Here are a few oldies from '73: St. Catherine between Peel and Metcalfe (north side); the western end of Cathcart St. (behind the Capitol Theatre -- huge eh? With the east wall of the Loew's looming behind. And that's a bunch of kids from the 4H Club crossing the street -- in town for the org'z 30 birthday at the Mount Royal Hotel); and the old St. Kate block between Mansfield and McGill College (north side) -- you sort it out ... shrunken down and for discussion purposes only, natch.
Fantastic photos, thanks for posting. These bring back the memories.
ReplyDeleteBata shoes! Miss them.
ReplyDeleteLove the 1280 CJMS ad.
ReplyDeleteRemember when the Capital was renovated in, I think the '70s and became a multiplex with about 5 screens? Well, recall that one of the screens was stadium seating...WAY before it became popular. I have to assume it was built that way because the architect decided there was only room to have it that way. I remember that every time I came to the Capital I wished that the film I had come to see would be showing in that theatre.
ReplyDeleteOf course, today ALL theatres built are stadium seating...and thank god for it! No more preening one's neck or praying that the person who sits in front of you will be short!
You may be thinking of either the Loew's or the Palace. The Capitol was simply demolished. I saw the last stage show there, Reveen. Place was flattened a month later, then a nondescript building replaced it -- without theatre. Anybody remember the basement walkway that led diagonally through the Capitol Centre? There was a deli there. It helped get you warmly from Simpson's to PVM.
ReplyDelete... it was 1973.
ReplyDeleteReuben's Deli was on the ground floor of the Capitol Centre. The Capitol Centre, 3rd floor, was where Canada's First Radio Station, CFCF AM 60, moved to from 405 Ogilvy Avenue, when it was purchased by The Two Pierres, Arcand and Beland, from The Man Who Killed English Television in Quebec, Jean Pouliot.
ReplyDeleteMust have been 1973, because around the summer of 1975, I gave a hand to my uncle who was finishing stores in the Capitol centre.
ReplyDeleteRemember the original pseudo-parisian ambiance it was decorated with?
And on a cold winter day, you could enter on Ste-Catherine, go up the stairs, walk though the upper floor mall, then exit on Catcart, and cross into Place-Ville-Marie to catch your subway at Bonaventure…
Who remembers the seedy little movie theater that was left after the "renovations"?
And who remembers "Chicken Charlie" in the basement, where the owner would nicely greet every patron when you went in? (And the chicken was good, too).
Isn’t that silly, getting somewhat nostalgic about now-defunct 70’s shopping malls? How about "Les Terrasses"? I miss that amazing maze of a mall…
I miss the chopped ham and pickle sandwiches, and the grilled cheese platters, at Woolworths on Ste-Catherine...
ReplyDeleteLes Terrasses had The Magic Pan creperie...that grey/black rubberized mat flooring...and these little plastic coloured stools in its basement food court where I endured 1 of the very worst club sandwiches I ever ate.
I remember when Fairview Pointe-Claire was a single level, with a Steinbergs, a Pascals, a Laura Secords, Fairview Pharmacy with its lunch counter and selling Voyageur bus tickets...and the slogan 70 stores/70 degrees.
And I loved the interior faux-dining ship restaurant within the centre court of what was then called "West Island Mall" in Dollard.
Reuben's is still there in the basement. There used to be a Swensen's ice cream joint at the corner of Mansfield in the 80's And yes, Chicken Charlie - last I ate there was in '98 with some work buddies. How could we forget Les Terrasses. Yes, JD, it was the Palace that became a small multplex. Its last hurrah was in 2000 when it became a toonie theatre. Also, the Nickels next door used to be a Howard Johnson's.
ReplyDeleteI wish it was still a Howard Johnsons....
ReplyDeleteGreat photograph! I recognize the Fraid's store next to Reitman's. My grandmother's brother owned it, it once a very popular and well know Montreal store. Also interesting is the origin of the store's name of "Fraid", that is what her family name was changed to when they immigrated into Canada. It was originally Freud, same as her cousin, Sigmund Freud, who she knew and met in her past. Yes, I am related, which is kind of cool. :)
ReplyDeleteI have a high quality color photo of the same corner which my father took in 1965. It was taken further up the street, so you can see the Laura Secord store, the McGill bowling sign and the underside of the marquee from the theater across the street.
All this is from before my time, though I do remember the Palace theater (before it was multiplexed) , Les Terrasses where the Eaton's center now stands and of course, many of the defunct stores mentioned here. That corner of Montreal has a lot of meaning to me, my father used to work across the street, Fraid's store and of course Ben's Deli (where my father took me for lunch when I was growing up).
CJMS has been re-incarnated now. AT least the same call letters are being used on the country station from the south shore at 1040 AM.
ReplyDeleteLove this blog! Does anyone remember a British style food restaurant across the street from the Simpson's store?
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful. Nice memories! I remember Les Terrasses very fondly. Ideally what should have happened, was something of a cross between the old Les Terrasses and the NEw Eaton Centre...keep the layout and the color-coded floors, but add an extra level downward, huge food court, connections to Place Ville Marie and Place Montreal Trust. The fact that the new place is essentially a clone of the Toronto place, but scaled to the footprint of Montreal (and given a French name) is also a bit irksome. And the last trace of Les Terrases, the rows of lights at the Montreal Trust and Metro entrance, were recently removed. What a shame! But there is still the colors from that place across McGill at the platform level, as the place that used to have a basement cinema was at one time a virtual "outpost" or "annexe" of Les Terrases (even had similar lightbulbs attached to the escalators) Wonder when that cinema closed?
ReplyDeleteI remember St. Catherine street having lots of movie theatres. How quickly they left.
I remember the closed movie theatres on Ste. Catherine.
ReplyDeleteAnd Les Terrasses....a rotten shame what happened. They should have kept the place intact, and just added a new basement with food court and Place Ville Marie tunnel, and they could have replaced the closed Kresge's with new stores, or even still built the tower there, without turning everything else into a clone of that place in Toronto (albeit scaled for the available space and given a French name)
I liked the color-coded split level mall that was there!
Also, I remember across McGill from Les Terrasses, at track level, to this day you can still see the Les Terrasses "rainbow" (blue, green, orange, red, going up) next to where there USED to be a rotogate going to a movie theatre, because that place was at the time effectively treated like an outpost or annexe of Les Terrases, even had the lots of bulbs beneath the escalators!
The other last remnant of Les Terrases is gone, the rows of lights by the Montreal Trust and Metro entrances were recently removed. Such a shame!