Definitely Decarie and Sherbrooke. The souvlaki resurant (today) has a Coke sign; the billboard looms over where the KFC is now (gas station then?);The sexist David Britton jeans ads aren't up yet. Probably mid-60s?
There was also a large hand-painted sign on the wall below the CIBC sign (it got painted over a few times over the years) for the Omer Barre auto dealership in Verdun. It's not clear in the photo what was on the wall at the time.
On the north-east corner next to the gas station was a building with another large hand-painted sign which read: "You Can't Beat Gas Heat". It was painted over as well (late 70's?).
Ooh, and look at the Renault 8 on the extreme left, the Vauxhall in the middle and the Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia in the center-right.
As well as the brown “Fishbowl” bus.
IIRC, there used to be a SCUBA diving shop on the first floor of the white high-rise on the left (which was a big thing for a kid who wanted so badly to SCUBA dive and who lived nearby…).
No wonder the billboard is so huge, it is smack in the axis of Sherbrooke, which bends slightly between Prud’homme and Décarie…
* * *
Some 25 years ago, I took driving lessons, and one day, we were shown old driving instruction films dating from the late 1960’s.
The whole class left except three students, and along with the teacher, we had real fun commenting on the old cars in the movie…
The existing location of the Vendome Metro was obviously the wiser choice as it links directly with the AMT rail line.
Presumably--sometime this century-- the Metro's Blue Line will run at least as far west as the existing MTC Elmhurst bus depot and Montreal West's AMT station. That huge empty lot is a dead giveaway.
There were supposed to be two (instead of one) metro stations between Villa-Maria and Place St-Henri - one at the Decarie/Sherbrooke corner, and one at Westmount Station (St-Catherine and Landsdowne).
These were scrapped when soil problems caused cave-ins and necessitated the "wall" between the tracks part-way between the two current stations. Similar cave-ins (with fatalities) caused De l'Eglise station to be built on two levels.
Westmount pulled all the strings it could to avoid having a subway station; they didn’t want the rabble to come there by Métro.
(I recall that Ste-Catherine was opened-up and dug very deep for years between Claremont and Glen. The tunnel there is the only place on the whole network where the tunnel is divided in two by a center wall; I was told by a BTM engineer that the space above the tunnel under the street has been left unfilled and there are several intermediate floors. I have no idea if they are accessible).
The relocation of the station from Sherbrooke & Décarie to Vendôme & Maisonneuve is costing the STM something like $100,000 annually in extra operation costs for buses.
Other cities such as Berlin and Mexico City have problematic soil conditions, yet they have managed to build successful subway networks.
Whether it be by tunnelling or the cut-and-cover method, the job can be done, and in this case I have no quarrel with our tax money being spent as long as we get the services we deserve.
Maybe it costs extra for buses to go to Vendome, but this was the result of building one Metro station instead of 2. Imagine how much worse traffic would be at Decarie and Sherbooke if there was a metro station here, right next to the exressway exit.
The building on Sherbrooke which would have been taken down had the metro been built there is The Baroness, an apartment which has seen better days. When the plans first came out,(early 70s) a community group organized to save it: the Block Association of Northcliffe, Decarie, Sherbrooke (BANDS).
The ground floor of the building had Chritophe Van Houtte French charcuterie. This was before the Audio Centre moved in and took over virually the whole ground floor.
The blue line extension had a station earmarked for Somerled and Cavendish where the Shell station stands...before looping down to Montreal West and the Elmhurst Terminal and the vacation lot of another ex Shell station
Love to get comments! Please, please, please speak your mind ! Links welcome - please google "how to embed a link" it'll make your comment much more fun and clickable.
Did that came from NFB's Trafficopter?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Decarie and Sherbrooke.
ReplyDeleteThe souvlaki resurant (today) has a Coke sign; the billboard looms over where the KFC is now (gas station then?);The sexist David Britton jeans ads aren't up yet.
Probably mid-60s?
