Remember Montreal's Starvin' Dolphins!

We've recounted in some depth the splashy tale of Montreal's dolphins. One of the darkest hours of this city's labour history took place when Montreal's blue collar workers went on strike at the Alcan Aquarium where dolphins had happily frolicked for several years. The workers simply went on strike and let the dolphins starve. The three that survived were sent to Florida and Montreal never deserved dolphins again. The incredulity and depression on the bosses' face says volumes. The workers, who supposedly loved the animals so much, are pictured below, prior to the day that they simply stopped feeding the beautiful beasts.

Emmanuelle Beart no longer seeing Montreal dude

Lotsa interneters come to this site after googling the sultry French starlet Emmanuele Beart. We once mentioned that Montrealer Marc Gagnon (ab0ve)- her old friend from her early career days shooting Quebecois teleromans in Montreal - had gotten romantic together after her previous boyfriend committed suicide. Well, Marc and Beart have snice split up. And it happened quite some time ago. So every end is a new beginning. Marc has been gathering steam fronting his band Pipo Fiasco, who play their own style of country rock.

Q-who was this Montrealer and why is she the victim of one of the greatest Olympic injustices

Theatre in the Point

You've undoubtedly seen the name Peggie Hopkins (left) in front of countless Montreal homes. The real estate agent has moved a few condos in this burg, particularly in the Point where she now lives. Hopkins has also set up the PSC Community theatre which hosts its plays at the former Royal Bank on Wellington (the white thing coupla blocks west of the Sebastopol bridge) where McGill prof Peter Sijkes moves his fridge and stuff out of the way for a week or so to allow a stage and 65 seats to get brought in. The Night of January 16 is a courtroom drama penned by Ayn Rand. It stars 11 actors playing 17 roles, donations are $5 and up. It's only on for a couple more nights and some are sold out, so really, call 935-3769 before heading down. They're also offer acting lessons for kids, so here's your chance to get your mccauley caulkin.'

Blacksheep Betty snags 2nd Wawa show

So why wuz these wymynne sitting in a park so not-posing just recently?

Well they were doing it for your enterdification. The nooze is that the 4 th WAWA show is happening this year at Sala Rosa May 29, but there's MORE ! BlacksheepBetty, the boutique/party joint on Park is hosting a 2nd nite on the 30th and is undercutting the first show by halfing the tenner entry fee. The events will feature reggae star Empire Isis, Amanda Mabro, Miss Sugarpuss, DeAnne Smith, Annabelle Chvostek, Briga, Jordi Rosen, Raylene Campbell, DJ Nitrate and much, much more.

Coffin for sale

Longtime Montreal photographer Linda Dawn Hammond is commonly known for her excellent photos of early 80s punk Montreal. You need a photo of the fat Foof bouncer looking buzzed? She got it. Need photos of kids with giant crazyglued kingfisher mohawks? Got 'em. Need a picture of Mike Lynes eating porridge on Kinkora? She'd have to look through the negatives for that. Now is your chance to buy her coffin. She's still alive, so don't worry about any surprises after purchase. It's in Mile End and she claims that it can be used as a sushi table. Yum! Bidders can reach her through hotmail via dawnone.

Don't park in Griffintown

With all the talk about the Griffintown high-rise development, all we can say is don't park there. If these pictures from a street outside the soaring and generic Windsor Terraces apartments is anything to go by -- and it is because it happens every other day, you'll eventually have a car window smashed in if you leave so much as half a Mars bar in view. On a typical day, there's enough broken glass on this particular stretch of pavement to start a small beach. It's just par for the course in the concrete jungle.

Yet another bloody now and then

Guy Street this evening...


... and thousands of moons ago.

Today.

Today for ghosts.

Mtler kid turned Toronto adult John Hood's horror story site

John Hood, son of famed local novelist Hugh Hood, moved to Toronto and paints murals for a living but has also had a fairly amazing talent for writing fiction. He's looking for contributors for a horror-fiction online mag he's setting up. The first story is his own, dealing with a man visiting his wife in an insane asylum, only to find a very large and shiny surprise. The above illustration is Hood's own as well.

Imaginary lovers: Yours for six bits

Back in the early 1920s, a lousy seventy-five cents was enough to hire "skimpy-skirted sirens who twine their arms fondly around strange gentlemen's necks or cuddle cutely on their laps."
These pictures were taken at The Penny World, located at 320 St. Lawrence Blvd. -- about where Chinatown is today. The "pert little girl with the bobbed hair" was the star of the establishment "and the general favorite with the visiting gentlemen." To the right, this "bored looking male ... appears to be suffering from the weight of his temporary ladyfriend." Apparently, the place was a favourite with jilted guys, who sent the phoney-couple shots to their exes in order to convince them that they were doing just fine.

Q-who?

This man had a huge impact on Montreal in the 70s and remains the focus of many-a-legendary tale. He died a non-peaceful death about 7 or so years ago. Anybody?

