain, there's no use being cruel to the horses.
"And then our troughs. We used to have a trough on Dominion square but they took it away and never put it back. Now we've got to go to Phillips square or else to Stanley street to give the horses a drink.
"And there used to be one on Park avenue where we could give them a drink on the way up tothe mountain. That's gone too. There doesn't seem to be so much kindness to animals as there used to be.
"Fun among cabbies? You betcha. I remember forty years ago there was a bum kind of doctor about town. Nobody had any use for him. He never took a cab neither. Always walked around with a dog behind him.
"But one day he comes along to the cab rank and sits in one of the cabs, all dressed up like for a wedding or something, with a big beaver hat on. Well sir, the cabby gets up in front and heaves his buffalo robes over the back. Just makes as if he didn't notice the doctor had got in the rig. And the robes came down on the gent's head and pushed his had down over his ears and there he was struggling to et out of the robes and couldn't see what he was doing. And another cabbie tied a can on the dog's tail and sent it flying down St. Catherine street like mad. The town laughed about that for a week.
"But if you want to hear funny stories, go to the CPR rank and ask Mike Connolly. He knows more funny stories than anybody else in Montreal and every one of them's true sir. As sure as death they are."
Perhaps it was the sun coming out suddenly, or maybe it was just a nervous twitch that made him close one eye slowly as he said "As sur as death."
Have been drivers to famous men
It is a healthy life, evidently. There are gentlemen of quite advanced years in the cab business and they look remarkably hale and hearty. There is Jack Rodger, aged 82, took out his 56th cabman's license this year. He was special cab driver at various times to Dr. Molson, Dr. Major, the throat specialist whose house on Guy street below St. Catherine has since been turned into a retreat for old ladies; Dr. Bains, Sir William Hingston at times, and also frequently driver the Mackenzies, noted financiers, the Waddell's, Lady Aberdeen wife of the Governor - General, Donald Smith, later Lord Strathcona, and his wife and daughter and also Dr. Howard who married Lord Strathcon'as daughter; Duncan McIntyre, the well known dry goods merchant whose house on the mountain was a popular sight on account of its shiny brass roof; Lord Mountsephen, Stanley Bagg, Senator Coughlin and on one or two occasions Sir Wilfid Laurier.
Then there is George Cannon who has been 45 years driving a cab, and used to drive Pierpont Morgan and John L. Sullivan when they came to Montreal, besides a long list of lesser celebrities; Jim Webb who has driven nearly everybody in his fifty years of hack-driving and George Brennan. He's only a child comparatively. He has only been 30 years driving. But he was Sir Charle Tupper's cabby once; drove Lord Strathcona a few times, and drove Sir Wilfrid Laurier an Sir Lomer Gouin often.
There is no one to be found today who had any part in Morey's fleet, they operated the big hotel services and were succeeded by McGarr's. When Morey died their fleet was auctioned off and McGarr took over a good part of it. Morey's babies were on Lagauchetiere street, a little west of Bleury on the north side. They had a headline position in the newspapers in the earlier part of the last century, owing to a mystery murder which was never solved One of the grooms was found murdered in the stable,
Montreal Star Saturday May 13, 1933
Admirals of world's finest fleet of equipages pass on or seek other activity -memories of pre-taxicab days in Montreal
by Albert E. Perks
The high-masted, neat-hulled frigates and ships o the line of Nelson's day and the ponderous galleons of the Spanish main have given places to palatial 30-inot ocean greyhounds, battle-cruisers, torpedo boats and submarines; but so long as men go down to the sea in ships the world will not be allowed to forget the names of Drake, of Vasco da Gama, of Peirithoos, of that swashbuckling Trojan who stole a hundred Greek vessels and a king's daughter and sailed down the Mediterranean, looking for the Golden Fleece according to Homer; looking for a new Troy and finding and finding it in England, according to Bishop Geoffrey of Monmouth who lived long enough ago to know something about it.
The mail-clad ruffians who hacked each other to pieces with battle-axes or drove chariots with knives on the wheels; and the 'thin-red line' of Crimean fame have given place to expert mechanics operating complicated tanks and university-trained chemists pouring poisonous gases into enemy ranks many miles away; but history will cease to be read when the names of Coeur de Lion Gideon and hi s 71 warrior sons, Attila, Alexander, Tamelane, romantic heroes of 'cut and slash warfare are forgotten.
The characteristic "hansom cab" of London, the flacre of Paris and the dual service rig and sleigh of old Montreal are fast giving place to the hustling and of times holay tax-cab; but it will be shame indeed if the history of Montreal is so written that the world may forget the names of the Butlers, the McGarrs, the Moreys, those erstwhile admirals of the world's finest collection of horse-drawn cabs; or of men like Tierney, the two-fisted Hercules of the Phillips square fleet forty years ago.Once 1800 fine rigs now barely fifty
They are fast disappearing. Many of the most picturesque figures of the old days have already gone to their last rest. Some have found their way into other occupations. Willis, the 'star' driver of the McGarry fleet, is now Chief W. B. Willis, head of Outremont Fire Department. Michael Barry, once admiral of that fleet has a nice job at the Windsor Hotel. Dan Larkin, veteran of the Sherbrooke street rank died a week ago last Sunday. Where 1800 fine rigs operated in Montreal half a century ago, there are barely half a hundred today. As the old-timers pass out of the picture, their successors turn to more up to date lines of business and the tradition of the cabby dies.
For cab-driving was more than a business or a profession in those days. It was a family tradition. Some inherited from their fathers not only rigs and hoses and harness, but a tradition and a standing in the community handed down from generations.
They were men of substance, too; their stock of horses and vehicles represented capital; they had a public reputation; their fares were their friends.
Listen to Pete Butler, last surviving scion of the Butler family who controlled and operated the Phillips square fleet for half a century: "You could have found any day 45 of the finest rigs you could wish to see, drawn up on Phillips square. There were some rigs there worth $2,000. Every rig was equipped with the best of buffalo rugs in winter. Lots of the men changed over to a new rig every year. We didn't need to advertise. The rigs adveritsed us.
"Right in front of us, where the Canada Cement Building is now, was Joyce's high-class boarding house. On the square, our boys had a big medicine bag hung up to a branch of a tree; and they had some heavy weights and gymnastic stuff around there to work with when they weren't driving.
"Mr. Vincent Meredith, who became Sir Vincent later, and Mr. C.S. Campbell, the great lawyer and a whole lot of the best young men in town lived at Joyce's and they use to come out on the square and punch our medicine bag and try the weights and box and wrestle with the fellows just like good friends together.
"They could do that. Our cab drivers were fellows like that. You couldn't pull any of the funny stuff in one of those rigs like what goes on in some of your taxi cabs. No sir. The cabby would have had something to say that the fare would have remembered a little while. Our fellow kept clean respectable rigs; there was no limit to the clean, decent fun that you cold have with a Montreal cabby. But they had a standing and a reputation to live up to and they did. "
Cabbies like to talk of old times.
O Michael Barry, former admiral of McGarry's Dominion square fleet: "There was our driver Ed Walsh now, he used to carry the keys of Sir Edward Clouston's house always with him. That was a house on Peel street. Lots of these people would have their own favorite drivers and we would always send the same driver up to them. When they drove the ladies out anywhere and took them home, the driver would sit on his rig and wait till the ladies were safe inside the house. Then he'd drive off.
"We furnished rigs and drivers for Price Louis of Battenburg when he came to Montreal. We had evn 600 rigs up on the Mountain one day when the Prince had a party up there. "
Let us listen a moment to some of the old time cabbies talking of old times together. Just drop the name Tom Tierney amongst a group of them.
"He was a two fisted tough lad all right.
"He wasn't. He was a great big baby. He wouldn't do a hurt to anybody."|
"I don't know. When Tom got a couple of drinks in him..."
"Aw. .. that was only them as set him on to do it."
"You betcha. Tom never went making trouble for anybody. But if you went to Tom lookin' for trouble you'd get it good and plenty."
"D'you remember when Tom fought the big giant at the abattoir? I'll tell you that mister. The people at the abattoir came down and said they had a great big strong man there that could break Tom Tierney across his knee. He was that strong he could take a bull by the horns and turn it upside down.
"Well sir, some of our gentlemen put up a bet of $200 that he couldn't lick our Tom. And they told Tom he could have the money when he won the fight."
"So they met in the abattoir. The strong man kept comin' at Tom and tried to come to grips. But Tom kept holdin' him off with his fists."
"The abattoir fellow fought rough and tumble, kick, bite, wrestle, everything. Tom only boxed but he did that good and plenty. Well, finally Tom got a chance and landed one on the jaw and the other fellow went down. He grabbed him by the scruff o' the neck, pulled him t his feet, and then knocked him down again. When he'd knocked him down so often he was tired of it and the other fellow didn't show any sign of getting up on his own, Tom looked at him kinda pitying. 'You poor son of a gun, it's a shame you should die without a wreath' he said. Well sir, there was a great big iron ring buried int he cement floor near by. Tom grabbed the ring, tore it out of the cement. 'There's your wreath' says he, and threw it down on the other fellow's chest. Darn near flatted him out for good, too."
When Tom Tierney Fought Three Policemen
"Then there was the time that Tom Tierney got in bed with the police. Another driver remembers the story. "It wasn't Tom's fault. It was a big silly fellow that wanted to fight. Tom told him to lay off. 'Don't fight' says he. 'It's bad for the eyesight." But the other fellow wouldn't lay off. He kept on pestering Till tom got fed-up. 'If you don't leave me alone I'm gonna hit you' says Tom. Well finally he hit him not too hard, but the fellow went to the police and showed his face, all blood and says 'Tom Tierney did that to me.'
"Well, the chief of police sends three men up to arrest Tom Tierney. But once Tom started to fight he didn't stop very easily. They found the three policemen lying out in the snow later on."
Let us look at the Butler family again. There were three brothers, Nicholas, John and peter. Peter is the only survivor, and he still operates a few rigs on Phillips square when the weather is favorable.
