This commercially defaced 1983 image depicts a Montreal landmark showing the lettering removed from its sign. It had been a cinema, but those days were over when the shutter snapped on this frame. Two-part question: 1) Exactly what had been inscribed on that landmark sign? 2) What is inscribed on it today?
Later: As you can see if you look carefully, the sign used to say SNOWDON. It was the Snowdon Theatre. But after the place shut down, never again to be a theatre, in '83, the lettering was removed and somebody bizarrely added the word "Théâtre" to the sign -- even though the place wasn't a theatre anymore.
As if nobody was looking (That's because nobody was. - Chimples), they added the old word "Snowdon" below that, but in smaller, ill-formed lettering. Weird.
The second picture is from about '89. So who cares? It's just another oddity. The whole strip is an eyesore today. The convenient expressway had a negative effect on much of the old entertainment strip that was Decarie Street. Now, the zone is pretty run down and low-rent.
But if you like to celebrate this kind of thing, it is one of Montreal's most hilarious acts of historical revisionism. (Revisionism -- is that like watching a TV show twice? - Chimples) The beauty is: only the new owners knew exactly why the sign was "revised", but perhaps a nudge of encouragement -- who knows, even funding? -- had been received.
Why? Hmm. Maybe because hundreds of thousands of Decarie Expressway motorists can see the sign, which indicated a largely Jewish, anglophone, neighbourhood-in-decline that does not officially exist. In certain circles, including defunct-theatre-buying governments, those are not always the most positive attributes in a Quebec neighbourhood.
Toponomy Commissioners can sleep soundly tonight.
I got it...sort of. It used to say Theatre Snowdon. There was the Snowdon Deli right next to it. I have memories of going to a movie there in the late 70's early 80's.
ReplyDeleteIt's not fair to ask what's on it now as I haven't been home in years. I know that it was bought by the city, turned into retail stores including a gym of some sort and really has never seemed to do very well. I always figured it was just the location which may have been good at one time but not so much anymore.
Snowdon Theatre? Now a ?gym?
ReplyDeleteMr. Peabody
I think the only thing that was written on the sign was: SNOWDON as it was called The Snowdon.
ReplyDeleteNowadays it's Theatre Snowdon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73416633@N00/394728508/sizes/o/
Why? I really don't know. Bill 101?
Pierre
the old snowdon theatre...
ReplyDeleteThe building has been owned by the City since the mid 80s. For a while, the Snowdon City Councillor used ot have his office there. Much of it was (is?) a gym used by the Questo Rhythmic ancing Club
ReplyDeleteSo, is it the city that spent taxpayer money on this ludicrous revisionism?
ReplyDeleteLike, it's one thing to Bill 101 a working theatre, but to retrofit a landmark to look like it was always Bill 101'ed seems downright Orwellian.
...and, of course, just north of the Snowden Theatre on Decarie Blvd. was "Snowden Pocket Novels and Comics" run by the fixture of the neighbourhood, "Archie".
ReplyDeleteArchie had moved his store there from his first location, which had been on Decarie just north of Queen Mary Road. But he had to relocate when the city came in and grazed everything on the east side of Decarie that stood on what is now the Decarie Expressway (the west side of the street was spared).
Archie was famous with the neighbourhood kids for selling second-hand comics. He would also buy comics from you but, of course, the kids were always upset with how little Archie offered because it was a fraction of the price he had initially sold the comic to you. When asked why he was offering so little, Archie's pat answer was "overhead" which he would then elaborate upon for 10-15 minutes at which point the little chilluns would get all glassy-eyed and leave out of sheer boredom and frustration, continuing their walk to Iona Avenue School or wherever.
After the rather morbidly obese Archie died (no one ever remembered the Jabba-the-Hut-looking Archie ever moving from his seat behind the counter), his sister took over the operations for several years.
Archie opened his first Snowdon neighborhood business at the bottom of Dalou Street, near Decarie in about 1960. It was called Archie's Record Bar and he sold end-of-lot records, the ones with the hole punched in the corner of the sleeve.
ReplyDeleteI grew up on Dalou, and remember the day Archie arrived. He was fixing a flat on his old, 1952 army surplus, drab gray/green stationwagon, which was filled to the brim with his opening day's pile of stock, parked across from my house. I wandered over to chat with him, and he told me that he was moving his record stock into his soon-to-open store.