Quiz reply: We've been told that some attempts to answer haven't gotten through to the comments section. We've got Chimples on it. His screwdriver is in hand as we speak. This is the legendary Andre "Dede" Desjardins who played a huge role in our screwed up Olympics as union leader and top crook. He was constantly threatening to shut down the construction site. Drapeau couldn't deal with him and Bourassa eventually bought him off even though some like Choquette refused to even sit in the same room as this crook. Since the Olympics Montreal has lost a lot of its autonomy to the tinpot dictators in Quebec City, but that's another story for another time. Around the turn of the century Dede was shot down in a north end breakfast joint as part of the biker war. According to Allo Police he had a mansion in the Dominican Republic with what was believed to be about $5 million in a safe. It was ransacked as soon as word came down of his sudden demise.

More Miss Chinese Montreal late breakin' news...

We've mentioned the Miss Chinese Montreal contest several times here because there's no end of spicy stories that come out of the joint. So let's giver another go. This, to the left is the most recent gagnante of Ruth Koo Lam's 23 year old contest to find Montreal's loveliest Chinese beauty.

Like all winners, Lois Zhu was sent to Hong Kong to compete for the big prize. Unfortunately, the 20 year old 5'7" beauty was callously mocked for not being the most svelte woman on the stage.

We congratulate Zhu but figure that Mtl has to put its best foot forward and suggest that another candidate might've been better suited for the pressures of the contest which regularly launches young women into eastern TV and film stardom.

(Are you ever going to get to the point? - Chimples). Okay. To the point. Yes. We will get. To it.

We really think second-runner-up, McGill's Heather Lin (in the bottom two photos) had the goods. Aside from oozing charisma, she has a unique looking mug and when it comes to her choice of furry hats - what's not to like?

!?!Q-Who is this Montrealer and ...

...what recently happened to this Montreal woman - ..err.- born here but left town at 19 in 1995 - . that is considered a major slap in the face to women the world over.???..

QA: This is Angela Tong, runnner up in Miss Chinese Montreal 1995. The winner of that contest gets sent to compete in Miss Hong Kong. Even though she didn't win in Montreal, she still managed to get to go east to compete and was scooped up by the TV and film world of HK where she has become a character actor, usually playing the goofy girl. In January she was slapped in the street in HK by a man who subsequently was caught and told police that he was paid to do the deed although it's unclear who paid him to commit the assault.

(If the coloring does not appear entirely accurate in this photo, unplug your computer monitor and place it in the fridge for an hour.)

Guardian Devils

Toussaint Klussman was one of the main Guardian Angels back in the short-lived days when such volunteers were patrolling our metro system for bad guys. In 1984 he was found guilty of sexual assaults he committed against young women in 1983. When they dug up his file they found out that he had done several more prior to that. Rather than Montreal's metro, Klussman found himself patrolling another local institution after that - the Pinel Institute for the Criminally Insane.

Pink girly shoefiti hits east end

These girly winter booties were spotted on Jeanne d'Arc (one west of Pix IX) just south of Sherbrooke. You've undoubtedly seen sneakers tossed over power lines before - which according to urban legend either advertises the 1-presence of a nearby crackhouse 2-presence of a kid who saw the Lil Bow Wow film Be Like Mike. 3-the presence of a kid who celebrated a rite of passage such as the end of the school year (or perhaps the end of winter). But this is the first local spotting of a pair of boots so cute that you want to cut 'em down from the cable wires (the electrical wires are always at the highest level on a pole, so the lower lines are harmless).

Chimples claims that where he comes from monkeys toss the shoes up with the person still wearin' 'em. He's kidding. We think.

Montreal's sreet merchants association - paying for what?

When you fling open wide the doors to your new retail outlet in Montreal, there's a good chance you'll receive a bill from the city upwards of $500 - no choice, you have to pay it - for membership to an association that bands the merchants together. What are you getting for your money? You get a group working full time trying to keep the street lively. Some aggressively fight empty storefronts by organizing loans and grants, such as on St. Hubert.

Not all associations have done so well, such as in the sad case of Sherbrooke West while Wellington and Monk have had their problems as well.

Most merchant associations have a couple of employees and organize street sales, supposedly a windfall for merchants. They'll lobby politicians, and help beautify the streetscape. That's what they tell you anyway. The truth is that they're helpless in many situations and could even take your dues to fund your competition... Click here for more...

Catch of the day

Never let a little fishnet come between you and your art. Take it from globe-trotting Montreal deejay and fashion entrepreneur Vivie-Ann Bakos. Had this Mount Royal Avenue dweller followed her early dreams of teaching, this portrait might never have been. Check the vidlink for Vivie-Ann's melodies and tales of meshing with the biz.

Legal scams that won't make you very popular...

Coolopolis offers you many ideas about how to live well in Montreal. Not all of them respectable. Here's a pair.

-Go to the store, buy every item you see under $10. Carefully note the price of each item and watch closely as the cashier punches it in. Check your bill to see if you have been overcharged for any item. According to one study, about one in 20 items will result in an overcharge. Once you catch one, insist that you get it for free, as the law states. Then take all of those other items and return them at the refund desk immediately. Rinse and repeat. You should get a couple of hundred bucks in free swag by doing this, although you'll surely annoy the staffers to no end.