Their grandfather built, in 1820, the first house in Montreal to be erected above Lagauchetiere street. It was demolished about two years ago, on Aylmer street. In those days, they called him a squatter he was so far out of town.
Some years later the family went into the cab business and at one time operated a fleet of 45 of the most expensive sleighs and rigs to be seen in town. "We paid our drivers $10 a week , and $2 a day spending money, and they made lots of tips. They did good business those cab drivers. A cabby would often pay as much as $300 or more for a horse and they took care of them."
Mr. Barry was asked what became of the old drivers and where their rigs went.
"Well, when they die usually their rigs and horses are sold off. The younger people don't want to take up that kind of business. "There aren't many of the old timers left now."
Would like easier time for the horses
Across on the square where the cabs stand, the drivers have a couple of grievances that they would like to be remedied.
"It's the worst cruelty to animals," they says, "expecting our horses to pull sleighs with a load of people up tot he mountain on ashes. As soon as there gets to be enough snow about to make a sleigh ride comfortable out they come with a truck load of of ashes and smother the snow with it. It's killing the horses. A busy winter breaks a horse up altogether, because it's cruelty to have to drive them up a steep hill on ashes.
"They ought to give us a road somewhere and keep snow on it in the winter. They could save one of the roads for rigs; or else they could keep just a strip at once side of the road, just wide enough for a rig, with plenty snow on it. The automobiles don't use the side of the road anyhow. They come down the middle. But seeing you have to take a rig to go up the mountain, there's no use being cruel to the horses.
"And then our troughs. We used to have a trough on Dominion square but they took it away and never put it back. Now we've got to go to Phillips square or else to Stanley street to give the horses a drink.
"And there used to be one on Park avenue where we could give them a drink on the way up tothe mountain. That's gone too. There doesn't seem to be so much kindness to animals as there used to be.
"Fun among cabbies? You betcha. I remember forty years ago there was a bum kind of doctor about town. Nobody had any use for him. He never took a cab neither. Always walked around with a dog behind him.
"But one day he comes along to the cab rank and sits in one of the cabs, all dressed up like for a wedding or something, with a big beaver hat on. Well sir, the cabby gets up in front and heaves his buffalo robes over the back. Just makes as if he didn't notice the doctor had got in the rig. And the robes came down on the gent's head and pushed his had down over his ears and there he was struggling to et out of the robes and couldn't see what he was doing. And another cabbie tied a can on the dog's tail and sent it flying down St. Catherine street like mad. The town laughed about that for a week.
"But if you want to hear funny stories, go to the CPR rank and ask Mike Connolly. He knows more funny stories than anybody else in Montreal and every one of them's true sir. As sure as death they are."
Perhaps it was the sun coming out suddenly, or maybe it was just a nervous twitch that made him close one eye slowly as he said "As sur as death."
Have been drivers to famous men
It is a healthy life, evidently. There are gentlemen of quite advanced years in the cab business and they look remarkably hale and hearty. There is Jack Rodger, aged 82, took out his 56th cabman's license this year. He was special cab driver at various times to Dr. Molson, Dr. Major, the throat specialist whose house on Guy street below St. Catherine has since been turned into a retreat for old ladies; Dr. Bains, Sir William Hingston at times, and also frequently driver the Mackenzies, noted financiers, the Waddell's, Lady Aberdeen wife of the Governor - General, Donald Smith, later Lord Strathcona, and his wife and daughter and also Dr. Howard who married Lord Strathcon'as daughter; Duncan McIntyre, the well known dry goods merchant whose house on the mountain was a popular sight on account of its shiny brass roof; Lord Mountsephen, Stanley Bagg, Senator Coughlin and on one or two occasions Sir Wilfid Laurier.
Then there is George Cannon who has been 45 years driving a cab, and used to drive Pierpont Morgan and John L. Sullivan when they came to Montreal, besides a long list of lesser celebrities; Jim Webb who has driven nearly everybody in his fifty years of hack-driving and George Brennan. He's only a child comparatively. He has only been 30 years driving. But he was Sir Charle Tupper's cabby once; drove Lord Strathcona a few times, and drove Sir Wilfrid Laurier an Sir Lomer Gouin often.
There is no one to be found today who had any part in Morey's fleet, they operated the big hotel services and were succeeded by McGarr's. When Morey died their fleet was auctioned off and McGarr took over a good part of it. Morey's babies were on Lagauchetiere street, a little west of Bleury on the north side. They had a headline position in the newspapers in the earlier part of the last century, owing to a mystery murder which was never solved One of the grooms was found murdered in the stable,
We miss this too
The Midget Palace is still on the North Side of Rachel, just west of Lafontaine Park. But now it's a gay sauna. There are no more tiny little sinks and beds and fridges. Coolopolis thoroughly regrets its demise.
Quiz of today
Where in Montreal was this? Answer: Southeast corner of Grey and Sherbrooke. It was there from the early 1920s but by after the war the theater was reduced to a mere cigarette shop. It's not to be confused with the theatre about a block to the east, long known as The Westmount and then became a Jean Coutu and is now a Pharmaprix. Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Is Montreal ready for Pret?
This little defunct restaurant near St. Matty and St. Catz bears a moniker that you might be seeing much more of in the future. Pret-a-Manger cafes have steamrolled the UK, there are about 150 worldwide, including a dozen in NYC, plus some more in Singapore and Hong Kong. The founder of the real Pret (not the one in the photo) had a strategy: find a McDonald's and open up across the street from it. The idea was that this would be the healthier alternative to fast food. They sell sandwiches wrapped in neat containers and have fruit juice a plenty and are pretty sweet with customers. And their crawford ain't too shabbie eithers. Now there's a huge cult around Pret and this here town - perhaps this very location - could be a pretty good place for them to start in Canada.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
What was lost at Drummond and Demaisonneuve?
Coolopolis photo editor Charles Laframboise says of this photo: "if you don't feel a sadness for what used to be - and should still be - smack dab in the middle of this photo, then you're not true Montrealer." We tried to get him to explain what he was talking 'bout but then he fell off his chair and dozed off in his alcoholic haze. Anybody have an idea?
Abandoned building land speculation
This classique ol' place across from the Vendome metro has been left to its own devices, surely the strategy is to empty it and demolish it for something more profitable when the superhospital gets built. Seems like a ripe target for those urban adventurers who go everywhere they're forbidden. One might imagine it'll be demolished soon and turned into the nearby development pictured below, 
which is separated from it only by the Unitarian Church. In the mid 50s one of these buildings - we're not sure which - housed a jazz club where Tony Bennett once visited and traded his fur coat in exchange for some paintings on the wall. Everybody was wowed by Bennet as a fabulous guy. Anyway, if this thing goes, it'll be the death of NDG's only skybridge. (we think).
Montreal's first outdoor strip club
For those easily amused, the corner of Demaisonneuve and Mountain is a good place to spot strippers interacting with customers, it's the upstairs unwalled VIP section of Wanda's strip club. This is proof of the emancipation of strippers and strip club customers who no longer feel forced to live in the dark basements of shame that they were once forced to live in. We'll keep you abreast of further developments here as Coolopolis has our stripperazzi intern camped outside his kodak for the rest of the summer.
How'd they do dat?
If you look closely, you'll notice that the Octopussy, whatever that is, occupies a window at the top left of this photo as well as another one behind the Quebec flag. They're two separate buildings. The entrance is on the building on the left. One day we'll send an intern in to figure how they're simultaneously occupying two separate buildings which would normally not be connected through the firewall at all. Anybody care to explain this?
Quiz of le day today
The W in this picture stands for Who, what where why and how. That's the question. Who, specifically, is this person and why was she perhaps the most divisive and controversial woman ever to grace the streets of this mountain-centered island paradise on the St. Lawrence? One Coolopolis ballpoint pen shall be awarded to the victor of this contest provided that he or she can get through the picket lines outside of Coolopolis Towers prior to noon tomorrow.
Quiz over! Nobody wins the pen! The answer : She is Maria Monk, purported author of a shocking tell-all book reporting perversion inside a Catholic nunnery. Her story was more-than-likely an invention by anti-Catholic nutters. But it sure was spicy stuff at the time.When public transportation was really really slow...
August 30 th will mark the end of tramways in Montreal
by Andre de la Chevrotiere
Seaports and the Transport World August 1959
On August 30 th, 1959, the face of Montreal w3ill be submitted to a radical transportation change when all tramcars will disappear from the metropolis.
The $62,000,000 changeover will end on August 30 th at 4 a.m. when the last streetcar will retire to the shed and de Lorimier, Papineau and Rosemount Avenues will see autobuses in the morning for the first time - finis for the tramcars in Montreal.
On September 19 th, 1892, the electric tramways were inaugurated on Bleury and Craig streets. Exactly 65 yeras ago, last September.
On this occasion I am particularly privileged to publish here an interview granted me by Mr. Honore Guay, old-time conductor on horse-drawn trams from 1889 to 1892, and I quote:
The man who drove Montreal's first electric streetcar recalls how courtesy graced the horse cars before noisy trams and fume trailing buses.
Incredible as it may seem to Montrealers who have sprinted to catch a bus only to have a door slammed in their faces when one stride short of victory, there actually was a time when such public servants who were masters of your immediate destination would not only wait for you but would have the patience to let you finish a curbside conversation.
The drivers didn't mind at all in those leisurely days and, besides, it rested the horses. There were no queues at tramway stops, for passengers could raise a hand anywhere along the street, even in the middle of a block, and the horse cars would obligingly pull to the curb. When a passenger got on, he or she just had to mention the right horse number along the route and the driver would pull up at the proper door. Furthermore, if you spotted a friend out for a stroll along the way, the horse car would gladly stop to let you get out and chat. When you were good and ready, you climbed back on and the horse car rumbled on. Similarly, the car would wait for you while you went into a store to do a little shopping. However, like most good things, this charming custom soon came to an end. It was considered shockingly bad business. But for four good years, Montreal tram system patrons really lived it up. In 1862, when the tramways company received its initial charter, Montreal was a growing community of 101,430 persons. By 1865, the tramways board of directors had decided that this courtesy nonsense had to stop and so the horse cars paused only at designated tram stops and only long enough to embark and disembark passengers.