He would always have a classical disc spinning on his counter record player. He loved classical music.He also posted "words of wisdom" signs around the store, such as "Always support your community chest". I once asked him what a "community chest" was. I don't remember his answer.
Eventually, he branched out into used pocket books, comics, and magazines. He would sell you a pocket book for a nickel or a dime, stamp the inside page with the store stamp, and when you brought the stamped book back, he would give you 2 cents for it. He'd pay only a penny if the book wasn't stamped.
At lunchtime, he would always brownbag in a small area behind a wall at the back at the store. I remember chatting with him over the wall, while at the same time I would thumb through his girly magazine pile (Men's, Argosy, etc.),looking at the cheesecake pics, educating my 12-year-old mind. Some of those bra/garter/nightie shots were really hot. I also remember the dramatic artists' renditions of scantily-clad Nazi SS female guards (named Olga), whipping GI prisoners into a frenzy. The storyline was secondary to the artwork.
Archie was Archie Wilensky, brother to the more famous (and slimmer) Moe Wilensky, owner of Wilensky's Light Lunch on Fairmount West. Archie would tell me stories of growing up in that neighbourhood, and he introduced me to the writings of his childhood friend, Mordechai Richler, by encouraging me to read "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz". Years later, I met and photographed Richler, and he fondly remembered Archie, and their childhood days together.
Archie was forced to move when the government expropriated the buildings on the east side of Decarie, for construction of the Decarie Expressway. My house ended up being on the corner of Dalou and Decarie after the expropriations. By this time, the business had been re-named "Snowdon Pocket Novels and Comics", and was last located on the east side of Decarie, near Isabella, on the north end of the block with the Kane and Fetterly Funeral home.
Archie died in 1975. A really nice guy...
I used to walk up Dalou every day for 7 years on the way to Iona Avenue School. I lived on Earnscliffe, so: down Earnscliffe, along Snowden Avenue, across Decarie, down Dalou and on to Iona. Can't remember whether Dalou was a dead-end, in which case we would cut through a property on to the next street.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny: the entire area was called "Snowden" but the actual Snowden Avenue was a tiny street only about 3 blocks long.
haroldro, do you remember Black and White's on Queen Mary Road? Or how about that little candy shop on the corner of Snowden and Decarie, north-west corner which was run by an elderly couple? That was where I read the headlines of each day's (or week's?) "Midnight", such as "Man lives in toilet for 7 years...and survives!"
Wasn't that store called Black and Orange?
ReplyDeleteJ.D.:
ReplyDeleteWeirdly enough, there was both a "Black and White" and a "Black and Orange" on Queen Mary Road, both with about 3 blocks of each other.
Black and White was a candy/tobacco/newspaper store situated right where the current entrance to the Snowden metro is.
Black and Orange was west of there on the other side of Decarie on the south side of Queen Mary Road which sold stationary and new records -- LPs and 45s.
Tony, I attended Iona School also. In fact, I was "head monitor" in my last year (1962), and rang the bell at 8:50 a.m. and at recess.
ReplyDeleteRemember principal Mr. H.H. Cooke and Miss Brown very well.
I lived on Dalou for 45 years. The path to Iona that you describe was down Musset Street (now known as Snowdon), not Dalou to Iona School. The very top of Musset was a wooded open area (aka: the "Woods")until the early 1960's, when the land was sold and two houses were built there.
J.D. is correct about Black and White and Black and Orange. Black and White was a stationery story that sold everything from penny candy to thimbles, owned by Mr. Lew. He was a really nice guy, his wife was the crabby one. Their daughters and their son-in-laws also worked there, so it was a real family-run store.
Black and Orange was a book and school supply store, run by a tall lanky man who looked like retired military, with slicked-down black hair. He had these meek, submissive ladies and girls working for him, who always looked terrified anytime he was around. I used to buy my Coles notes there (as quickly as I could). It was also a lending library where you could rent the latest best-seller for 5 cents a day. Scary place.
The store at Decarie and Snowdon was run by Mr. and Mrs. Burns. It was basically a private home, with the two front rooms converted into the store part. Mrs. Burns always had a scowl on her red face, while Mr. Burns wore cardigans, and talked softly. I also used to read Midnight every week, in the pile on the right, as you came in the front door.
Remember Mary Beetles nursery School north of the Post Office bldg on Decarie? I went to pre-kindergarten there.