Yeah it's from this little mlif mid-70s I'd imagine.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nfb.ca/film/trafficopter/
Yup, Trafficopter. 1972.
ReplyDeleteThere was also a large hand-painted sign on the wall below the CIBC sign (it got painted over a few times over the years) for the Omer Barre auto dealership in Verdun. It's not clear in the photo what was on the wall at the time.
ReplyDeleteOn the north-east corner next to the gas station was a building with another large hand-painted sign which read: "You Can't Beat Gas Heat". It was painted over as well (late 70's?).
Neat. Y'know the Vendome metro was supposed to be put at the SE corner but they didn't want to demolish that nice old building.
ReplyDeleteOoh, and look at the Renault 8 on the extreme left, the Vauxhall in the middle and the Volkswagen Karmann-Ghia in the center-right.
ReplyDeleteAs well as the brown “Fishbowl” bus.
IIRC, there used to be a SCUBA diving shop on the first floor of the white high-rise on the left (which was a big thing for a kid who wanted so badly to SCUBA dive and who lived nearby…).
No wonder the billboard is so huge, it is smack in the axis of Sherbrooke, which bends slightly between Prud’homme and Décarie…
* * *
Some 25 years ago, I took driving lessons, and one day, we were shown old driving instruction films dating from the late 1960’s.
The whole class left except three students, and along with the teacher, we had real fun commenting on the old cars in the movie…
The existing location of the Vendome Metro was obviously the wiser choice as it links directly with the AMT rail line.
ReplyDeletePresumably--sometime this century-- the Metro's Blue Line will run at least as far west as the existing MTC Elmhurst bus depot and Montreal West's AMT station. That huge empty lot is a dead giveaway.
There were supposed to be two (instead of one) metro stations between Villa-Maria and Place St-Henri - one at the Decarie/Sherbrooke corner, and one at Westmount Station (St-Catherine and Landsdowne).
ReplyDeleteThese were scrapped when soil problems caused cave-ins and necessitated the "wall" between the tracks part-way between the two current stations. Similar cave-ins (with fatalities) caused De l'Eglise station to be built on two levels.
That souvlaki joint's got the world's best tzadziki.
ReplyDelete@Mike Rivest - How on Earth did you recognize this as a frame from Trafficopter? Nice one!
ReplyDeleteWestmount pulled all the strings it could to avoid having a subway station; they didn’t want the rabble to come there by Métro.
ReplyDelete(I recall that Ste-Catherine was opened-up and dug very deep for years between Claremont and Glen. The tunnel there is the only place on the whole network where the tunnel is divided in two by a center wall; I was told by a BTM engineer that the space above the tunnel under the street has been left unfilled and there are several intermediate floors. I have no idea if they are accessible).
The relocation of the station from Sherbrooke & Décarie to Vendôme & Maisonneuve is costing the STM something like $100,000 annually in extra operation costs for buses.
Other cities such as Berlin and Mexico City have problematic soil conditions, yet they have managed to build successful subway networks.
ReplyDeleteWhether it be by tunnelling or the cut-and-cover method, the job can be done, and in this case I have no quarrel with our tax money being spent as long as we get the services we deserve.
Maybe it costs extra for buses to go to Vendome, but this was the result of building one Metro station instead of 2. Imagine how much worse traffic would be at Decarie and Sherbooke if there was a metro station here, right next to the exressway exit.
ReplyDeleteThe building on Sherbrooke which would have been taken down had the metro been built there is The Baroness, an apartment which has seen better days. When the plans first came out,(early 70s) a community group organized to save it: the Block Association of Northcliffe, Decarie, Sherbrooke (BANDS).
The ground floor of the building had Chritophe Van Houtte French charcuterie. This was before the Audio Centre moved in and took over virually the whole ground floor.
The blue line extension had a station earmarked for Somerled and Cavendish where the Shell station stands...before looping down to Montreal West and the Elmhurst Terminal and the vacation lot of another ex Shell station
ReplyDelete