By 1891, the population had more than doubled to an impressive 261,302 persons, and the street transportation business was so brisk that the horses had to take turns munching their noonday oats. Electric streetcars were introduced in Montreal in September 1892 and to help popularize the new but somewhat fearsome electric trams there was a brief return to the pleasant way of picking up passengers anywhere along the street and letting them off at their own door when the time schedule did not take too much of a beating. ...etc...
by Andre de la Chevrotiere
Seaports and the Transport World August 1959
On August 30 th, 1959, the face of Montreal w3ill be submitted to a radical transportation change when all tramcars will disappear from the metropolis.
The $62,000,000 changeover will end on August 30 th at 4 a.m. when the last streetcar will retire to the shed and de Lorimier, Papineau and Rosemount Avenues will see autobuses in the morning for the first time - finis for the tramcars in Montreal.
On September 19 th, 1892, the electric tramways were inaugurated on Bleury and Craig streets. Exactly 65 yeras ago, last September.
On this occasion I am particularly privileged to publish here an interview granted me by Mr. Honore Guay, old-time conductor on horse-drawn trams from 1889 to 1892, and I quote:
The man who drove Montreal's first electric streetcar recalls how courtesy graced the horse cars before noisy trams and fume trailing buses.
Incredible as it may seem to Montrealers who have sprinted to catch a bus only to have a door slammed in their faces when one stride short of victory, there actually was a time when such public servants who were masters of your immediate destination would not only wait for you but would have the patience to let you finish a curbside conversation.
The drivers didn't mind at all in those leisurely days and, besides, it rested the horses. There were no queues at tramway stops, for passengers could raise a hand anywhere along the street, even in the middle of a block, and the horse cars would obligingly pull to the curb. When a passenger got on, he or she just had to mention the right horse number along the route and the driver would pull up at the proper door. Furthermore, if you spotted a friend out for a stroll along the way, the horse car would gladly stop to let you get out and chat. When you were good and ready, you climbed back on and the horse car rumbled on. Similarly, the car would wait for you while you went into a store to do a little shopping. However, like most good things, this charming custom soon came to an end. It was considered shockingly bad business. But for four good years, Montreal tram system patrons really lived it up. In 1862, when the tramways company received its initial charter, Montreal was a growing community of 101,430 persons. By 1865, the tramways board of directors had decided that this courtesy nonsense had to stop and so the horse cars paused only at designated tram stops and only long enough to embark and disembark passengers.
By 1891, the population had more than doubled to an impressive 261,302 persons, and the street transportation business was so brisk that the horses had to take turns munching their noonday oats. Electric streetcars were introduced in Montreal in September 1892 and to help popularize the new but somewhat fearsome electric trams there was a brief return to the pleasant way of picking up passengers anywhere along the street and letting them off at their own door when the time schedule did not take too much of a beating. ...etc...
Monday, June 11, 2007
"There is no substitute for a pretty girl"
Here's an Al Palmer article about the Cinema V -aka the Empress - back when it was a strip club.
Show time
by Al Palmer
The Montreal Gazette
Monday, May 17, 1965
We doubt if any other a cabaret in Ourtown's show business history overcame as many obstacles before it opened its doors as the west end's Follies Royal.
Converting the Empress Theatre into a combination hotel and theatre-restaurant was an imposing task but it didn't end there. Therewere zoning regulations to face, permits to obtain and, when all that was overcome, came a Quebec Liquor Board employees strike.
As shows of the size the Follies planned take at least a month to book, booking was impossible because no one knew how long the liquor people were going to stay out.
After the strike was settled the show was arranged and the place finally threw open its doors after two years of frustrations.
And quite a show it is too. There are no individual stars although Jean Philippe, a handsome young singer from Paris, would be the choice of stardom for many in the audience.
Peel street wise money was against the Follies ever getting off the ground and into continuous operation. We, personally, think they're going to lose their bet. The place has been running at near capacity since it opened.
Its creation and operation was mainly the work of two men, J.C. McNicoll and Gaby Richard.
Working on the theory that there is no substitute for a pretty girl, the Follies uses about 35 of them on stage at one time. They're from Las Vegas, England, Belgium and France.
Straight variety acts appear between the production number and Al Nicols' orchestra plays from a suspended pit about 12 feet above the stage.
It's quite a place. There is a quarter-million dollars worth of machinery behind the stage and lighting is controlled from a console in the balcony.
McNicoll revealed that a 15-storey hotel will be the next stage of the operation. One feature will be that guests will be able to park their cars on the same floor as their room.
Completion date is set for 1967 and Expo. "The Follies," McNicoll said the other night, "is the first establishment that has been conceived to be an accessory of the World's Fair. "
"Where else is there to go to see a show this size. There's no place in the west end running spectaculars at the present time," he pointed out.
The show has a distinct continental flavor and is larger than any now on tap in New York or Boston. It's more on the style of the Lido in Paris than it is of Manhattan's Latin Quarter.
"A place like this," McNicoll continued, "has a part to play in Montreal because of our city's cosmopolitan atmosphere."
Richard planned the interior of the place and he apparently didn't spare the expense. In fact, the stage curtains at the Follies are more expensive than those at Place des Arts.
The Follies could start a trend towards lavish nigh club productions for which Ourtown was justly famed in the 1930s. Even so, nothing around town in that halcyon era ever came near the size of the show in the new west end place.
All those pretty girls, hoo boy.
Show time
by Al Palmer
The Montreal Gazette
Monday, May 17, 1965
We doubt if any other a cabaret in Ourtown's show business history overcame as many obstacles before it opened its doors as the west end's Follies Royal.
Converting the Empress Theatre into a combination hotel and theatre-restaurant was an imposing task but it didn't end there. Therewere zoning regulations to face, permits to obtain and, when all that was overcome, came a Quebec Liquor Board employees strike.
As shows of the size the Follies planned take at least a month to book, booking was impossible because no one knew how long the liquor people were going to stay out.
After the strike was settled the show was arranged and the place finally threw open its doors after two years of frustrations.
And quite a show it is too. There are no individual stars although Jean Philippe, a handsome young singer from Paris, would be the choice of stardom for many in the audience.
Peel street wise money was against the Follies ever getting off the ground and into continuous operation. We, personally, think they're going to lose their bet. The place has been running at near capacity since it opened.
Its creation and operation was mainly the work of two men, J.C. McNicoll and Gaby Richard.
Working on the theory that there is no substitute for a pretty girl, the Follies uses about 35 of them on stage at one time. They're from Las Vegas, England, Belgium and France.
Straight variety acts appear between the production number and Al Nicols' orchestra plays from a suspended pit about 12 feet above the stage.
It's quite a place. There is a quarter-million dollars worth of machinery behind the stage and lighting is controlled from a console in the balcony.
McNicoll revealed that a 15-storey hotel will be the next stage of the operation. One feature will be that guests will be able to park their cars on the same floor as their room.
Completion date is set for 1967 and Expo. "The Follies," McNicoll said the other night, "is the first establishment that has been conceived to be an accessory of the World's Fair. "
"Where else is there to go to see a show this size. There's no place in the west end running spectaculars at the present time," he pointed out.
The show has a distinct continental flavor and is larger than any now on tap in New York or Boston. It's more on the style of the Lido in Paris than it is of Manhattan's Latin Quarter.
"A place like this," McNicoll continued, "has a part to play in Montreal because of our city's cosmopolitan atmosphere."
Richard planned the interior of the place and he apparently didn't spare the expense. In fact, the stage curtains at the Follies are more expensive than those at Place des Arts.
The Follies could start a trend towards lavish nigh club productions for which Ourtown was justly famed in the 1930s. Even so, nothing around town in that halcyon era ever came near the size of the show in the new west end place.
All those pretty girls, hoo boy.
How Auf der Maur got elected
When Nick Auf der Maur was first elected to city council in 1974 he was considered "left of center." Hard to believe it now. He edged out his friend, the dyanamo bigwig blowhard John "The Senator" Lynch-Staunton, it was considered an upset. Here's an article written about Nick's campaign just prior to him upsetting J-LySt.
Montreal this morning
By L. Ian MacDonald
Montreal Gazette October 19, 1974
A friend of Nick Auf der Maur's was giving him the business.
"What are you going to do if you win, demand a recount?"
Auf der Maur laughed appreciatively. As a Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM) candidate for city council from the Cote des Neiges district, he is not favored against formidable Draparty incumbent John Lynch-Staunton in the Nov. 10 election.
Nor can Auf de Maur really afford to be elected and draw roughly $5,000 as year as a councillor. A majority of Draparty rubberstampers derive most of their income from outside business interests. Auf der Maur is a journalist. If he wins, he must resign his television job at CBC-Montreal which is not anxious to employ elected politicians.
Even so Auf der Maur is running hard in his bid to unseat the vice-chairman of the council's executive committee.
"So far we've done 800 homes in our door-to-door campaign and we're just starting. " Auf de Maur said," I asked a lot of people if they knew who their city councillor was. Not one of them could tell me."
It's probably closer to the mark to say that many Cote des Neiges residents know who Staunton is, but not that he represent them at city hall.
Campaigning for office simply does not fit the style of the Draparty which follows its leader in all things. And the man who has ruled Montreal since 190 is obviously not worried about this election.
He was in town the other day, making a psyche between flights to Europe. Who knows? He may not be seen again before election day. It is a brilliant strategy. As the central figure, indeed as a central issue of this election, the Drap knows there can be no effective campaign without him.
And Drapeau's posture is clearly hampering the MCM"s attempt to mount a serious campaign against him.
"He knows that if he's not campaigning, its' difficult for the media to justify covering us in fairness to him." Auf der Maur asserts.
If people aren't stirred up, they're less likely to vote against city hall. A lot of them won't bother to vote. And some of them won't even know there's an election, or which of the city's 19 electoral district they live in or how to get on the voters' list if enumerators missed them.