I'm currently organizing a photo reunion of folks who lived on Dalou and surrounding streets. I'm collecting and scanning photos from the 1950's (and earlier and later) of kids, surroundings, schools, parks, camps, street scenes, etc., with the idea of eventually posting them on a photo site for all to view. So far I've contacted (and met) more than a dozen families who lived on Dalou and Decarie in those years, and have received many photos. Let me know if you'd like to participate, Tony. Any pictures showing you, your street,pre Decarie expressway, your friends would be appreciated.
Remember Decarie Fish and Chips, Victor, the Tailor, Snowdon Bicycle shop (owner missing fingers), Friendly Fruit Store, Orchid Beauty Salon? Lots of memories. Great place to grow up.
Hi Harold! Coolbrook and Snowdon and The Woods and the Burns' little store and both Black and's. But I remember Mrs Burns as pretty friendly, no scowl. We were there almost every day because we had to pass it walking to and from school. We even had to buy cigarettes for our mother - back then, little kids could
DeleteGosh, haroldro, your memory is better than mine!
ReplyDeleteYour last year at Iona was '62, my first was '61 and I attended until '67 when we moved to St. Laurent. I don't remember Mr. Cooke (was he known as "Strap Happy" by any chance?) because Winton L. Roberts came in around '62 as principle but I most definitely remember Miss Brown because she was the one everyone was afraid of. I also remember a Mrs. Kreitz, the gym teacher.
You are correct about the path down the street to the forested area which we were able to take advantage of for only one or two years because, as you indicate, they built a house on the lot, closing off the route.
And Mr. Lew at Black and White's! Now that you say his name I remember it. My only complaint about Mr. Lew is that he used to mark all his comic books with a line from a pen in the upper left corner so that he could identify them as his own if he caught a kid stealing one. Believe it or not, I bought a copy of Spiderman #1 at Archie's around '68 (yes, I still frequented his place even after I had moved away) which was in perfect condition except for Mr. Lew's mark (the comic had made its way to Archie's in a bizarre cycle of free trade). Of course, it's long gone from my possession (I let it go to muster funds for a trip to Europe when I was about 19) but today it would be worth about $2,500 which would make both Archie and Mr. Lew spin in their respective graves.
Thank you for remembering the Burns' name which I had forgotten, as well as Mrs. Burns' demeanor. Oh, and of course, the location of the tabloids on the right!
I don't remember Mary Beetles' place but I do remember Frank Quinn's music school on the same side of the street as the post office, south of Snowden Avenue as well as the Dominion's in the same proximity. My memory of the Dominion's was accompanying my mother there on her shopping excursions and her filling three or four bags full of groceries for $5.00.
I believe it was above the Dominion's that there was a bowling alley (small pins) with teenagers who set the pins up by hand; they hid above the pins at the end of the allies. The post office I remember because as a 10-year-old I snottily called them the day that Winston Churchill died demanding that they lower their flag to half mast. But they told me they only did it on instructions from their boss.
The only store I remember from your list in the last paragraph is, vaguely, Victor the Tailor. I do, however, remember with great fondness Cote St. Luc Bar-B-Q on Cote. St. Luc Road between Earnscliffe and Coolbrooke because they had the most incredible chips (15 cents a bag) as well as Labow's the drug store. Incredibly about 10 years ago I had a client here in Arizona (in Sun City, Arizona, a retirement community) in which the lady had lived on Coolbrooke parallel to where I lived on Earnscliffe...and had lived there during the same time period that I did!
haroldro, can you tell me where exactly decarie fish & chips was? I remember going there with my dad in the 70's, but I was too young to know where I was. thanks.
ReplyDeletedid it ever move or was it always in one location? and when did they close?
C.
ReplyDeleteFish and Chips Store Reg'd was located on the east side of Decarie Blvd., halfway between Dalou St. and Musset St.(now called Snowdon).
It was operated by Paul Vitas and wife, and their son and daughter. It was basically a lower duplex that was converted into a fish and chips restaurant. The Vitas family lived in the upper duplex. You could eat inside, in the small dining room on the left when you entered, or order take-out at the counter. Fish was 20 cents and fries were a dime, if ordered separately, or 25 cents for both together. That was the total available menu. I remember there was a great pinball machine in the counter area, as well as a large floor model soft drink cooler, filled with about 6 inches of ice water, with the various drink bottles half-submerged in the water. Great stuff, flavours like Peer's raspberry, blueberry, cherry-lime, Up-Town, Gurd's ginger ale, Royal Stewart, Orange Crush, and other tasty, syrupy treats. The drinks were 6 or 7 cents each, and you got a refund of 2 cents when the bottle was returned. Lots of construction workers at lunchtime around the cooler, getting their energy boost.