-Next time you need an apartment, go to the Rental Board and check their database for past cases. Search for terms such as "sept mois" or "huit mois." The aim is to try to find a landlord who only asked for an eviction for non-payment after a very long time. Then proceed to phone that sucker landlord and try to rent an apartment from him. Then once in, proceed to provide complicated but convincing excuses as to why the rent is seven or eight months late. A few weeks ago I saw a softhearted landlord who I shall not name that allowed a tenant to go 11 months without paying.

Hockey riots

The story of the week here - too depressing to report on sunny, uplifting Coolopolis - is that our brilliant police once again screwed up, allowing 16 of their cars to get torched after the Boston series, leading to a half million dollar bill to the city taxpayer because our cops didn't think it necessary to get a lackey to stand next to their car while they wandered around trying to be understanding and friendly to vandals and looters. Police were surprised by the riots. Hockey never causes riots here, except for 1955, 1986, 1993 in fact idiot hockey fans get violent every time Brisebois shifts his jockstrap. Coolopolis plans to take one of the company vans and paint POLICE on the side. A couple of summer interns in fake cop uniforms will park on St. Catherine after we beat the Flyers. As you know Coolopolis trains its employees in the safe usage of big ass flame throwers, which they will employ to barbecue anybody who comes within 20 feet of the Coolopolis imitation police car. Meanwhile Chimples asks the question on everybody's lips: why doesn't anybody torch that guy's car?

Did language issues create one of Mtl's worst mass murderers?

Verdun's John McLaughlin - aka Jackie McLaughlin (1938-1984 - photo courtesy the excellent Gary Francoeur) was a real life hitman with close ties to Montreal's West End Gang, and was also real friendly with the Hells Angels. Associates say he killed 50 in mostly underworld slayings, some totally unprovoked. Peter McAllister's hard-to-find novel Dexter (in my case, hard-to-find cuz I can't find where in Coolopolis Towers Chimples put it) features a character closely based on McLaughlin, who at some point simply loses control and just starts killing people semi-randomly, leading his associates to track him down and fill him with bullets (along with his girlfriend). But one thing people don't know is that McLaughlin was a fairly e'eryday gangster before being sent to St. Vincent de Paul prison where the guards apparently disliked his attitude and mother tongue. The guards decided to force him to walk around on his hands and knees like a dog, eating out of a bowl, and so forth. When he was released, he went on a homicidal spree the likes of which this city has rarely seen. He even killed a guy in a graveyard, which is both poetic and almost progressive, carbon-footprintwise.

(As well as misplacing Dexter, I've also misplaced Peter McAllister's email address, if you're reading this, contact me through gmail at megaforce).

March 6 and ...five weeks later....

Q-who is this mega Montrealer & what can you do to help him?

Budget Bar sign - plywood, paint and twist ties plus a neighbour with a balcony

Out with a bang

This store on Cypress first opened around the corner on Peel before Christ was born. Gone bust now (see entries passim). Here's a shot from a few weeks back. Yer too late for the mags.

What a difference six weeks makes

March 9, Ottawa and Murray streets. Real drift, unplowed.

A place to carve

George Robertson's skating hall, the Coliseum, was at 333 Guy St. -- east side, just south of Dorchester. Travelodge's there now. Picture's from about 1910.

Waiting for Game Seven....

Some images from today. Top shot is a statue at Viger & Beaver Hall clad in a magnificent goalie sweater. The other two shots were from today's skate, as taken by the excellent Fred Serre, who comments: "The Boston Bruins were upbeat, while the Habs seemed a little hesitant during the April 21 morning skate at the Bell Centre -- several hours before the pivotal game seven that will determine which team moves on to the next round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs."

Quiz - who is this famous - even legendary - Montrealer?

Can you guess the identity of this sensitive erect-standing young buck at the top left of this class photo? He is world famous now but hasn't lived in Montreal for quite some time. The young chap with the bow tie is his partner-in-crime. Bonus if you can guess who he is too.

Thanks to Bobbey for the photos.

WE HAVE A PRI---- err for legal reasons, let's use that old hooker trick - a "donation" -- for whoever can contribute the correct answer to this quiz. Can't be anonymous. Winner gets a copy of WiD (Westmounter in Denial) MATTHEW BISSONNETTE'S debut novel SMASH YOUR HEAD ON THE PUNK ROCK whose book launch is Monday at 9 at Blizzarts (you don't really want to watch game 7 of Boston Montreal, do you?) You've got to pick it up off me though. Got to let me finish (er..start and stop?) reading it first.

Clue time - He now lives in a city that starts with P. The photo was taken in Montreal in 1967.

WE HAVE A WINNNNNNNNER! Furtive has finally bagged it in double overtime! It is indeed a photo of St. Pius X's Gino Vanelli who - along with his keyboardist brother Bowtie Joe (sometimes considered the mastermind of the organization) shot to stardom in the mid 70s, albeit after leaving town, but making his triumphant return to homesville Dec 10, 1976 when he laid down the law to an adoring crowd as witnessed by this classic high-steppin' performance of that great 70s anthem Anglos...Err..People Gotta Move. Vanelli now lives in Portland Oregon after spending much time in LA and is said to also spend much of the year in Holland. Vanelli - who grew up near fellow Montreal musical legend Andy "Rock Me Gently" Kim - is said to be a pretty mellow, philosophical guy...but never, ever fuck with his black car!