If that last point covers your situation, today is your chance to get on the list. If you don't know your district the first thing is to call the city election office at 872-5950, and you the number of your deputy returning officer, who will give you the address of his office which his open until nine o'clock tonight.
And when it comes to election day, how many voters will know they can split their ticket? In Cote des Neiges, for example, electors will receive four ballots, one for mayor and one for each of the three city council seats in the district.
"It's the only election in Canada where you can do that," Auf der Maur says. "It's important to emphasize that. People can still vote for Drapeau, but they don't have to put in all his dolts."
Low voter turnout and general unawareness of the electoral process should not be surprising in a city where universal suffrage was attained only four years ago.
"You have to understand the history of democracy in Montreal," Auf der Maur says. "Up to 1970 only property owners and ratepayers could vote, so there's no tradition of that. And people who bother tend to vote en block as they do for the federal and provincial Liberal parties."
With the Draparty holding all 52 seats in the old council and the prospect of taking nearly all 55 seats in the new one, the resulting city council, says Auf der Maur, "is as functioning and democratic as the parliament of Spain."
Auf der Maur pointedly adds: "the most demoralizing things is that our city council is useless because of the people in it." Auf de Maur and the MCM entertain no illusions about smashing the Drapeau machine.
"We'd be happy if we won six seats and ecstatic if we won 10," he says. And what then? Well, there might be at least some representatives to ask questions at council meetings. There might be some voices raised for the city's future and the concerns of its 80 per cent tenant population.
Already, Auf de Maur makes the optimistic claim that the MCM "is mobilizing ordinary people to reform politics. We've been recurring very hard and we're up to a couple of thousand members did you ever try to belong to Drapeau's party? Well, we he a real cross section of people, left-winters and conservatives and quite literally old ladies in sneakers."
The MCM is showing small but undeniable signs of life. They sold 800 tickets at five dollars each to a fundraiser for Auf de Maur and the party's other candidates in Cote des Neiges.
The had the vent Thursday night at the Sheraton Mt. Royal hotel, owned by the ITT concern that is anathema to any self-respecting left-of-center person like Nick Auf de Maur.
"It had the biggest room of any hotel in the district and no one else would rent to us," Auf de Maur said," In politics, compromise is necessary."
About 700 persons showed up, including in the earlier hours of the evening some of the older and working people who comprise what Auf de Maur calls the "cross-section of the MCM."
By midnight it looked rather more like Crescent St. crowd lined up to get into a pub. Still, they were all friends of Nick's. And given the normal turnout in city elections, if only his friends come out to vote, he might give Staunton a run.
Montreal this morning
By L. Ian MacDonald
Montreal Gazette October 19, 1974
A friend of Nick Auf der Maur's was giving him the business.
"What are you going to do if you win, demand a recount?"
Auf der Maur laughed appreciatively. As a Montreal Citizens' Movement (MCM) candidate for city council from the Cote des Neiges district, he is not favored against formidable Draparty incumbent John Lynch-Staunton in the Nov. 10 election.
Nor can Auf de Maur really afford to be elected and draw roughly $5,000 as year as a councillor. A majority of Draparty rubberstampers derive most of their income from outside business interests. Auf der Maur is a journalist. If he wins, he must resign his television job at CBC-Montreal which is not anxious to employ elected politicians.
Even so Auf der Maur is running hard in his bid to unseat the vice-chairman of the council's executive committee.
"So far we've done 800 homes in our door-to-door campaign and we're just starting. " Auf de Maur said," I asked a lot of people if they knew who their city councillor was. Not one of them could tell me."
It's probably closer to the mark to say that many Cote des Neiges residents know who Staunton is, but not that he represent them at city hall.
Campaigning for office simply does not fit the style of the Draparty which follows its leader in all things. And the man who has ruled Montreal since 190 is obviously not worried about this election.
He was in town the other day, making a psyche between flights to Europe. Who knows? He may not be seen again before election day. It is a brilliant strategy. As the central figure, indeed as a central issue of this election, the Drap knows there can be no effective campaign without him.
And Drapeau's posture is clearly hampering the MCM"s attempt to mount a serious campaign against him.
"He knows that if he's not campaigning, its' difficult for the media to justify covering us in fairness to him." Auf der Maur asserts.
If people aren't stirred up, they're less likely to vote against city hall. A lot of them won't bother to vote. And some of them won't even know there's an election, or which of the city's 19 electoral district they live in or how to get on the voters' list if enumerators missed them.
If that last point covers your situation, today is your chance to get on the list. If you don't know your district the first thing is to call the city election office at 872-5950, and you the number of your deputy returning officer, who will give you the address of his office which his open until nine o'clock tonight.
And when it comes to election day, how many voters will know they can split their ticket? In Cote des Neiges, for example, electors will receive four ballots, one for mayor and one for each of the three city council seats in the district.
"It's the only election in Canada where you can do that," Auf der Maur says. "It's important to emphasize that. People can still vote for Drapeau, but they don't have to put in all his dolts."
Low voter turnout and general unawareness of the electoral process should not be surprising in a city where universal suffrage was attained only four years ago.
"You have to understand the history of democracy in Montreal," Auf der Maur says. "Up to 1970 only property owners and ratepayers could vote, so there's no tradition of that. And people who bother tend to vote en block as they do for the federal and provincial Liberal parties."
With the Draparty holding all 52 seats in the old council and the prospect of taking nearly all 55 seats in the new one, the resulting city council, says Auf der Maur, "is as functioning and democratic as the parliament of Spain."
Auf der Maur pointedly adds: "the most demoralizing things is that our city council is useless because of the people in it." Auf de Maur and the MCM entertain no illusions about smashing the Drapeau machine.
"We'd be happy if we won six seats and ecstatic if we won 10," he says. And what then? Well, there might be at least some representatives to ask questions at council meetings. There might be some voices raised for the city's future and the concerns of its 80 per cent tenant population.
Already, Auf de Maur makes the optimistic claim that the MCM "is mobilizing ordinary people to reform politics. We've been recurring very hard and we're up to a couple of thousand members did you ever try to belong to Drapeau's party? Well, we he a real cross section of people, left-winters and conservatives and quite literally old ladies in sneakers."
The MCM is showing small but undeniable signs of life. They sold 800 tickets at five dollars each to a fundraiser for Auf de Maur and the party's other candidates in Cote des Neiges.
The had the vent Thursday night at the Sheraton Mt. Royal hotel, owned by the ITT concern that is anathema to any self-respecting left-of-center person like Nick Auf de Maur.
"It had the biggest room of any hotel in the district and no one else would rent to us," Auf de Maur said," In politics, compromise is necessary."
About 700 persons showed up, including in the earlier hours of the evening some of the older and working people who comprise what Auf de Maur calls the "cross-section of the MCM."
By midnight it looked rather more like Crescent St. crowd lined up to get into a pub. Still, they were all friends of Nick's. And given the normal turnout in city elections, if only his friends come out to vote, he might give Staunton a run.
Drapeau and his boat obsession
First Mayor Drapeau argued that the Olympic athletes be housed in a huge ocean liner in the St. Lawrence River for the duration of the Olympics. It might have seemed like a nutty idea, but it was surely a much better solution that the amazingly costly and crime-ridden Olympic Village that was later built by Joseph Zappia. Then Drapeau went on a campaign to have the new convention centre placed on the same ship. By mid-September of 1975 he officially renounced the idea, saying that people want the darn thing downtown rather than in the old port. Part of the difficulty was actually bringing the 1,035 foot long, 66,000 ton liner, which could hold 2,044 passengers ship under the Quebec bridge, as her mast was too tall to pass under the bridge in Quebec City. It would have been shortened and brought here October 26, 1975, the same day the Mirabel Airport was officially opened.
Drapeau touts liner as convention centre
Montreal Star March 1, 1976
Mayor Jean Drapeau said yesterday that Montreal needs a convention centre and that to buy the liner France would be the best and cheapest solution.
Speaking on CJAD radio, Mr. Drapeau said "we need a good convention centre if we are going to attract the larger and longer international conventions" which pump "millions and millions of dollars into a city."
He said Montreal has already hosted a number of large international conventions - such as the Kiwanis and the Rotary - but it was unable to attract such conventions all year round.
At present, the delegates to large conventions in the city have to be housed in several hotels and use the Montreal Forum of Jarry Park.
"We cannot offer year-round facilities for large conventions because such facilities as the Forum are used for other purposes.
"However, the France as it is, meets 90 per cent of our needs and could still be acquired at a fixed and most reasonable cost," the mayor said - but he declined to put a price tag on the ship's purchase.
When the provincial government talked of purchasing the French liner last spring for conversion into the a convention centre or a gambling casino that would be moored at the Main and His World Islands, the purchase price was rumored to be about $50 million.
Mr. Drapeau said the only thing the France, in its present condition, lacks is a gathering hall for 5,000 to 6,000 people - and this could be built within a year.
Whether operated by the government or private enterprise, the mayor said he was ositive that such a convention centre would pay for itself.
He said studies carried out "not by consultations but by people who would be willing to operate it" show that ht cost could be recovered over several years.
Mr. Drapeau revealed that his original discussion with the provincial government last year called for the purchased of the liner, the construction of the additional hall by Quebec and then the creation of a corporation to operate the centre.
"The studies show that it would not cost anything to operate the convention centre and that it sure would not need annual subsidies to keep it going.
"It would be a most fascinating, promotional, unique convention centre and it would cost one-third the price of any other solution offering even less than the French liner would offer," Mr. Drapeau siad.
Drapeau touts liner as convention centre
Montreal Star March 1, 1976
Mayor Jean Drapeau said yesterday that Montreal needs a convention centre and that to buy the liner France would be the best and cheapest solution.
Speaking on CJAD radio, Mr. Drapeau said "we need a good convention centre if we are going to attract the larger and longer international conventions" which pump "millions and millions of dollars into a city."
He said Montreal has already hosted a number of large international conventions - such as the Kiwanis and the Rotary - but it was unable to attract such conventions all year round.