It closed when that side of Decarie was expropriated by the government and the buildings torn down to make way for the Decarie Expressway construction in the mid-1960's.
Fish and Chips Store Reg'd then moved to the north side of Jean Talon, just east of l'Acadie where it was operated until sometime in the 1980's, or early 90's, by the same family.
I remember when they were on Decarie, every Tuesday the laneway behind the store would be filled with cop cars, while the officers entered through the kitchen door to get their fish and chips lunch, made with the fresh, just-delivered fish. I could see (and smell) the laneway from the back balcony of my house.
Tony
I remember Miss Brown very well. She was my grade 7 teacher at Iona School. She was tough looking, always barking at the kids running the stairs at recess. Coincidentally, I attended Westhill High with her niece, who eventually became a teacher, and taught my kids in high school. The niece recently told me that her aunt never liked children, and was a teacher for the job only. I wasn't surprised to learn that.
I also remember Mrs. Crites, the gym teacher. She was ancient, very old and wrinkly face, wearing a tennis skirt and blouse, and running shoes. She was very pleasant, though, and kind.
I also remember the alcohol smell from the nurse's office, next to the gym, near the Gestetner copy room, that also smelled of alcohol, or ink. Healthy stuff....
Frank Quinn had his first music store facing Decarie, corner the south side of Dalou. He moved when the building was torn down for the Decarie Expressway project, and up to about 15 years ago, he was located on the east side of Decarie, just south of Isabella, near Snowdon Deli.
I remember Lussier Pharmacy was between Burn's and the Post Office. Also, there was a dentist named Dora Gordon, who had her shingle hanging in the window of the appt building south of the post office. She had her office/appt there for more than 35 years, dying a few years ago.
Friends of mine worked as pinboys at the bowling ally above Dominions. It was a real neighbourhood hangout. We used to shop at Dominion all the time, and play stand-o and other ball games against the outside wall of the building, facing the parking lot. It was just across Decarie from my house.
Cote St. Luc Bar-B-Q is still there on Cote St. Luc, serving some of the best chicken around. I pick up an order there at least once a week. Labow's is still there, I think. I know the owner recently tried to buy the Les Orphelines parking lot across the street, to build a new pharmacy building, and the local residents all objected, citing traffic and pollution problems, so the idea was shelved. Now. a developer is just completing construction on a huge 6+ storey (ugly) retirement residence on the parking lot site, totally out of character with the neighbourhood. Go figure..
haroldro:
ReplyDeleteRegarding Miss Crites, the gym teacher: When I was in Kindergarten at Iona, it was her last year there. As a going-away present, the entire student body was assembled outside in the school yard and she was given a golf bag with a new set of clubs.
Flash forward almost 30 years to 1989 and I was on, I believe, Walkley in NDG knocking on doors in an appartment building gathering signatures for the Equality Party (they needed 1,000 signatures to be recognized as an official party) and, lo and behod, I knocked on her door. She looked exactly as she had 30 years earlier (indeed, she may have still been wearing that tennis dress!). She was about to slam the door in my face with a polite but firm "not interested" when I recounted the golf bag story to her, which made her cry. Needless to say, I got her and her male companion's signatures.
Re: that alcohol smell from the copy machine next to the nurse's office. Wow! Just reading that passage of your's brought back a SMELL memory because every print-out done at Iona came from that room and each page (in slightly smudgy blue lettering) had that smell! And if you had Mrs. Hirsch (as I did in grade 6), you got that smell every day because she just loved hand-outs.
haroldro, do you remember Manny's Deli at the southeast corner of, I think, Decarie and Queen Mary Road? Once a week, my mother gave me 50 cents for eating out and I had lunch there which got me a coke, fries, and a club roll. Manny later opened up Manny's Steak House above a parking garage on the west side of Decarie, just south of Queen Mary but, according to my mother, didn't pay off the appropriate bribe to a city official and couldn't get his liquor license, so the place eventually went under.
Tony
ReplyDeleteI remember Manny's Deli very well. It was owned by Manny Gitnick, a former amateur boxer from the Montreal Jewish community. He walked with a limp, and always reminded me of Roy Orbison because he often wore sunglasses and resembled Roy. Manny died about 2 years ago.
