The Rolling Stones on St. James Street West

Here`s a photo of a bunch of kids from St. Raymonds NDG standing alongside Rolling Stones Brian Jones, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger in April 1965. Great photo. I will reveal the entire photo and the rather interesting anecdote around the visit as soon as one reader donates $50 to the NDG Food Bank, proof required.----


Everybody bow down and thank Ken Monteith who has stepped up and slapped a fifty on the table for charity to allow you to witness this iconic Montreal image.


The following photo and story courtesy of the excellent Peter Ponzi, longtime resident of St. Raymonds, the southern section of NDG.

   It was 1965. The Stones were in town and high on the charts with The Last Time. One Saturday in April Peter Ponzi was just hanging around the house in southern NDG. Peter's older brother Italo came to the porch reporting that there was some band at the gas station nearby on St. James and Regent (across from D&G Hardware). The previous night the Rolling Stones had performed in Montreal and were en route to Ottawa with two Station Wagons. Thus Brian Jones, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were just hanging out in NDG. Bill and Charlie were had already gone ahead towing a U-Haul.

   Brian, Keith and Mick had stopped at Mr. Andreoli's garage to get a new side mirror installed.

   One of the kids had taken a few photos and Peter rushed back home to get his Kodak but in his haste he banged it against a car. Ponzi shot the last three photos on the roll but to his disappointment, he later saw that they had come out black (painted black? - Chimples).

   Mick went into the car to snooze while Keith kept leaning against the door chatting with the local youth but Brian asked about the St. James escarpment. He said it looked like a cliff edge. The kids said that it wasn't actually a cliff but a hill with a train depot below. Brian crossed to see and almost got hit by a car, as he was unused to cars driving on the wrong side of the street.

   Brian was excited by the steam trains below. It seemed he collected models and made films of them as a hobby. The trains were getting their water tanks filled and Brian filmed the scene with a movie camera with fascination, remarking on how much smaller the English steamers were.
   The three rockers eventually left and the kids had a hot story to tell at school on Monday. Years later Peter found the girl in the red top who had taken the photos (I believe she now works at the NDG Food Bank) and she gave him a copy of the photo. 
   The Stones themselves were shown the photo when they came to Montreal in 1998. Mick showed it to Keith but somehow they never actually autographed it.