Well over 100 nowhereians, mostly men, overflowed the sidewalk in front of Cafe Canasta - now Cafe Cleopatra - on St. Lawrence a couple of doors south of St. Catherine in September 1960.
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| Martel |
The exact murder isn't specified by it can only be that of Suzanne Davidson, 31, killed in a rooming house at 1215 St. Lawrence on Wednesday 20 September 1960. Waiter Marcel Martel, 20, was later convicted of manslaughter in her beating death.
The rooming house would have been above the Midway Bar, which was adjacent to a movie theatre.
One can only be astounded at the low threshold of entertainment demonstrated by the crowd assembled to watch police nose around.
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| Ling 1964 |
The show bar to the left was best known for its time named Folies Bergeres.
The east side of the Main just south of St. Catherine attracted a variety of sleaze tourists with an appetite for cheap beer, lowbrow hookers and homosexual encounters in quiet areas of the dark movie theatre.
Atomik Sales at 1005 St. Lawrence sat in what's now an almost homogenous strip of Chinese restaurants south of de La Gauche. It sold every sort of thing from clothing to radios to novelties.
1184 St. Lawrence the Domestic Restaurant sat next to the Monument National.
Jean Drapeau despised the St. Lawrence Market at the northeast corner of the Main and Dorch and eventually had it razed in the early 60s. The small row of retail directly to its north remained in business until the 1970s at least, with their story recorded in a Time Magazine article in 1971. The space is now occupied by the hipstertastic SAT facility.
As for the St. Lawrence Market at the NE corner of Dorch and the Main, the land remained vacant for decades after its demolition only until finally being filled by the student housing tower funded by the SSJB that feeds Kanuk jacket-wearing francophone students from Shawinigan to stroll up and down the now-sanitized strip.
The southeast corner of that intersection, directly across the street from the old market grounds, has remained vacant apparently since the street widening in the early 1950s. We would love to know why it has never been filled. Theories and explanations welcome in the comments below.
Prof Clement, a World War II vet, long ran the long dedicated tattoo shop in Montreal, more on the place here.
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| Cleo's/Cafe Canasta window 1960 |
The pictures show the Charlotte Street area where Bertin was stabbed to death.
Nurse, who was a black man and railway porter with a wife and kids, was in the area having a fun night out with a pair of female friends, Frances Gray, 22, and Claudia Borden, 25.
Bertin apparently insulted one of the women, leading to a scuffle which saw Nurse stab Bertin in the heart, causing his death. A judge expressed his positive view of Nurse at trial and gave him an eight year sentence for manslaughter.
Some might have imagined that Nurse might have been acting as a pimp in the situation, as the area was known for that sort of activity but this doesn't seem to have been the case.
Very interesting. Great pics!
ReplyDeleteThat long-standing empty lot at the southeast corner of Rene Levesque E. (Dorchester) and St. Lawrence may well have been an extension of the old, now removed, Dufferin Square Cemetery:
ReplyDeletehttp://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2007/01/long-long-dufferin-square.html
http://www.leslabelle.com/Cimetieres/AfficherCim.asp?MP=E3&CID=828
I seem to remember a newspaper article decades ago mentioning it as being an ancient burial ground--perhaps for Indigenous people--but I may be mistaken. Possibly some graves were found there but no action was immediately taken to remove them and then build upon the property until further historical proof was found.
Alternatively, the existence of what remains of the original Montreal General Hospital directly to the east of the empty lot may account for it not being built upon. Perhaps a small, temporary cemetery was associated with the hospital.
It may also be possible that there is something unstable beneath the surface such as deep clay that often plagues excavation contractors such as what occurred with the Alcan House on Stanley Street just south of Sherbrooke.
Lovell's directories and archival maps have thus far not been helpful regarding the identification of every ancient cemetery. Best to contact the city of Montreal's zoning department or relevant real estate company responsible for it as to why the land still remains vacant.
Somebody knows and it must be a pretty good reason including the old story of the owner (whoever it may be) persistently holding out for as much money as they can get--such as for those now, mostly vacant, derelict shops on the north side of St. Antoine (formerly Craig Street) between St. Urbain and St. Lawrence which took decades for the city to gain possession of and eventually expropriate. Not sure exactly what is planned for that block. Do I dare guess more outrageously-priced condos?
Interesting….
ReplyDeleteRegarding that empty lot at the southeast corner of St. Laurent and Rene Levesque (formerly Dorchester Blvd.), random research in Lovell's directory for 1970-71 lists commercial establishments extant on the east side of St. Lawrence all the way north to address number 1095 (Marcil Entreprises), while on the west side the addresses ended further north at 1114 (resident Mr. Y.G. Chin) as they do today.
ReplyDeleteI accidentally stumbled across this fact from photographic evidence of the March 4, 1971 Blizzard clearly indicating Dan Hats then at 1089 St. Laurent and Kattas Men's Wear at 1083 along with data cross-referenced and verified via Lovell's. See the photo in the link below.
https://www.thesuburban.com/blogs/suburban_weather/a-look-back-50-years-ago-the-montreal-blizzard-of-1971/article_a0ebbbc2-7c40-11eb-81e9-5fd4bf682665.html
As of 2022, the northernmost commercial address number on the east side of St. Laurent south of Rene Levesque is 1071 (Epicerie Heng Heng Grocery). The previously adjacent addresses to its north began with 1075 ending at 1095 were subsequently demolished (date unknown) presumably to deliberately enlarge the empty lot in which there are today some parking spaces allowed, likely being reserved for the proprietors of nearby businesses.
Based on this and the fact that the area is located on the edge of Chinatown, one may assume that the aging east-side St. Laurent addresses from 1075-1095 were expropriated as part of some tentative yet still-unrealized plan to erect a large office building or--dare we hope--perhaps to eventually create a badly-needed green space.
It is entirely likely that even 1071 St. Laurent itself and those buildings directly to the south of it were at one point also slated to come under the wrecking ball, though no doubt under continual protest by the local merchants who have complained about the steadily shrinking size and depopulation of Chinatown.
Update Jan. 24, 2022
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-chinatown-to-receive-quebec-heritage-status-1.6324413