Manny's Deli had previously been a Chenoy's Deli in the mid-1950's. As a teen-ager, I remember hanging out on the sidewalk in front of Manny's, looking cool with my blaring Sony 6 transistor radio, which was the "in" teen toy of the 1960's. My friends all had the tiny radios, and we all tuned into CKGM or CFOX, or Dave Boxer on CFCF. CKGM had a "Top 100" 45 rpm weekly record sheet, that we all picked up at the record dept at Woolworth's, at Queen Mary and Earnscliffe.
I remember when Manny had the steakhouse on the west side of Decarie. At the opening, he brought in some very famous U.S. disco-craze dancer to perform. I think the place was supposed to transform itself into a disco club on certain nights. I know it went under after a couple of months. I didn't know the story about the failed liquor license.
I'm very surprised to hear that Miss Crites was still alive in 1989. She was very old when I had her as a teacher in the 1950's.
The moist, smelly hand-outs and tests were very common in those days. They would never be acceptable today. We survived, though.
I had Mrs. Martin, Miss Freedman, Miss Gaetz, Miss Brown, and others, while at Iona. I've posted some of their pictures, with comments on Classmates dot com. Look for Harold at Iona School, to view.
Sorry if this posts twice- I'm not really good at it:
ReplyDeleteThe Snowdon Theatre- I never liked that place. I remember seeing "A Dog of Flanders" there sometime during the 1950s, when a special city license was needed for theatres to allow kids in, apparently due to a terrible fire in the 1920s).
But Archie's- Archie was something special. Part of the reason I'm a comic/bookseller today is because, one day there was a "back in 5 minutes sign taped to the window of his Dalou St. store. He wasn't back for a couple of weeks, and I asked him what happened. Archie said there was no washroom in the store, and, as was his custom, he went around the corner to Decarie Fish & Chips to use theirs, but it was a nice day, so he decided to go to New York, and took off. I thought "This is the kind of job I want- just take off whenever you feel like it." I didn't realise that the kind of life you got was as a bachelor, living in a pretty dumpy apartment near the Wilderton shopping center, later living in the back of the store, and eventually dying there, alone.
Well, I used to love Archie's, hanging out there every few days, delivering those little flyers (Books-Comics-Magazines- 5¢ and up), listening to his stories of when he was "in the restaurant business". Archie (and my) notary, the late Moe Diner, once told me that "Snowdon Pocket Novels and Comics" came about because, when Archie had to move around the corner from Dalou, he had a wider store, and simply wanted a name that would go all the way across the front. Became a bit of a problem when he moved down near Lacombe where the front was only eight feet wide. He had a few of us kids helping him paint and set up both the Decarie locations, and I was one of them. I bought "Librairie Astro" in Lachine in 1984, and I was also the one who, in 1987, bought the Decarie/Lacombe store from Archie's sister, Sylvia, moving it to Sherbrooke Street a few years later, when the landlord more than doubled the rent. (I still have Archie's business registration certificate behind my desk at work.) I sometimes still think of my remaining store (on Ste.Catherine St., just west of the Faubourg) as "Archie's". Nick Auf Der Maur was a regular, and every once in a while he'd drag Mordechai Richler in. Nice, quiet fellow, and he did fondly remember Archie. I always meant to stop by Wilensky's on Fairmount to see if they might have a photo of "our founder" that I could put up in the store, but, thanks to a stroke, I can't get around that easily anymore. Time for a shameless commercial plug, and a fare the well and thank you to the posters who have woken some fond memories!
Plug: If you're looking for used books, or new and back issue comics, try us:
Librairie Astro
1844 Ste. Catherine St. W.
between St. Mathieu & St. Marc - 1-1/2 blocks west of Guy)
Montreal 514-932-1139
www.astrolib.com
Open every day except Christmas and New Years- no "back in 5 minutes" signs!)
Oh, by the way, "Black and Orange", which someone mentioned, was a stationary, artist supply, and (new) bookstore: The record shop on the same Queen Mary block between Coolbrooke and Decarie was "Playpen" (now Decarie Juvenile Furniture, but originally "Dalfen's"- you'll only remember -that- if you're really old!
Enough- and you thought onlyArchie could go on endlessly?