At present, the delegates to large conventions in the city have to be housed in several hotels and use the Montreal Forum of Jarry Park.
"We cannot offer year-round facilities for large conventions because such facilities as the Forum are used for other purposes.
"However, the France as it is, meets 90 per cent of our needs and could still be acquired at a fixed and most reasonable cost," the mayor said - but he declined to put a price tag on the ship's purchase.
When the provincial government talked of purchasing the French liner last spring for conversion into the a convention centre or a gambling casino that would be moored at the Main and His World Islands, the purchase price was rumored to be about $50 million.
Mr. Drapeau said the only thing the France, in its present condition, lacks is a gathering hall for 5,000 to 6,000 people - and this could be built within a year.
Whether operated by the government or private enterprise, the mayor said he was ositive that such a convention centre would pay for itself.
He said studies carried out "not by consultations but by people who would be willing to operate it" show that ht cost could be recovered over several years.
Mr. Drapeau revealed that his original discussion with the provincial government last year called for the purchased of the liner, the construction of the additional hall by Quebec and then the creation of a corporation to operate the centre.
"The studies show that it would not cost anything to operate the convention centre and that it sure would not need annual subsidies to keep it going.
"It would be a most fascinating, promotional, unique convention centre and it would cost one-third the price of any other solution offering even less than the French liner would offer," Mr. Drapeau siad.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
B cup bicyclists invade the city!
Some degenerate pervert freaks decided to ride around butt naked on Park Avenue 
today to protest something or other. Weiners were wagging and sweaty breasts a shaking like they never have down that busy street. Coolopolis sent our top intern out to do some interviews
but he ended up taking off his clothes and running around nude. He told us later that these people were protesting the fact that nobody had ever asked them to ride around in the nude yet. Thx to P-Gel for the photos.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Hauling garbage on the metro
Metro suggested as way to haul container freight
Montreal Star Friday November 16, 1973
The Montreal Urban Community Transit Commission could gain some much-needed revenue by transporting freight on the Metro as well as people, Mayor Gerry Dephoure of Dollar des Ormeaux suggested last night.
"Containerization would make this feasible," he told MUC councilors during debate on the commissions $112-million budget for 1974.
"The railroads even transport garbage, I understand. It may seem like 25 th century thinking, but I bet our tunnel system has lots of idle time and space."
Underground shipments would ease the strain on Montreal Island's road system imposed by trucks, the mayor said. Admitted the deficit-ridden MUCTC could use extra income, commission chairman Lucien L'Allier nonetheless had reservations about Mr. Dephoure's idea.
"It wouldn't be practical with our present tunnels and trains," he said.
"You can't mix people and garbage. Some tunnel widening would have to be done." The Metro runs from 5 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., he added, and the hours between are barely adeuqate for maintenance work.
Linin' up for fridges in the east end
Good sale on fridges, stoves, etc, this week at the GE warehouse on Dickson just north of Notre Dame in the East End. It's theoretically for employees and their friends but nobody asks. Many a bargain to be had. However you'll have to endure a killer hour-long lineup. Call 257 3294 to know more.
Hobos and their kick ass dogs
To many, it's not clear why young hobos have dogs. To quote Norm McDonald, those dogs must be happy - they're on the longest walk ever! My theory is that these people are such devoted dog trainers that they've spent every last cent taking care of their pooches. And now upcoming city legislation intends to pry the local hobo and man's best friend apart by forcing canines from parks where the homeless folk enjoy their enjoyable lives. What will become of this young lass who sits here as her female friend puts in a hard day's work passing the hat around for her under the Jac Cartier Bridge? Where will she put her dog when she goes to bed at night in Viger Park? These are questions that Coolopolis will endeavour to answer, in due course.
Danger is his middle name
Nice to see that some young men are willing to sacrifice their lives for a good cause, in this case it's a repair guy fixing up the Bellevue Pathe lofts at Decarie and Demaisonneuve. He's just waiting for the first wind to blow him 50 feet to his death.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
When the West End gang still ruled the West End
Here's a translated article from the Allo Police about the famous Brinks robbery of 1976.
The Brinks heist of 1976
within a week four officers were targeted by bandits
by Pierre Philippe Gingras
The Brinks robbery of 1976 has been discussed to death but there's a side story that is less well-known. During week in May 1976, a month after the robbery, four Montreal police officers were targeted for assassination. It was no coincidence that these officers were investigating this famous robbery that so upset the city's West End.
The investigation sought the authors of the $2.8 robbery, committed in such a professional manner that it was longtime said that it could have been a become a great Hollywood movie.
Sgt Dets Andre Savard and Pierre Gilbert of the night squad would be the first victims of of the gang's assassination attempts.
the two investigators were in a Montreal police car patrolling around hotel Pegs at 1980 Westmour in the West End. A few weeks earlier Andre Savard and some of his colleagues had arrested four men and seized weapons, handcuffs and drugs as well as bags usually used by banks for holding their cash.
Another step brought the investigators to Chez Giustini, a restaurant bar in Old Montreal. This time the agents seized a sawed off shotgun as well as a small quantity of cocaine estimated to be worth $400 on the black market. It was one the first of a series of descents where the seizures increased as well as the arrests of disreputable people.
So during the night of 1 May 1976, Sgt Savard and his colleague continue to investigate near Pegs around 1 am a bullet from a firearm passed through the rear window of their car and through the front window. Neither were hit and it's simply a miracle because the bullet could easily have landed in the head of either.
The next Tuesday Agent Kevin McGarr of Station 10, but who had been lent to the investigation to solve the Brinks Robbery, exited Nittolo's on Upper Lachine when he noticed a car coming full speed towards him.
Right in front of his colleague who was waiting in his in their patrol car, the driver was clearly aiming to hit McGarr an. an unusual manhunt followed and the suspect was arrested. it was Raymond Ricciardi, aged 20, known to police, who had already been arrested the year earlier for having allegedly sold heroin to an RCMP officer. He testified the next day to an accusation of trying to murder a police officer.
A few days later agent Russ Trudel because the fourth attempt victim of this ongoing war.
The Brinks heist of 1976
within a week four officers were targeted by bandits
by Pierre Philippe Gingras
The Brinks robbery of 1976 has been discussed to death but there's a side story that is less well-known. During week in May 1976, a month after the robbery, four Montreal police officers were targeted for assassination. It was no coincidence that these officers were investigating this famous robbery that so upset the city's West End.
The investigation sought the authors of the $2.8 robbery, committed in such a professional manner that it was longtime said that it could have been a become a great Hollywood movie.
Sgt Dets Andre Savard and Pierre Gilbert of the night squad would be the first victims of of the gang's assassination attempts.
the two investigators were in a Montreal police car patrolling around hotel Pegs at 1980 Westmour in the West End. A few weeks earlier Andre Savard and some of his colleagues had arrested four men and seized weapons, handcuffs and drugs as well as bags usually used by banks for holding their cash.
Another step brought the investigators to Chez Giustini, a restaurant bar in Old Montreal. This time the agents seized a sawed off shotgun as well as a small quantity of cocaine estimated to be worth $400 on the black market. It was one the first of a series of descents where the seizures increased as well as the arrests of disreputable people.
So during the night of 1 May 1976, Sgt Savard and his colleague continue to investigate near Pegs around 1 am a bullet from a firearm passed through the rear window of their car and through the front window. Neither were hit and it's simply a miracle because the bullet could easily have landed in the head of either.
The next Tuesday Agent Kevin McGarr of Station 10, but who had been lent to the investigation to solve the Brinks Robbery, exited Nittolo's on Upper Lachine when he noticed a car coming full speed towards him.
Right in front of his colleague who was waiting in his in their patrol car, the driver was clearly aiming to hit McGarr an. an unusual manhunt followed and the suspect was arrested. it was Raymond Ricciardi, aged 20, known to police, who had already been arrested the year earlier for having allegedly sold heroin to an RCMP officer. He testified the next day to an accusation of trying to murder a police officer.
A few days later agent Russ Trudel because the fourth attempt victim of this ongoing war.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
e-zee Kwiz!!
Montreal's first outdoor public pool launched open its wetty wett waters almozt 70 years ago this ete. People came from far and wide to splash about in this soon-to-be-built waterzone. Ten points (must be collected from the secretary's sub-assitant on the 4 th floor of Coolopolis Towers Friday before noon) to the first zookah who can tell Coolopolis where it is.
Goose Village RIP
This part of town was demolished by Jean Drapeau in 1964. The city report cites bad living conditions, but others speculate that Drapeau didn't want cars coming into Expo '67 seeing a slum from the Victoria Bridge and he also wanted to give opposition councilor Frank Hanley a blast of cold air. By '64 it had become a landing ground for Italian immigrants, who didn't offer much resistance to the demolitions. The area was sorta across from the Club Price on Bridge street. Here's an article about the place.Mothers Win Hide and Skin War
Ultimatum to be given factories
The Gazette Tuesday, August 1, 1961
By Bruce Garvey
The angry housewives of Forfar Street went to war with the hide and skin business last week – and won.
The women in Point St. Charles claimed the hide and skin warehouses made their homes fly-ridden and the whole district rat infested and "stinking."
Executive Committee Chairman Lucien Saulnier, who pitched in on the side of the housewives once he smelled the none-too-fragrant district air, said yesterday the health department now is looking for a way to carry out the ultimatum within existing health regulations.
"If it isn't possible, we'll soon make an amendment," he promised.
Playground Enlargement is planned
Eventually the two warehouses at Forfar and Riverside Sts. And university and St. Paul Sts. will be expropriated to enlarge children's playgrounds. The Forfar St. Building adjoins a playground
and the warehouse on University is just the width of St. Paul St. from another.
But although the women in Point St. Charles are smiling at their success, those indelicate odours are still around.
The hopping mad housewives decided to do something about the smell that "makes life unbearable" when Mayor Jean Drapeau and executive committee members toured the district on a hot and sticky afternoon.They ran out to besiege the mayor and lodged their complaints in no uncertain terms.