The human garage station bell

The fantastic Alain Stanke reported in August 1957 on a mentally handicapped young man who would spend every day uninvited at the Shell Station on Delormier. The owner didn't know what to do about the hanger-around and one day had a great idea. The owner came in with a uniform for the kid. It had a patch with "Manager" stitched into it. The boy's job was to call out "car" ever time somebody drove in. Feel-good feelings all around.

The Old Post Office: Now and Then

That BMo tower...


... used to be the main post office, as shown in this undated stereoscopic slide.

That's it in 1870.

The Academy: 35 years of song 'n dance

Imagine yourself standing in front of the Eaton Centre -- between all those poodle-jacket-wearing, cigarette-puffing, mom's basement-living types. Now imagine the indoor mall (which was built by international fugitivie Wolfgang Stolzenberg) has been pulled down. The resulting gap in the cityscape would correspond to where Victoria Street used to be. The theatre you're looking at above and below was on the eastern side of Victoria, a half-block north of the strip. When the Academy of Music opened in 1875, it was hyped as Montreal's answer to the great European concert halls and the burgh's arrival into the august league of worldly cities, blah, blah, blah. It stuck around for 35 years, devolving in its later days to the French theatre depicted below, but its timbers inevitably hit the strand when Goodwin's department store needed to expand. Eaton's later took over Goodwin's and tore that down, too.

Below is a pretty crisp stage shot of an October, 1890, repertory presentation of The Little Tycoon at the Academy. The original production of the light operetta had been mildly panned by the New York Times four years earlier for having "feeble" music and a weak libretto.

A most effective instrument of castigation

The cat-o-nine tails revived.

Canadian Illustrated News

Saturday, November 6, 1875, page 291

At noon, on the 26th alt. [of October], an Italian musician named Calabria, sentenced to imprisonment for rape on the person of the wife of a certain Molinari, was condemned to receive twenty lashes on his bare back. Our picture fully represents the manner in which he was strung up and the mode in which the flogging was administered. In Ontario, this species of punishment was revived with good results some time ago. In Montreal it had fallen into desuetude since 1814, when a man was publicly flogged in old Jacques Cartier Square. Considering the alarming increase of wife-beaters and other rascals who make unprotected females the victims of their brutal passions it may be a matter of wisdom to resuscitate this most effective instrument of castigation.

The curse of Hobie Kitchen

1925-26 was hockey the way it should be. The Montreal Maroons topped the league, just behind Ottawa, while the Canadiens, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto St. Pats, New York Americans and Boston Bruins were also-rans. One of the contributors to the Maroons was the strapping defenceman, Hobie Kitchen. He scored 5 goals in 30 games and was a regular second liner back when teams dressed only two lines. That year the two-year-old, Forum-based Maroons, led by Babe Siebert and Mtl-born rookie & NHL MVP Nels "Old Poison" Stewart went on to win the Stanley Cup. But Kitchen's name was never engraved on the silver because coach decided not to dress him for the series, preferring newcomer Bill Phillips. That was Kitchen's one and only year with the club. Within a couple of years Kitchen suffered mental problems and became a street vagrant. If only they had let him play in the playoffs!

Just another day at the 1950 vice hearings

Embittered Ex-Prostitute Tells Probe of Taking Raps As Houses of Ill Fame Raided
By William Wardwell
The Herald, Montreal

Friday, November 3, 1950

Page 2

An embittered former prostitute, living in a lower St. Dominque st. rooming house while the brothel-bosses she knew in the early 1940s "have their clothes and country homes," testified at Montreal's third vice probe yesterday that she twice received emergency calls during her "off-duty" hours and reported to bawdy houses shortly before police raids.

Mabel X, 43, one of two witnesses yesterday whose full identity was withheld at the request of Mr. Justice Francois Caron, testified she worked in brothels from 1941 to early 1944 and that her bosses were a Mrs. Beauchamp and a woman she knew only as Mrs. Lucy.

Witnesses said that in March, 1941, she received a phone call asking her to hurry to the house were she worked, 2034 St. Lawrence blvd.

The owner of the house was Mrs. Lucy, she said, but she didn't know who the phone calls was made by.

ARRESTED AS A KEEPER

Mabel said she reported to the house and that "not very long after" it was raided. She was arrested as keeper and fined in court.

Toward the end of 1942, witness told Pacifique Plante, counsel for the petitioners for the vice probe, a "housekeeper" came and called for her and asked her to report to 1239 DeBullion st. At the time she worked there for Mrs. Beauchamp.

"I went there and I'd just arrived when there was a raid. I was arrested as keeper and four other women as found-ins."

OBJECTS TO BEING CALLED

Mabel objected to being called to the witness stand in the first place.

"The women who kept the houses should be here, not me," she protested.

"Never mind that," Mr. Justice Caron told her. "We'll conduct this inquiry."

Mabel was the first witness from the personnel of the former city red-light district to testify that each week $5 was deducted from her pay.