I was at my computer the other day, doing a little day-dreaming about my Uncle Archie, when i typed in his name on the search engine, finding Coolopolis and your comments. Wow, was that ever good to read. It is 35 years ago on Novenmber 7th that he died. What a character he was!! Imagine being his neice? My sisters and I have years of "Archie's widsom" embedded in our brains. I haven't lived in Mtl since 1985, but will be visiting family in early December and will bring you a picture of Archie for your store.
ReplyDeleteThe Snowdon Theatre opened in 1937 and closed in 1983 as part of the early-80s major shift by movie conglomerates to the current smaller-screen multiplex network.
ReplyDeleteSo-called "progress".
But, of course, the Snowdon wasn't alone. The Kent, Westmount, Avenue, Capitol, Orpheum, and many others unfortunately all went the way of the dinosaur.
Fortunately, a few of these vintage venues still remain such as the Rialto, the Outremont, and another on the northwest corner of St. Denis and Belanger. Cinema Five on Sherbrooke
near Girouard is still apparently a political football, its future uncertain due to funding issues. But, I digress...
The last movie I saw at the Snowdon was "Paradise" (1982) starring the lovely Phoebe Cates (a film worth renting for its tastful nudity and scenery if nothing else)
and I do believe this was the final film ever shown at the Snowdon before it closed for good.
As a kid from 1956 I first lived on Trans Island a few blocks north of Queen Mary Road, so the Snowdon district was (and still is) basically my back yard--although back in the day
I never actually hung around those short little streets like Dalou or Saranac since I had no friends who lived there. I do, however, remember the Dominion and a small bicycle shop
further south on Decarie before the demolition for "The Trench" began, essentially destroying the neighbourhood. They were supposed to completely cover at least some
strategic stretches of the expressway. We're still waiting for that, but not holding our breaths.
How many remember 4668 Decarie Billiards on the top floor of the building where Udisco was on the west side of Decarie just south the post office?
I'm not sure when it first opened but I do remember one day someone told me that the owner closed down sometime in the early 70s after two pool-playing patrons deliberately
waited until everyone else had left before robbing him at gunpoint and then forcing him into the phone booth in the corner of his floor and then laying it face down so he couldn't
escape or call for help. I think he was trapped there for many hours or even longer before he was finally discovered and freed.
Dalfen's on Queen Mary Road just west of Queen Mary Provisions I do remember because they used to sell 78 and 45 rpm records. In fact, I'll never forget one day in 1958 when my
aunt took me in there because she wanted to buy the hit song "Fever", by Peggy Lee--a 78 rpm disc I later inherited from her and which I still have in my collection.
Black and Orange, Play Pen, Tops Barber Shop, Woolworth's across the street, A & P further west, Morgan's, Queen Mary Hardware, Peggy's Nut Shop (remember that strong nutty
smell which emanated continuously from the small grill beneath their window?!), Henry Gordon's Party Centre, etc.
Snowdon - part 2...
ReplyDeleteThen, of course, who can forget the landmark Nu-Way Tobacco shop on the northwest corner of Decarie and Queen Mary where my comic and pocket book collecting had its genesis,
later, of course, for years I did visit Archie's near Lacombe until it closed. I still miss that place! RBI Richstone bakery, Reitman's, Spunt's radio-TV service,
Black and White, Brown's show store next to Manny's Deli, and the original Royal Bank building a little further west, and the enormous Esso roof sign on it that could be seen
almost all the way from Decarie Circle--which really was a circle in those days before it was turned into a "spaghetti junction" in 1959. And then there were the unforgettable
steam trains which used the CPR line just south of Jean Talon and the route 17 Cartierville streetcar trestle over it.
I close my eyes and can still see the tilting, winking Humpty Dumpty Potato Chips sign on the roof of the Miss Snowdon restaurant, Dack's shoe store, The Snowdon Tavern (which burned down and
closed on a New Year's Eve decades later), the City and District Saving's Bank (now the Laurentian Bank) that in 1967 mob boss Cotroni and his brother-in-law's shady pals
began to tunnel toward from a duplex basement on Trans Island Ave. but, unbeknownst to them, were under police surveillance from the very beginning. The bank's vault was, of
course, protected by sensors so the crooks would have never reached the loot before the alarms went off. Will such jokers never learn?
Further north on Decarie was Cowan's newspaper and novelty store (demolished), and the unique, drive-in Bank of Montreal at the SE corner of Cote Ste.Catherine Rd.,
long since closed and shuttered.