Mrs. Alexander Allardyce and Mrs. Stella Santucci, mother of eight, whose home face the warehouses across Forfar St., were among the crowd of 50 who angrily demanded action from the city officials.
"The smell is terrible – so bad that you can't keep the windows open at night, " said Mrs. Allardyce.
"I just don't know how men can work there and go home to their families with that smell. Our homes are full of big flies all through he summer and the smell doesn't go away in the winter."
There are house behind and opposite the warehouse and a narrow alley separates it from the playground."Blood runs out into the street and people can't pass and it stinks badly," complained Playground Caretaker Arthur Diorio. "Americans hold their noses when they pass over Victoria Bridge."
"It's bad for the children, too," he added.
More than 100 suntanned youngsters romp around the playground all day, every day.
Across the canal, complaints about the University St. building and its piles of hides and waste are the same.
In a neighbouring office, Mrs. Ivy Hand calls it "wicked, horrible, awful.""There's blood in the street and the smell is wicked. These places should be out of town," she said.
Pleading anonymity, the superintendent of the second playground agreed: ":It gets darned bad."Do the owners, Martin and Stewart Ltd., consider their warehouse odours offensive?
"Absolutely not," said an indignant employee.
But from the President's office comes: "No comment."
One thing is certain, something smells in Point St. Charles- and you don't have to have been reared in a rose garden to notice it.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Quiz - whose quips are these?
Contest over! the answer: these quips were taken from colums from award-winning sports journalist Tim Burke, who wrote for the Montreal Standard, Gazette, Star and Daily News. Here's a buncha Montreal aphorisms from the mid-80s, they're the work of a grump who was often wrong but was also sometimes worth a chuckle. Can anybody guess who?
---Never turn your back on a man wearing a speedo.... You can fly from Montreal to Toronto during the last two minutes of an NFL game . . . Blue Bonnets is the only race track in existence that's become an exclusive club for taxi drivers . . .The only thing I dread about winter is old-timers' hockey. . . The athletic director is the guy who shows up when the team is winning . . . Guys who wear No. 99 in industrial league hockey never pass the puck.. Like the piano player, the guy who plays Santa Claus never has to buy a drink. . . Nobody ever uses the swimming pool in a high-rise . . . Half the romances in town will perish this month at office parties . . . A mother in Westmount park called for her son Jason the other day - and 15 kids came running up to her.. . Only a pagan would jog on Christmas day . . .Nobody gives a damn about your trip to Florida . . Never take a drink before buying the Christmas tree.. . . Never trust a stockbroker who wears red suspenders . . . Winter would be bearable were it not for old-timers' hockey . . ."An Irish-Catholic always gets himself into trouble when he tries to be popular." . . If rugby didn't exist, beer-drinkers would have to invent it . . . . . . It took less time to build the Pyramids than to repair Atwater Street . . .Fat kids are happiest in a swimming pool...The Canadian dollar is so low I can't even afford to go to Filene's basement in Boston anymore...The fastest game in the world is barbotte...Only gangsters drive eight-cylinder cars anymore....Nobody who has ever gone on a corporate fishing trip has gone fishing...Guys who wear tank-tops live on junk food (that's probably why they're so noisy)....My grandchildren won't live long enough to see Atwater St. finally repaired....He's an English Montrealer if he says "holidays" instead of "vacation."...If he calls radial tires "radio tires," he's from Park Ex...Most banal opening line of all: "How's your golf?"..Most impertinent opener: "Are you behaving?"...The first thing a guy gets when he joins a golf club is four more inches around the middle...The most ominous four-letter word in the English language is "chit."...Only the guys I know with no visible means of support can afford to go to Maine this summer...The only worthwhile function of toe rubbers is throwing them on the ice in the Forum....Nobody knows anybody who knows anybody who knows anybody who's ever been polled....There are so many people who want to demolish the Big O, they could do it with volunteers....The most elusive item in civilization is the hat check..A year never goes by that Europe's winter isn't called "the worst of the century."..Sure cure for insomnia: turn on the radio....Anybody who likes bumper pool has a police record...The athlete has yet to be born who has a good word for the fired coach...The attention span hasn't been built which can follow a televised curling match from beginning to end....What ever happened to barbotte, the fastest dice game of all and a patented Montreal invention? On rookie pitcher: "He's got a lot of movement on his fastball." Translation: 
Ball One. Ball Two. Ball Three. Wild Pitch. Arbitration victor: "My million-a-year salary has given me and my family peace of mind." Translation: If my busy schedule allows it, I might show up at the ball park once in a while.GM: "I got a good feeling about Gus."Translation: Sumbitch don't deliver for me, this time next year I'm back on the used car lot in Tuscaloosa....Veteran: "The new skipper treats us like men."Translation: He don't even care if we get loaded before the game...."Radio announcer: "George had his problems over the winter."Translation: Murder Two. Grand larceny. Cocaine dealing..."Now that I'm not swinging at bad pitches, I'm good for .320 this season."Translation: Lifetime .210....Infielder: "I'm just trying to make contact this spring."Translation: Can't hit the curve....Pitcher: "I used to be a thrower, now I've learned to pitch."Translation: Fastball's gone.
Monument to a murderer
Some might not realize that downtown at the corner of Guy and Dorch sits a monument to a murderer. It's a big red cross at the North West corner of the intersection. It's just behind the fence of the Grey Nun's property. It has been there for ...uh...quite some time (he says, while furiously yet unsuccessfully looking for the paper with the year on it). I'll pop up and get the year when the Coolopolis picket lines get a little less hairy. Here's a quick article about it.
Dorchester-Guy Murderer's Burial Place
Montreal Standard
10 September 1938
The murder's name was Belisle and the popular tale was that he was a notorious highway man who robbed and murdered habitants returning from Montreal to St. Laurent and the back country by Dorchester street, which was, at the time, the only highway west of St. Lawrence Street.
But the true story is that Belisle was merely a house-breaker and his crime was a double murder. He lived on Le Grand Chemin, now Dorchester Street, near the spot where the Red Cross stands. "On the other side of the road and a little higher up lived a Mr. And Mrs. Jean Favre. Belisle heard the stories of the Favre couple's wealth and stole into their home one night only to be met by the husband. A struggle followed during which Belisle killed Favre and when his wife ran to ad him, she was also killed by Belisle.
Belisle was suspected, captured and condemned to the terrible punishment of "breaking alive" (trompu vif) which was then in force in the French regime. He was condemned explicitly to "torture ordinary and extraordinary," then to be broken alive on a scaffold erected in the Market Place (later Custom House Square).
The awful sentence was carried out to the letter, his body-buried at the spot which the Red Cross was erected to mark the spot. It still stands there and is regularly treated to a new coat of paint- the good Nun's respecting the dead, now matter how wretched.
Dorchester-Guy Murderer's Burial Place
Montreal Standard
10 September 1938
The murder's name was Belisle and the popular tale was that he was a notorious highway man who robbed and murdered habitants returning from Montreal to St. Laurent and the back country by Dorchester street, which was, at the time, the only highway west of St. Lawrence Street.
But the true story is that Belisle was merely a house-breaker and his crime was a double murder. He lived on Le Grand Chemin, now Dorchester Street, near the spot where the Red Cross stands. "On the other side of the road and a little higher up lived a Mr. And Mrs. Jean Favre. Belisle heard the stories of the Favre couple's wealth and stole into their home one night only to be met by the husband. A struggle followed during which Belisle killed Favre and when his wife ran to ad him, she was also killed by Belisle.
Belisle was suspected, captured and condemned to the terrible punishment of "breaking alive" (trompu vif) which was then in force in the French regime. He was condemned explicitly to "torture ordinary and extraordinary," then to be broken alive on a scaffold erected in the Market Place (later Custom House Square).
The awful sentence was carried out to the letter, his body-buried at the spot which the Red Cross was erected to mark the spot. It still stands there and is regularly treated to a new coat of paint- the good Nun's respecting the dead, now matter how wretched.
Keepers of the cross
Mountain Cross Keepers' Story - Much Technical Detail, Danger, Worry Involved - Unlit Only about Four Times Year
Montreal Standard
25 January 1936
The stately cross on Mount Royal's lofty summit which, when lighted at night may be seen from practically every point in the city and far beyond, has become something quite ordinary to Montrealers; but to the hardy and skilled workmen who must care for it constantly, the cross still represent a monster job that entails an amazing amount of technical knowledge danger and worry.
The "inside story" of what these workers go through was told to the Standard by the veteran chief electrician of the City Lighting Department A. N. Touchette, in an interview at the headquarters on Fletcher's Field this morning.
The lights are attached two feet apart, and to change them requires men to climb along icy steel over perilous ledges with the ever-present wind that one finds on the summit of a mountain, representing another hazard.
An all-time record in the changing of lights on the cross- 240 of them - was established last Tuesday evening when it was decided by the City Fathers to change the white lamps to purple out of tribute to the late King George.
At three o'clock in the afternoon Mr. Touchette was given the order. The purple lamps were quickly procured and the houses containing them transferred, by auto to the park ranger's establishment off Shakespeare Road.
They were changed to a horse and sleigh and conveyed to the base of the cross. The four men delegated to switch the lamps actually started the job in the bitter cold at 4$45 o'clock in the evening and were finished shortly before seven o'clock!
When one bears in mind that the job entailed changing 240 lamps, each of which was two feet apart on a steel framework that rises higher than an ordinary 10-storey building - the two-hour record is something for the men to be proud of.
Then too, it must be remembered that since the lamps are two feet apart, a workman has to shift his position after changing every second lamp. Two men always work together up on the cross with one removing old lamps and the the other putting on new ones.
The lamps are changed every three months. Two men climb up first of all with empty baskets, pulleys and ropes. The baskets are then lowered and the light bulbs transmitted from the ground in that manner.
The lamps are made of special material and many have been known to drop 19 feet on to a stone without braking. Storms of major proportions always represent a serious hindrance to the electrical services and some two months ago, in the last serious storm experienced by Montreal, the cross was unlighted for three nights. Mr. Touchette states that in the eight years he has had charge of the splendid monument to Christ, erected by the St. Jean Baptiste Society, the lights are seldom off more than four nights a year - and that only for serious reasons such as storms.