She was asked by lawywer Plante if the staffs of common bawdy houses were required to make a contribution to help cover the fines imposed after raids.

"I don't know," witness replied, "but $5 was deducted from my earnings each week."

NO 'RAP' PAY

Mr. Justice Caron: "Did you receive any pay for taking the rap?"

"No, Your Lordship."

It was while being questioned about her earnings that she said she "happened to know" the "mistresses, of the red-light district business had made the real money.

"While we took the rap they feathered their nests," she said. Later she added that "they have their fine clothes and their country homes."

The previous witness was a youthful salesman who was a ticket-writer in bookmaking establishments from 1942 to 1945.

Witness said he made from $20 to $40 a week working in the late Eddie Baker's bookies at 486 St. Catherine st. w. and 1221 Phillips Square.

QUIT THE BUSINESS

He said he married in 1945 and that his wife decided "this wasn't the life for me." He quit it.
Questioned by Mr. Justice Caron, witness said he knew various numbers were placed on the doors of divisions in bookies.

At 486 St. Catherine w., he recalled, a padlock was put on a room "which was never used."
He said that as far as he knew "padlocks never interfered with business."

At 1221 Phillips Sq., witness said in reply to questions by Mr. Plante he would take in $5 or $6 in bets per race. He said there were some times seven or eight races, but that at other times there were up to 24.

After a series of questions by the judge, who wanted to esablish what the total amount bet in one day would be, witness said it would be "about right" to say he took in from $100 to $150 a day. He said there was two other ticket-writers working at the same time.

Witness said the manager at 486 St. Catherine st. w., was one Harry Rabinovitch, while at 1221 Phillips Sq., the clients were "paid off" by a man he remembered only by the first name "Dan."

NO BODYGUARDS

Mr. Plante: "Was it customary for the top man in the business to have bodyguards?"

"Not that I know of."

"Were you a budyguard for Mr. Baker?"

"Me a bodyguard? No."

Plante: "Isn't it true that one Baby DiMurro collected protection money from the bookies?"

"Not that I know of."

Plante: "Can a bookie function without a wire service?"

Witness: "If there was no wire service the bets would be paid off according to the results appearing in the newspapers; these would be checked."

Plante: "Wasn't there a great difference between bookie operations with and without a wire service?"

"When I left the business in 1945 they still had the wire service."

How to cross Montreal's aqueduct

According to one newspaper (scroll to bottom) 55 years ago, the city endured an epidemic of daredevil youth posing for photos by recklessly practicing daredevil stunts on the bridges over the aqueduct between Verdun and Cote St. Paul / Ville Emard. Of course the newspaper itself had nothing to do with getting these kids to risk their lives for such photo snaps.

Quiz: Where's this building?

Answer: Yeah, it's the old Montreal Foundling and Baby hospital, an St. Urbain between Pine and Prince Arthur. It's now the McGill-associated Meakins Christie Laboratories, which is getting a new wing (don't worry, they don't do experiments on babies). It's a centre for research on respiratory conditions and was "named in honor of Drs. Jonathan Meakins and Ronald Christie, former professors and deans of medicine at McGill University and pioneer researchers in the field of pulmonary diseases."

Sorry Boston, Stanley wants teams that play good

Fifty-five years ago this week, the Montreal Canadiens were in Boston to settle the 1953 Stanley Cup. Montreal took the series four games to one. 'Fifty-three wasn't the last time Butch's name would appear on the cup. But it was the last time it would be engraved as Emile, his given name.

Was William Shatner's uncle a Montreal gambling boss?

In the 1950s there weren't a whole ton of Shatners kicking around Montreal. There were - to be precise - four in the phone book. Joseph Shatner owned Admiration Clothes, HQd on Briardale. Joseph Shatner was William "Captain Kirk" Shatner's father. According to the listings, L. Shatner worked as a salesman for that same company. Presumably L. Shatner was brother of Joseph, ergo William Shatner's uncle. Well 52 years ago Louis Shatner was busted for running a gambling operation on St. Urbain just north of Dorchester, where the Complexes Desjardins now stands. High profile cop Steve Olynyk busted the joint. Louis Shatner called him a mooch and claimed innocence and said he was a poor man ever since he lost his money in a mining investment. Click here to read the article, in French.

Fireproof apartments, 1911 and today

It's at the corner of Aylmer and Prince Arthur.

Q-Wheredat?

Yep. We have a winner. It's Pine & Park just prior to the big concrete highway style interchange being built. It has since been removed.

Rite of spring - harvesting rinkside pucks in the melted snow

A story of Mtl athletic triumph in Boston (to inspire the Habs in Beantown)

71 years ago this week, Walter Young, a welfare dad from Rushbrooke Street in Verdun, near the border of the Point, was bumming around Boston with not enough money to pay for his hotel room, which cost $4.50 a week. He was there hoping to run in the Boston Marathon one week later but knew that he and his coach Pete Gavuzzi were running out of cash. So he pawned a second-place watch that he'd won in a 20 mile run a little earlier. He got $7 for it and the ride back to Montreal cost $6.45. Back in Montreal his hopes of making it back to Boston at the last minute were fading until he met the Mayor of Verdun, Herve Ferland and asked for a bit of funding. By some fluke Ferland had been under fire for wasting the newly-founded local athletic fund and saw that Young might give him some quick results. He gave Young $50 and a promise of a permanent job on the Verdun police force if he won the Boston Marathon. Young had never come close to winning a major marathon and his training methods, thanks to coach Gavuzzi, were entirely unconventional. He ran snowshoe races, trained by running long distances slowly, avoided starchy foods and took small strides.