Sometime in the late 50s, Nello's Pizzeria opened on Decarie and was all the rage for the neighbourhood and then later his brother went into competition opening the Leaning Tower
of Pizza. All gone today as well. Indeed, Nello's was the very first pizza I'd ever eaten!
The Snowdon district (in reality a part of NDG) got its name from J.J. Snowdon who sometime early in the 20th Century purchased the large tracts of land on--among others--both the
northwest and southwest corners of Decarie and Queen Mary--the latter which over different time periods had been named Third Street and Cote St. Luc. Yes, even in those days
street names were changed back and forth. In fact, Decarie Blvd. had earlier been called Monkland Blvd., St. Kevin was previously Ridgevale, and Edouard-Montpetit was Maplewood.
J. J. Snowdon's prominent house was approximately just slightly west of the existing NW corner, thus the nearby tram depot became popularly known as Snowdon Junction. Photos
and historical maps can be easily researched: e.g. see the Pinsoneault map for 1907 (plate 33) among the bnquebec.ca collection.
J.J.'s son William Comrie Snowdon lived on what eventually became Snowdon Avenue. After his death, his property was turned over the church which currently exists on the north
side west of the old, exclusive tram trackage and later, paved bus right-of-way which after many decades was eventually abandoned, blocked off in the 1990s, and presumably sold
piecemeal to the Coolbrook residents whose property backed onto it. Not sure exactly how that was worked out.
I might add that "renovating" a former movie theatre in general is fraught with problems, what with the high ceilings and angled floor. In my opinion, they could have given it over to live plays or other entertainment such as occured with the Rialto and Outremont theatres.
ReplyDeleteThe gymnastics club in the old Snowdon Theatre is user-unfriendly as they forbid the public from watching any performances. So much for encouraging our kids to participate or show off their skills.
The fact that the card collectibles shop is still there is surprising as well, as much of the "trivia market" has diminished in recent years.
Personally, I can think of more important things to throw money away on than $500 for a lousy baseball card "collectible".
UrbanLegend : Your mention of Cowan's on Decarie Blvd. brought back an almost-forgotten memory.
ReplyDeleteMy dad was going to purchase Cowan's in the early 1960's, finally achieving his dream of owning his own business (and, maybe, getting cheaper smokes). Anyway, the deal fell through at the notary's office, when Cowan's owner refused to sign an agreement, forbidding him from opening a similar business within "X" blocks of his former establishment.
Will have to make it down to Librairie Astro soon. Want to see that pic of Archie W. that Pearl promised.
Have started a Dalou Street photo album. View it at:
http://haroldro.multiply.com/
Correction to my earlier post regarding the location of the streetcar/bus right-of-way:
ReplyDeleteIt ran north-south behind the duplexes and apartment buildings between Earnscliffe and Clanranald--not Coolbrook; the top end being between 5450 and 5474 Queen Mary Road where there is currently a "mini-park".
This former route has indeed been divided up among the duplex and apartment property owners, some of whom have installed sheds and extended their backyards. Lucky them!
Is there anyone reading this who can shed some light on exactly how that property dispersal was arranged? After all, it's not often that the city gives property back. They usually expropriate!
William Comrie Snowdon's former house was replaced by the existing Presbyterian church on the northwest corner of Snowdon Avenue and Clanranald.
I know that I saw a Disney movie there. It was "That Darn Cat" with Hayley Mills. Google sez it was 1965! In the lost theatres of Montreal category, I saw "Mary Poppins" at the Westmount which was at the corner of Grey Avenue and Sherbrooke. It was a drug store the last time I looked.
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If memory serves me well - something it does less and less these days - the Snowdon was one of the few Montreal cinemas daring to show the movie "I, a Woman" which had so outraged Jean Drapeau and his censor cronies. It also showed the English version of "Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob", the French classic with Louis De Funes.
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In addition to the Snowdon Theatre's flashing bulb marquee, there was another colourful tile sign on the wall just to the west of it.
ReplyDeleteThat colourful and glossy tile sign depicted a British, busby-hatted soldier beating a bass drum with the words "Better Shows" beneath it.
Unfortunately, sometime during the 1980s, presumably some nationalistic language zealot painted over the sign, thus hiding it completely from view.
It would be nice to see that sign restored along with any potential upgrade to the theatre building itself, but I won't hold my breath.
Sadly, however, our vintage theatres have a history of being deliberately left to crumble so that "developers" can erect their wretched condos.
Just to keep this thread up to date:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/snowdon-theatre-condo-1.4519294