The technical details concerning the apparently simple matter of lighting the cross are too complex to be recorded here but it is interesting to note that it runs witht he sun. Last night, for example, the cross was lighted at 5:03 o'clock while tonight it will be lighted at 5:04 p.m.
For about six months of the year the time for lighting the cross goes ahead about seven minutes per week while for the remaining six months it goes back the same amount weekly. the lights are turned off at various hours in the morning according to the sun, for sometimes they are lighted as long as 12 hours at a stretch in the winter, while in summer it drops to eight hours.
The varying times are handled automatically by a marvelous apparatus that switches the lights on at anywhere between four o'clock in the winter evenings to 8:30 o'clock in the summer evenings with equal ease.
The City lighting Department Workers have not only the cross to worry about, however, for this is a little matter of 375 buildings, 46 tunnels, bridges and subways, and 1,200 city clocks to be watched by them the year round.
Photo credit here.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Return Percy Walters Park to the chillren
Local legend has it that Percy Walters loved dogs and donated land for a dog park. It's actually thoroughly untrue. In fact it could be argued that the dog owners taking the park over from children might constitute a breach of conditions of the land. Let's just say that if I was one of his descendants I'd certainly be considering a lawsuits to get it back based on the disrespect of the original conditions. Here's an article about it. The top photo and bottom were both lifted from flickr, thanks for the loan guys.
Percy Walters Gives Park to City for Exclusive Benefit of Children
Gazette
20 October 1943
Acceptance of the offer by outright gift of the historic Walters property south of Pine avenue as a park for young children to be known as the Percy Walters Park was voted unanimously by the City of Montreal Executive Committee,
Chairman J.O. Asselin announced yesterday. The property fronting on Simpson and Redpath streets, in northern St. Andrew war is assessed at $83,350.
The offer was made several weeks ago, it was learned, and after study by the Town Planning Commission it was accepted with alacrity in a report from that department. The report held that the area of St. Andrew Ward is without parks for children, insofar s city property is concerned, with the exception of the noisy, traffic surrounded Western Park at St. Catherine street and Atwater avenue. While the Mount Royal Park is nearby it is an arduous task for residents and children of the area to reach open, partly shaded grassy slopes said the planning committee.
Mr. Walters comes from a family long associated with the tobacco trade in England, his father being one of the first directors of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain. After many years in the trade in England, Mr. Walters pioneered for the company in Egypt and Indian, finally coming to Canada where he took up residence in 1910. He was vice-president of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada for many years. Since his retirement has continued to reside in Montreal. He is a director of many companies and president of the Royal Automobile Club of Canada.
Mr. Walters placed no restrictions upon the use of the property as a park except that it primarily be used for the younger children, that no slides or swings be installed, and that its present aspect as a quiet and peaceful spot be maintained.
In line with this latter provision, Mr. Walters in his offer allows the city, if it be deemed necessary at a later date in the interest of traffic, to cut a street through the property. In that event, the value of the land is to be set as through for expropriation and the value of the land for the street is to be donated to the Royal Victoria and the Hotel Dieu hospitals.
The first home on the property was that of Sir George Simpson after whom Simpson street was named and it was from Sir George that the then John Rose acquired the property.
In 1860 Albert Edward Prince of Wales, made a stay in the stately residence of Sir John Rose known as Rosemount on the occasion of his visit to inaugurate the newly constructed Victoria Bridge. William Watson Ogilvie purchased the property in 1871 and it remained in that family with the Major. "Bertie" Ogilvie the last owner until Mr. Walters acquired it in 1926. The mansion which had occupied the grounds and which was sheltered by the same stately old elms which still shade the gently sloping lawn was demolished a number of years ago.
Since he purchased the property, th4e children of the neighbourhood have enjoyed the lawns and the trees which he maintained and kept in order at his own expense.
"I was impressed by the complete enjoyment with which the younger children toddled and played on that property and with the encroachment of larger buildings and apartment houses to the area, their part might have been overwhelmed by the advancing wave of industry and progress. the property could not be but a haven for them," said Mr. Walters yesterday when interviewed. He refused to comment further upon his gift of the park.
The letter to the city offering the outright gift of the city park follows;
"for a number of years my property has been used as a park for young children of the neighbourhood and owing to very light traffic on Redpath and Upper Simpson streets the ground has been quiet and peaceful and have contributed much to the enjoyment and happiness of the children. With a view to making the property permanently available for these purposes I hereby offer to give it to the city free and clear of all encumbrances.
"This gift would be subject to the following conditions: 1-The property is to be used only as a public park and the city will maintain it as such and keep it in good conditions at all times.
2-The park is to be named the Percy Walters Park and this name shall not be changed without the permission of myself or my heirs.
3-No swings, chutes or other apparatus are to be erected in the park and it is my wish that any development of the park, its use for the younger children is to be a first consideration."
(A further provision gives the city the right to build a road through the park, if necessary and stipulates certain conditions). The value shall be fixed in the same manner as property expropriated by the city and the city will pay the sum so fixed to the Royal Victoria and Les Religeuses Soeurs Hospitaliers de St. Joseph de L'Hotel Dieu de Montreal in equal shares.
Percy Walters Gives Park to City for Exclusive Benefit of Children
Gazette
20 October 1943
Acceptance of the offer by outright gift of the historic Walters property south of Pine avenue as a park for young children to be known as the Percy Walters Park was voted unanimously by the City of Montreal Executive Committee,
Chairman J.O. Asselin announced yesterday. The property fronting on Simpson and Redpath streets, in northern St. Andrew war is assessed at $83,350.The offer was made several weeks ago, it was learned, and after study by the Town Planning Commission it was accepted with alacrity in a report from that department. The report held that the area of St. Andrew Ward is without parks for children, insofar s city property is concerned, with the exception of the noisy, traffic surrounded Western Park at St. Catherine street and Atwater avenue. While the Mount Royal Park is nearby it is an arduous task for residents and children of the area to reach open, partly shaded grassy slopes said the planning committee.
Mr. Walters comes from a family long associated with the tobacco trade in England, his father being one of the first directors of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain. After many years in the trade in England, Mr. Walters pioneered for the company in Egypt and Indian, finally coming to Canada where he took up residence in 1910. He was vice-president of the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada for many years. Since his retirement has continued to reside in Montreal. He is a director of many companies and president of the Royal Automobile Club of Canada.
Mr. Walters placed no restrictions upon the use of the property as a park except that it primarily be used for the younger children, that no slides or swings be installed, and that its present aspect as a quiet and peaceful spot be maintained.
In line with this latter provision, Mr. Walters in his offer allows the city, if it be deemed necessary at a later date in the interest of traffic, to cut a street through the property. In that event, the value of the land is to be set as through for expropriation and the value of the land for the street is to be donated to the Royal Victoria and the Hotel Dieu hospitals.
The first home on the property was that of Sir George Simpson after whom Simpson street was named and it was from Sir George that the then John Rose acquired the property.
In 1860 Albert Edward Prince of Wales, made a stay in the stately residence of Sir John Rose known as Rosemount on the occasion of his visit to inaugurate the newly constructed Victoria Bridge. William Watson Ogilvie purchased the property in 1871 and it remained in that family with the Major. "Bertie" Ogilvie the last owner until Mr. Walters acquired it in 1926. The mansion which had occupied the grounds and which was sheltered by the same stately old elms which still shade the gently sloping lawn was demolished a number of years ago.
Since he purchased the property, th4e children of the neighbourhood have enjoyed the lawns and the trees which he maintained and kept in order at his own expense.
"I was impressed by the complete enjoyment with which the younger children toddled and played on that property and with the encroachment of larger buildings and apartment houses to the area, their part might have been overwhelmed by the advancing wave of industry and progress. the property could not be but a haven for them," said Mr. Walters yesterday when interviewed. He refused to comment further upon his gift of the park.
The letter to the city offering the outright gift of the city park follows;
"for a number of years my property has been used as a park for young children of the neighbourhood and owing to very light traffic on Redpath and Upper Simpson streets the ground has been quiet and peaceful and have contributed much to the enjoyment and happiness of the children. With a view to making the property permanently available for these purposes I hereby offer to give it to the city free and clear of all encumbrances.
"This gift would be subject to the following conditions: 1-The property is to be used only as a public park and the city will maintain it as such and keep it in good conditions at all times.
2-The park is to be named the Percy Walters Park and this name shall not be changed without the permission of myself or my heirs.
3-No swings, chutes or other apparatus are to be erected in the park and it is my wish that any development of the park, its use for the younger children is to be a first consideration."
(A further provision gives the city the right to build a road through the park, if necessary and stipulates certain conditions). The value shall be fixed in the same manner as property expropriated by the city and the city will pay the sum so fixed to the Royal Victoria and Les Religeuses Soeurs Hospitaliers de St. Joseph de L'Hotel Dieu de Montreal in equal shares.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
A little-known Lower Main
Nelly Enkin, along with her husband Sydney, ran a well-known fruit store on the Lower Main along with his brothers. Sydney - a father of three, one of whom still lives here - used to do TV reports about fruit and brought rare exotic goods to the thriving area, which is now quite moribund. Sydney died August 1, 2004, his wife Nelly says: "he was a super duper man but a little too far advanced for his time, he traveled the world, places like Jamaica and brought in stuff that nobody else had, he was the first one to bring in those foods." She doesn't have a computer but one day Coolopolis will drop by and scan her photos, which presumably show a Lower Main unlike that which most can imagine. Here's an article portraying a food heaven in the early 1970s.
The Delights of the Lower Main
Time Magazine
December 27 1971
Montreal's St. Lawrence Main was once Canada's best-known red-light district. Nowadays, the pleasures that it offers are chiefly gastronomic, as Time correspondent James Wilde discovered to his delight.