Young returned to Boston the evening before the race and found himself neck-and-neck with Johnny Kelley, the 1935 champion and heavy favourite. The lead changed hands 16 times. Kelley, the local boy, had a 100 yard lead up to Coolidge Corner, the 23 mile mark with a huge crowd cheering him on. But Young managed to overtake Kelley to finish first in the Boston Marathon April 19, 1937 with a 2:33 time.

Young was hired by the City of Verdun, first for the police, then the fire department, where he worked until 1978, never missing a day. He lived in Lasalle and would be in his mid-90s if he's still among us. Here's an excellent article from 1982 recapping Young's story.

Gavuzzi went on to train Gerard Cote of St. Hyacinthe who bagged the Boston Marathon four times between 1940 and 1948. Other Montrealers to win the Boston Marathon were Edouard Fabre (1915) and Jacqueline Gareau (1980 - women's division).

Arnold Paintball's cheap-o advertising gimmick... advertise on your van and park it where they can see it..

Bus stop greed

How much space does a bus need to pull into the curb to get into a bus stop? Two, three parking spaces at most. But the city often grabs around eight or so spots.

The city of Montreal one day dreams of putting long accordion buses all over the city. These would require a ton of space to pull in to the curb. So in anticipation of that possible future date they've made many no-parking sections ridiculously long. This is no big deal unless you've got a retail joint that relies on customers pulling in and out of the spot in front of your store. The result is that the no parking signs - like this one on Sherbrooke just past the western edge of Westmount - get mysteriously lost or broken and extra parking spaces suddenly open up..

Q-answer - the Prefontaine mural commemorates the Hochelaga School Fire

Ok. Yes. The answer is that the mural is in memory of the Hochelaga School Fire of February 26, 1907 in which 17 small children died while many others survived thanks to the heroic actions of principal Sarah Maxwell, who died saving children. Among the dead was William Hingston's kid. He later went on to become mayor. Here are some images from the coverage from La Patrie. For many years later the PSBGM had a school named after Maxwell, but it has now closed.

Bellevue Pathe apartments - spot the celeb...

Nowheresville Montreal - the Nowhere Bar at Haig and Hochelaga

Q- what major Mtl event does this melancholy faded mural on Prefontaine represent?

Durst's movie prop rental joint on Notre Dame E.

What's so funny about Puccini, blood and understanding?

And what's all the fuss about Bill C-10, the proposed federal legislation that is poised to grind Canada's film business to a screeching halt? Censorship is just good old Canadian tradition. For instance, Montreal's Roman Catholic power brokers were doing just that 100 years ago, using potent Papal bulls to shut down costly (and otherwise respectable) productions of material that would cause scarcely a nod (more like a yawn) nowadays. That April 1908 article you're looking at must have put the nails in a good show's coffin. The upshot? Producing a critical play set in Italy was bad business then. The obvious lessson for today is, don't set your screenplay in Alberta. Better yet, revive The Forest Rangers! (Just don't ask John Waters to direct.)

Q- where was this downtown intersection, demolished in 1953?

Answer: this photo was taken at Beaver Hall Hill and Dorchester just prior to the widening in 1953.

Arthur Lachapelle - anybody know who dat is..err..was?

Yes this is indeed Tony the organ grinder from Phillips Square. Here's the article.

Colorful Characters - we got 'em - just walk St. Catherine street, mister
by Marie Grebenc
Montreal Herald Friday May 15, 1953
More than any other street in Canada, St. Catherine boasts of and nurtures her 'characters."

To be a genuine Montrealer, to be sincere in your faith that there is no other city in the country, there are several rules to follow. One of the main ones is that you never sneer at people like Jockey Fleming or Kid Oblay as "moochers," a label that is strictly taboo.

Another is that you pay due respect to the corner newsie -- he probably has more stashed away than you have anyway.

This street that struts its conservative-garbed millionaires also has a special soft spot for gentlemen who wear labels such as Maxie the Goon, Johnny the Greek, Izzy or Dutchie.

The more fanatic Montrealers will tell you that these out-fable even the "One-eyed Connellys" of Broadway.

Mr. Fleming and Mr. Ohblay are distinctly shy of the term "moochers."

"It's just not done in Montreal to call them 'moochers,'" said one who qualifies for the Montreal addict title. "After all, they're on the payroll of a lot of big shots around here."

Mr. Fleming's abilities in this line, in fact, have earned him respect as one of the continents' most capable operators. Occasionally, in his Peel St. lair, he hands out a day's 'privileges' to some forward protege.
Sizeable Brood
With his sidekick Mr. Ohblay on the northeast corner of Peel and St. Catherine, he has become a "Operator deluxe," ruling a brood of some 30 between Mountain and Union Ave.

