A reader has related a brutal and harrowing memory from 1970 about a Montreal bar that she is unable to identify now.
We believe this story might have taken place at the Harlem Club on Mountain, which was at the same spot as the Cafe St. Michel on the west side, just above Torrance, then co-owned by thug Adrien Dubois.
West End Gang member Bryce Richardson ended up in a wheelchair after supposedly trying to take the place over in 1967.
We believe it took place there because only a few black nightclubs were around at that time and this was the worst of them.
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I once went with a friend to a club that I only recall being west of downtown and near the water.
I was too stoned to remember.
The door was on the sidewalk and inside were those brown wooden tavern chairs and small arborite square tables with some arborite chairs and some wooden tables mixed. and they had a few big crescent shaped booths. we were sitting at a booth with a small square table in front of us.
The table wasn't really big enough for the booth. It was a real dive.
It was long and narrow, as you walked in the bar was a couple of feet on your right stretching along the wall inward to where thosetwo toilets were. and on the left were a few booths along the wall with a few tables in between the bar and booths and after the booths it was a small square space with maybe a dozen small tables and chairs.
The worst dive I've ever been in. It was a mostly all black club (meaning people of African heritage predominated- ed) and two guys started fighting to the death.
The barman was yelling at one that he'll end up back in jail but he broke two wooden tavern chairs over the other guy's head into pieces!
The guy then took one of the legs of the chair and continued beating the other till he had a huge gaping hole in his head that was pouring blood. The guy wasn't moving but the other one kept beating him till the barman told him he called him a cab and the cops sirens could be heard.
I ran for the bathroom right away but could see the fight still cause oddly the toilets were in the middle of the bar and were almost like outhouses.
The wooden door was two feet off the floor, like a piece of plywood long ago painted white and the door ended under my chin so I could look over it to see what's going on.
Both toilets were like that. If anyone was passing they could've just looked in on you. Very scary place.
We believe this story might have taken place at the Harlem Club on Mountain, which was at the same spot as the Cafe St. Michel on the west side, just above Torrance, then co-owned by thug Adrien Dubois.
West End Gang member Bryce Richardson ended up in a wheelchair after supposedly trying to take the place over in 1967.
We believe it took place there because only a few black nightclubs were around at that time and this was the worst of them.
****
I once went with a friend to a club that I only recall being west of downtown and near the water.
I was too stoned to remember.
The door was on the sidewalk and inside were those brown wooden tavern chairs and small arborite square tables with some arborite chairs and some wooden tables mixed. and they had a few big crescent shaped booths. we were sitting at a booth with a small square table in front of us.
The table wasn't really big enough for the booth. It was a real dive.
It was long and narrow, as you walked in the bar was a couple of feet on your right stretching along the wall inward to where thosetwo toilets were. and on the left were a few booths along the wall with a few tables in between the bar and booths and after the booths it was a small square space with maybe a dozen small tables and chairs.
The barman was yelling at one that he'll end up back in jail but he broke two wooden tavern chairs over the other guy's head into pieces!
The guy then took one of the legs of the chair and continued beating the other till he had a huge gaping hole in his head that was pouring blood. The guy wasn't moving but the other one kept beating him till the barman told him he called him a cab and the cops sirens could be heard.
I ran for the bathroom right away but could see the fight still cause oddly the toilets were in the middle of the bar and were almost like outhouses.
The wooden door was two feet off the floor, like a piece of plywood long ago painted white and the door ended under my chin so I could look over it to see what's going on.
Both toilets were like that. If anyone was passing they could've just looked in on you. Very scary place.
Still racking my brain as to when the Country Palace shooting took place, I was probably off by a year. Try searching fall to Spring 1966/67. I was home on leave from the navy at that time. A buddy and I had intended to go to the Country Place that night, but never got past the Kit Kat because I knew a couple of women there. It was covered by the Montreal Star.
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