The only Christmas decorations on the Lower Main are the people. An among this polyglot crowd, they manage to give the cold, gray, decaying street all the allure of an oriental bazaar. Beaded Sikhs, kohl-eyed Indian ladies and irrepressible Africans jostle with West Indians, Greeks, Arabs, Italians, Chinese, Portuguese, Spaniards and Filipinos. Even in normal times, they are exacting...Christmas they have needs..supermarkets can meet..are rarely disappointed.
At the grocery emporium of S. Enkin for example, a West Indian can buy sorrel for a rum mix and fresh banana leaves to wrap Christmas sweets. Nearby at Donkner's Poultry, a Lithuanian can pick out his traditional goose and have it killed and dressed while he waits. Across the street of St. Lawrence Fish Co., there are five eels for an Italian Christmas and fresh carp, much cherished by Poles Prussians and Silesians as a yuletide dish when cooked in beer and served with gingerbread. Even the nostalgic Newfoundlander is cared for: at the fish store he can pick up such local delicacies as ... and heads, turnip tops and ...
The recondite range of food is not confined to Christmas feasts. In its own way, the two-block section of the Main offers a variety of edibles that can rival the Medina of Marrakesh or the floating markets of Bangkok. Consider S. Enkin Inc. Flan-to-flank with the Jan Lou Western Topless Bar Saloon, the store ... enough from the outside.. is redolent with the aroma of 509 kinds of chili peppers, 150 spices and 300 different Indian specialties. There is lemon grass from Thailand, ginger from Fiji, fresh sugar cane from the West Indies, palm nuts and garri (ground cassava root) from Nigeria and a choice of Arab, Jewish, Indian, Portuguese an West Indian breads. The store routinely features balut, embryo-filled Filipino duck eggs and twice a week flies in fresh vegetables from India. Browsers can find practically anything from akee, a Jamaican vegetable that tastes like scrambled egg, to bottled English whelks. Sydney Enkin's explanation of the awesome assortment is simplicity itself. Says he: "there isn't enough of any one ethnic group in Canada to specialize the way they do in the States."
Tea and Sympathy. Instead Enkin's works on the principle that "the customers dictate what we buy." To cope with the multitude of tonues and palates, Enkin's has a staff of eleven, including helpers from Nigeria, the West Indies, Portugal and the Philippines, all overseen by a tall, dignified Wets Indian known to everyone as Mr. Thompson. Among them they can advise the cutomer on the best way to make fufu, the staple West African diet or how to brew lemon grass tea. Exotic order are accepted with equanimity. Last week Sydney Enkin jotted down a customer's request for Laos powder for making Thai fish soup, then sent off a package to two Philipino nurses in Newfoundland who crabbed balut, Chinese fish sauce and mango pulp marmalade. Enkin rarely turns down a request, though, having it tried it once, he now balks at importing Eja Dobo, a Nigerian fish delicacy that is aged until it is literally rotten with worms.
In the same nondescript building - known as the St. Lawrence Food center - there are seven butchers, a fishmonger and a Jamaican with a stand selling West Indian meat patties at 25 cents each. Master Butch Harold Shapiro at the Thow Bros. counter takes pride in the act that, unlike many of his supermarket colleagues who order by phone, he visits the slaughter houses twice weekly to choose and stamp his own meat. Says he: "You'll find a greater variety of meats here than anywhere else in Montreal. There are salted pigs' feet, ears and tails for the West Indians; flank steak, oxtail and pig's belly for the Chinese, brains and sweetbreads for the French and all kins of smoked meats, hams, sausages, bones, pigs' heads, lungs, liver, kidney and blood sausage....etc..
(photos Hy Tinkoff with partner Fishmonger Cohen Nuhad Haddad Sydney Enkin)
The Delights of the Lower Main
Time Magazine
December 27 1971
Montreal's St. Lawrence Main was once Canada's best-known red-light district. Nowadays, the pleasures that it offers are chiefly gastronomic, as Time correspondent James Wilde discovered to his delight.
The only Christmas decorations on the Lower Main are the people. An among this polyglot crowd, they manage to give the cold, gray, decaying street all the allure of an oriental bazaar. Beaded Sikhs, kohl-eyed Indian ladies and irrepressible Africans jostle with West Indians, Greeks, Arabs, Italians, Chinese, Portuguese, Spaniards and Filipinos. Even in normal times, they are exacting...Christmas they have needs..supermarkets can meet..are rarely disappointed.
At the grocery emporium of S. Enkin for example, a West Indian can buy sorrel for a rum mix and fresh banana leaves to wrap Christmas sweets. Nearby at Donkner's Poultry, a Lithuanian can pick out his traditional goose and have it killed and dressed while he waits. Across the street of St. Lawrence Fish Co., there are five eels for an Italian Christmas and fresh carp, much cherished by Poles Prussians and Silesians as a yuletide dish when cooked in beer and served with gingerbread. Even the nostalgic Newfoundlander is cared for: at the fish store he can pick up such local delicacies as ... and heads, turnip tops and ...
The recondite range of food is not confined to Christmas feasts. In its own way, the two-block section of the Main offers a variety of edibles that can rival the Medina of Marrakesh or the floating markets of Bangkok. Consider S. Enkin Inc. Flan-to-flank with the Jan Lou Western Topless Bar Saloon, the store ... enough from the outside.. is redolent with the aroma of 509 kinds of chili peppers, 150 spices and 300 different Indian specialties. There is lemon grass from Thailand, ginger from Fiji, fresh sugar cane from the West Indies, palm nuts and garri (ground cassava root) from Nigeria and a choice of Arab, Jewish, Indian, Portuguese an West Indian breads. The store routinely features balut, embryo-filled Filipino duck eggs and twice a week flies in fresh vegetables from India. Browsers can find practically anything from akee, a Jamaican vegetable that tastes like scrambled egg, to bottled English whelks. Sydney Enkin's explanation of the awesome assortment is simplicity itself. Says he: "there isn't enough of any one ethnic group in Canada to specialize the way they do in the States."
Tea and Sympathy. Instead Enkin's works on the principle that "the customers dictate what we buy." To cope with the multitude of tonues and palates, Enkin's has a staff of eleven, including helpers from Nigeria, the West Indies, Portugal and the Philippines, all overseen by a tall, dignified Wets Indian known to everyone as Mr. Thompson. Among them they can advise the cutomer on the best way to make fufu, the staple West African diet or how to brew lemon grass tea. Exotic order are accepted with equanimity. Last week Sydney Enkin jotted down a customer's request for Laos powder for making Thai fish soup, then sent off a package to two Philipino nurses in Newfoundland who crabbed balut, Chinese fish sauce and mango pulp marmalade. Enkin rarely turns down a request, though, having it tried it once, he now balks at importing Eja Dobo, a Nigerian fish delicacy that is aged until it is literally rotten with worms.
In the same nondescript building - known as the St. Lawrence Food center - there are seven butchers, a fishmonger and a Jamaican with a stand selling West Indian meat patties at 25 cents each. Master Butch Harold Shapiro at the Thow Bros. counter takes pride in the act that, unlike many of his supermarket colleagues who order by phone, he visits the slaughter houses twice weekly to choose and stamp his own meat. Says he: "You'll find a greater variety of meats here than anywhere else in Montreal. There are salted pigs' feet, ears and tails for the West Indians; flank steak, oxtail and pig's belly for the Chinese, brains and sweetbreads for the French and all kins of smoked meats, hams, sausages, bones, pigs' heads, lungs, liver, kidney and blood sausage....etc..
(photos Hy Tinkoff with partner Fishmonger Cohen Nuhad Haddad Sydney Enkin)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
A Coolopolis staffer did NOT father Halle's upcoming baby
For those who 
notice problems with this site over the last few days, it's a result of the fact that we had to suspend editor Peter "Slim" Theosolfoulos, not because he insists on working in the nude, we actually encourage nudism at Coolopolis Towers...but because ever since the story came out that Halle Berry was having a Montreal baby, with local male model Gabriel Aubry (the annoyingly sultry male model pictured here) Slim just wouldn't shut up about how he's the real father. It's funny for the first time but try it 175 times a day. We think he might need some ...umm..special care. So if you see Slim hanging around naked outside of Coolopolis Towers, don't encourage him. Meanwhile there's the token photo proving Halle Berry's pregnant status. Congrats on the fine couple and to Mr. Aubry for perpetuating 
the Montreal gene amongst the Hollywood elite. As for the suspended editor, we are auditioning replacements, however only those willing to work in the nude.Crescent & St Catz - Bring back Burger King!
This Burger King has been gone for quite a while now, replaced by some beer joint with hostile watiers. Funny how you tsk at the 'King when he's there but you miss him when he's gone.
Apartheid in the Point
Coolopolis abhors and condemns this civic calumny. Many neighbours and neighbourhoods are kept apart in this city due to train tracks or canals or other man-made artificial borders. It's a major inconvenience. It harms the noble initiative to encourage people to walk. So when the city closes the tunnels that were built specifically to facilitate these travelers it's a real stab in the back. Here in Point St. Charles at Wellington and around Sebastopol you'll note this pedestrian tunnel is permanently closed. Apparently there is no initiative to force it to reopen, so the residents in the area also have themselves to blame for their fates.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Pitt-o-mania on Monkland
If you noticed a ton'o'kiddies hanging on the fence and screaming outside the Monkland YMCA it's purportedly because Brad Pitt was there today filming something, thus leading to the Pitt-o-mania.
Local landmarke slated for demolition--
This much-loved....(much UNloved more like it! - ed) building is going to be demolished along with a similar structure next door housing the Gemst art supply shop (our photographer Steven "Spotty" McTeard couldn't shoot the Gemst because he suffers from TTF - tender trigger finger, the same reason he couldn't shoot Percy Walters Park, thus holding back our shocking report on that place). The TV repair shop in this here photo has already moved over to Addington and Sherbrooke (the old Hobby World) and the Gemst is moving up to Decarie and Pare. Condos will be built at this spot. The demolition process is going through NDG borough hall as we speak. Or as we read. Or as we write. Or ..y'know.
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