In the lower echelon of the closely-linked group is Maxie the Goon. Maxie works a 12 noon to 6 pm shift, which he mains, is good gravy trade. Maxie's father was Willy, who retired from the news-selling business after 40 years of sitting on a corner.

On his week's earnings, Maxie supports a wife and three children aged one, two and three. Maxie finds the going pretty good, except the odd nights when he has to put in a night-shift.

"Sometimes you have to almost hit 'em over the head before they give in," he mused. "The gamblers usually toss in about $2."

Maxie started in on the trade when he came up against the gambling tables. He lost $600 one night and the next day he took up his new job. Until then, he'd worked occasionally as a house-painters and factory worker.

"The hours are better here," he insists.

In the last year, though, Maxie has had some troubles, his wife who would appear to be slightly discontented has had him up on five counts of assault.
TIRING BUSINESS
"I just go up to court and they acquit me another time," he said. "Gets monotonous after a while."

One of the most fabled gentleman along the street was a handsome young fellow named Johnny the Greek. Johnny was a persistent kleptomaniac, as well as moocher. Then one day he met a pretty girl at McGill and married her. She turned out to be a member of Sweden's high society. Johnny is doing well in Europe now, but his friends are still wondering if he has the pick-up itch.

In the east end, there's the cigar-chewing Riley. Riley's brother is supposed to be, according to St. Catherine's never-doubted legend, a gentleman whose earnings are in the $100,000 plus category yearly.

Riley apparently doesn't go for all this plush paraphenalia. He likes his cigar, his corner and the odd stint as a nightery bouncer.

The odd member of this orthodox St. Catherine St. trade provides entertainment for his "customers." A fiddler along the street has put aside enough to buy a few houses in NDG and put three sons through university.

Then there are the rare "characters" who cling to a more legitimate way of making a living. They are the newsies. At times they become rambunctious (two years (Continue on Page 47)

Pigeon Park - yesteryear and tommorowyear

Here's a look at Western Park, before they named it after John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto), the Genoese navigator who did so much good work for an English king and who never set foot anywhere near here. Note the serenity and lack of mooches and filth.

Writes James Mennie in today's Gazette:

A trio of proposals on how to resuscitate downtown's moribund Cabot Square neighbourhood include a demolished Pepsi Forum, wider sidewalks, more housing, the possibility of an underground bus terminal and office towers.
Big office towers.

They have plans on big boards at the Pepsi Forum. You can read more about them (the plans, not the boards) here. This is a fancy schmantzy picture of something they want to do that involves gigantic green dots. As usual, the cornerstone of the ambitious plan consists mainly of writing "Le" in front of existing place names.

Quiz: Where are they now?

You probably saw the news. The usual: mescal tequila. Tranquilizer darts. Our Chimples, crashing to the ground and sent to a West Island vivisection lab. But thanks to the intervention of a former prime minister, whose marriage Chimples once saved (story at 11), he's back, and this picture comes straight from his brain chip (hint: it's where the tequila started). Question: You may know these figures from Le Swimming, a former Holder joint on the Main, but where are they now?

Answer: We have a lucky winner. Kewpie doll on its way. It's the back lot of the St. Sulpice! Here is the scene Sunday, all the heat was provided by bodies and cigarette embers.

Inside the Monument National, 1899

The Monument National was the place to be seen, before financial woes turned it into a place desperate to rent to anybody.

Pas de fille? Pas de probleme!

Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez -- up in flames on Sherbrooke Street

Seventy-five years ago today, a fire damaged the Van Horne mansion on Sherbrooke Street West at Stanley (northeast corner), claiming a good part of its legendary art collection. This historic and irreplacable building had been home to William Cornelius Van Horne (1843-1915), art collector and genius behind the Canadian Pacific Railway -- and practically a Father of Confederation. No wonder Mayor Jean "No Peanuts" Drapeau gladly issued a $5 demolition permit to wreck it back in 1973. Despite organized opposition, it was torn down by latter-day owner David Azrieli, who had the audacity to put a vanity plaque on the hideous skyscraper that replaced it. (It was Liquid Air; now it's Sofitel). But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Back up to 40 years before the wrecking ball came down on it: the fire on Monday, April 3, 1933, caused a lot of damage to the house and the most outstanding Canadian collection of Van Horne's day, which included several Old Masters. (Some of the other great local art collections of the day belonged to Bank of Montreal president Sir George Drummond and the financier Edward Black Greenshields.)

God don't listen to mooches

More than 100,000 folks marched up St. Joseph's Oratory 75 years ago yesterday to pray for jobs and an end to the economic slowdown that eventually became known as the Depression. Needless to say, it didn't work.

Smile! It's donut time!

The Dalai Lama couldn't have said it better: It is impossible to achieve contentment when you have to monitor and turn over your donuts before they become too crisp.

That is the transcendental truth which local housewife Jacqueline Lacelle tapped into before developing her innovative -- and prize-winning -- "smile" donut recipe.
The smile, by the way, is what spread across every every housewife's face when she realized that she acutally did not have to turn over the donut. It cooked gold 'n yummy -- without all that fussy manipulation!

