Coolopolis needs all of your knowledge of Montreal bars and nightclubs

Coolopolis has been putting a book together that attempts to recap all of the most important bars in this city's history and we need you to send your tips to help get it right.
   Much, much research has already been done but we need anecdotes, ribald stories, descriptions of the decor and personnel and every other tidbit you know.
    Here are a few nightclub ads all from 1967, which was a great year for such establishments in spite of claims that clubs died with the start of TV.
   Send me more info on these places, either in the comments or at megaforce@gmail.com. Photos would be particularly appreciated.
    I've added other bars at the end that I'm curious about. So please share what you've got for the sake of this noble literary initiative.

Stone's toss from the Roddick gates of McGill. Did folk music and a lot of comedy with Dave Broadfoot performing there for months, if not years. Aka the Shrine.

 

Mobbed-up Detroit Red Wing tough guy Jimmy Orlando managed a Algier's//Aldos on Mountain after being banned from the States on a draft-dodging affair during the height of his career. In 1960 he then moved on this strip club-esque deal on Crescent, west side, a few doors south of St. Cat. Building was eventually demolished around 1970 and the vacant terrain has only recently been filled up.

No idea what this short-lived place was. Its address corresponds to what we know as Moe's Corner Snack Bar, It couldn't be that because Moe's has been Moe's since 1958 and it wasn't the El Morocco/Moustache next door. Anybody?

The Empress, aka Cinema V, that long-abandoned art deco masterpiece on Sherbrooke across from NDG Park, was a strip club/burlesque spot for a few years due to a determined investor who braved some local opposition. I've heard a few vague stories but need more.

Local much-travelled veteran musician Peter Barry got to own his own place, which to this day bears the same name on St. Catherine. Of course guys who claimed to be owners of various places were often just minor stakeholders while other silent partners controled much.

Copa Cabana was a basement place on St. Catherine at the southwest corner of Peel. It lasted for much longer and was later embroiled in a racism dispute. Don't know much more than that. Not sure if this is where Fred Ward murdered the guy who stuffed his head in the toilet. I'll have to check my notes.

The Country Palace was on the same strip as the New Penelope Folk music club and the Swiss Hut, the Spanish Club and Harry Ship's belly-dancing place. Seek confirmation of the story where two Irish thugs, irritated that they were asked to pay rather than put their beer on a tab, returned and shot the place up. Cops had been tipped off and chased and shot one gunman dead. Haven't seen a newspaper report confirming this though. Please help me. Seeking info as well on the exact date and location of Harry Ship getting shot in the legs somewhere around the same time and place.

The Esquire was the best club in town, with crazily-great acts like Wilson Picket doing an entire week there and even Jimi Hendrix played before going solo. It was later ordered closed because too many hookers were hanging around, which is pretty crazy because it was just like any other place in that regard.

The Faisan Bleu is at the same location launched first by the famous Frolics club and has since continued with what's now the Kingdom strip club. I spent a lot of hours on Lovells digging up the exact date of each club. It was mobbed up for a while with the Cotronis playing an interest and was known as a place for francophone singers for a while.

The Lorelei was in that cash machine of clubs on Stanley below St. Catherine which included the Limelight, Chez Paree, Tic Toc, Esquire and others. Its name lived on until the early 70s.

The Metropole was a short-lived little known proto-peeler joint which set a tradition of strip clubs at Drummond and St. Catherine (the old Chic'n'Coop and its adjoining bar being predecessors. Before that it was the home of Thomas D'Arcy McGee.)

Le Vieux Rafiot was Alfie Wade's Old Montreal effort, which he established after bringing disco to Montreal around 1964. Wade was a young black hustler who copied the trend of bringing big speakers into nightclubs. He later moved to New York to do black civil rights stuff. I went to high school with his daughter and he visited me when he dropped in from Paris about 20 years ago and still occasionally writes me. Never found this bar too interesting, convince me otherwise please.

Cafe St. Jacques sat across the street to the west of where the main Berri metro entrance now sits. It was attached to a church and was long propelled by a single owner who couldn't resist a gimmick.  I have a few pretty good stories from this place, please send me more.

In the early 60s stripping was risky because of law enforcement but belly dancing passed the obscenity test so Fawzia Amir became a celebrity thanks to Harry Ship's investment. A lot of hype was required to keep interest in her Sahara Club on Sherbrooke west of Park, in a strip of building long demolished for hotels.

The Silver Slipper Cafe burned down not long after this. The place was just above St. Catherine Metcalfe and had previously been the original El Morrocco as well as the Cavendish Club and Golden Dome.

Casino de Paris would have been a place occupied by what later became the Spectrum. Tell me more if you know about it.

Harlem Paradise occupied the same premises as the fabled Cafe St. Michel, or at least might have, one was listed at 770 Mountain, the other 772. I'm still trying to figure if the building still stands, although I believe it does not.  It rivalled Rockheads as the Montreal's best black club. St. Michel lasted from 1940-1955. In 1962 it reopened as the Harlem Paradise. It was the scene of a battle beteen gangsters which left one man crippled for life. Actor Percy Rodrigues worked as a doorman there.

Kindly women organ players were a surprisingly big element to this city's entertainment scene. This place at the SW corner of Lincoln and Guy seems like a mystery.

A long-demolished joint on Dorch west of Peel sat in the same spot as Slitkins and Slotkins and was once attacked by mobsters who leaned on pro boxer Charlie Chase to do the dirty work. Chase, by the way, apparently once tried to pimp out women at Chez Paree by getting them hooked on heroin, which led Irish mobster Johnny Maguire to give him a famous beat down.

Rockheads was closed for a long time by the provincial government after owner Rufus refused to pay a bribe. It came back but pretty much died when he did. Famous story: Davey Hilton Sr. bit off a random guy's nose there because somebody had insulted his friend.

Whatever Whitey's Hideaway is, it didn't last long and it and the building is long, long gone. The Black Bottom was not far from there for several years before moving to Old Montreal for a couple of years to a location that later became Night Magic.


   I'm also seeking information on the Times Square Cafe on Bleury north of St. Catherine, near the old theatre, particularly to confirm a tale that a Mafia guy was beaten to death outside by the Irish owners after trying to extort them.
   Seeking information on the Venus de Milo, Checkers, Molly McGuire's/Clove Cafe, The Mocambo, Sportsman Tavern, Blue Angel Cafe, Swiss Hut (need a photo!) Samovar/Downbeat/PJ's, Skyway Lounge, Old Munich, 1234, Smitty's, Kon Tiki, Palomino, Alfie's, Brasserie d'Iberville, The Flip/C Plus/Dice Club on Paineau, Chez Mado, Lodeo, Sextuple, Hunter's Horn, Maple's Inn, Garage/Backstreet, Casa Loma, Toe Blakes, The Royal, El Morocco/Moustache, Smitty's, Cafe Campus, Bellevue Casino, Rainbow Bar and Grill, Playboy Club, Cafe Srajevo, Casa Del Sol.
  You have one not on this list? Please share it.