That means more time to smoke, talk on the phone, defrost roasts and enter recipe contests. Congratulations Jacqueline, whose donut breakthrough won her this shopping-cart full of goodies from a St. Leonard Dominion store in 1974.

Sadly, we report with a frown, the "smile" donut recipe has been lost to the bowels of time. We guess it's back to the old turn-it-over recipes. But you know, Jackie, it was sensational while it lasted!

Murder in the Coristine: Is Cowie the pope?

On Saturday, April 16, 1927, a baby was born in rural Bavaria. Joseph Alois Ratzinger would grow up to be the current pope, Benedict XVI.

On the exact same day here in Montreal, at 7:30 in the morning, a 30-year-old man walked into Montreal's main police station and pulled out a .32 calibre revolver. He placed it carefully on the counter and identified himself as Frederick Trewin.

"I just killed a man," he told the duty officer, a Lieut. Desrosiers.

Trewin explained that he shot William Cowie in the basement of the Coristine Building at 371 St. Paul Street West (pictured), which you've doubtless walked by, absent-mindedly, countless times.

Trewin, the confessed gunman, worked as an elevator operator at the office building. Cowey, his victim, was the janitor.

"Why," Lieut. Desrosiers asked Trewin, "did you shoot Cowie?"

"I was tired of him," answered the gunman.

In order to verify Trewin's claim, cops were sent to the Coristine Building to check out the scene of the shooting. Sure enough, they found a man's body on the floor of a basement alcove. He had a bullet hole in his back, just beneath his left shoulder blade.

Provincial cops also showed up on the scene. It so happens that two cleaning ladies had heard a gunshot. They had called the provincial police, who arrived at about the same time as the local cops.

A mortally injured Cowie was transported to the Montreal General. In those days, it was on Dorchester, just east of the Main.

Trewin, meanwhile, was sent to the provincial cops for interrogation. He was cool as a cucumber, reading his newspaper between questions.

It was only after Detective Pusie arrived to take over the case that the plot started to thicken. It turns out that Cowie was supposed to start working that morning at 7 a.m. Trewin was only due on his elevator station at 8 a.m., but he came in an hour early to settle a score that started with an argument on the previous Thursday evening.

"You owe me a buck," said Trewin, or words to that effect.

"I don't," replied Cowie, who followed his refusal with a choice insult or two.

Bang bang, went Trewin's gun.

Cowie, who lived at 109 Fairmount, never recovered -- au contraire: he croaked. On a subsequent Saturday, Feb. 11, 1928. Trewin was sentenced to hang in May of that year for the murder of his workmate, despite the jury's recommendation that he receive clemency.

Coolopolis does not officially endorse reincarnation. However, it is not beyond the realm of conceivability, so to speak, that the soul of slain Cowie was resurrected in the body of a baby in Bavaria. If you ever speak to his Holiness, whisper the words, "I'm Trewin. You owe me a buck!" and see if anything happens.

Dow dope

Dow Brewery of Montreal had its beginning in 1790 when a young Scotsman named Thomas Dunn set himself up in business as a brewer at Laprairie, a few miles outside town.

In 1808 Dunn moved his brewery to a site on Notre Dame Street in Montreal. Ten years later William Dow, the son of a Scottish brewer, joined him as head brewer and assistant, later as partner, the firm name becoming Dunn and Dow.

William Dow's brother Andrew came into the brewery in 1830. After Dunn's death the Dow brothers carried on the business under the name of Wm. Dow and Company. This arrangement lasted until Andrew's death in 1853. His brother William, who became a noted philanthropist, died in 1868.

An amalgamation of fourteen independent breweries, of which Dow was one, took place in 1909 with the formation of National Breweries Limited. Dow Brewery retained its identity in the new organization, in which it remained until 1952 when it was again reorganized and the name changed to Dow Brewery Limited. Dow is today a subsidiary of Canadian Breweries Limited.

A program of modernization and expansion was launched in the 50's. In 1953 the company moved into Ontario, purchasing the Ranger Brewing Company plant in Kitchener. This plant was closed early in 1961 when Dow bought a newer, larger brewery in Toronto. The company is known in Ontario as Dow Brewery (Ontario) Limited.

Through Dow Brewery (Western) Limited, incorporated in 1961, the company established itself in Manitoba and Alberta. There is a draught‑beer plant and provincial sales office in Calgary; a distributing warehouse and provincial sales office in Winnipeg.

The company's main plant, accounting for more than 70 per cent of its production, is in Montreal. Its Quebec City plant, a smaller replica of the Montreal establishment, is built on the site of La Brasserie du Roy, built by Governor Jean Talon in 1668 as Canada's earliest brewery.

The original vaults used to store the colonists' "biere" remain, and are a major tourist attraction.

In July, 1964, Dow Brewery Limited announced that it was financing the construction of a planetarium on Chaboillez Square in Montreal, where the company's head office is located, The completed project, which cost $1,250,000, was donated to the City of Montreal in 1966: and is operated by the Parks Department.

(Article from a 1967 edition of "Industrial Canada," in the collection of the University of Western Ontario Library.)