Here's the very cool Miranda O'Connor on the excellent book Montreal's Irish Mafia: The True Story of the Infamous West End Gang which she co-authored with her father Darcy.
She spoke to me this afternoon at the Copoli restaurant across from the Vendome metro.
Mmmmmmmm... Copoli.
ReplyDeleteDid you have one of Copoli's giant, pancake sized hamburgers while you were there?
ReplyDeleteI especially like how she keeps looking over her shoulder.
ReplyDeleteI had one of those with Darren Becker a few weeks ago. It was good. But it's pretty darn huge. A guy was eating one at the next table and got through half. I think he might've taken off with his other half. Me and Miranda had a buncha coffees (excellent brew) and split a small pizza. We talked for a long time, she's quite interesting, is working on a law degree at McGill. Her father, co-author, wrote a few books about that Oak Island.
ReplyDeleteHow coincidental , a girl named Miranda aspiring to be a lawyer. Say Hi to Darren , went to Monklands High with him.
ReplyDeleteI originally thought 'Copoli' was a wordplay on 'Coolopolis'. but, no, it's not!
ReplyDeleteSo I Googled and now have a great resource for great hamburgers in Montreal.
Thanks!
Paul
Good video, thanks. I bought the book yesterday, some good very stuff.
ReplyDeleteBy coincidence I took a walking tour of the Point on the weekend with a buddy who grew up on Fortune Ave., and I'm not sure I see where it's being gentrified - maybe up by St. Patrick, we didn't get that far. There's a whole section of the Point from the rail yards up to the next tracks (where the streets like Sebastapol, Saint Madelaine and Bourgeoys dead end) that's a classic 'forgotten' neighbourhood - no chain stores or restaurants, no grocery stores just independent corner stores. In a way that's great, but the place felt cut off and, well, kind of like Miranda described it in the book from generations ago.
You'd get great hits if you studied Montreal's strip club culture/scene. I could help by being a paid observer.
ReplyDeleteBILL B.
ReplyDeleteThis book is a must read, particularly for those who like stories about our great city, NDG'ers who wax nostalgic will be greatly entertained.
I bought the Kindle version of the book shortly after seeing this post. I like how she includes the full addresses of many of the places where events occurred. I have been pulling some of these up on Google Street View as I progress through the book.
ReplyDeleteI am truly astounded by the number of people who have been machine-gunned to death within a mile of my home over the years.
It's a great book but one of the things I enjoy about a "True Crime" type book, is the inclusion of mug shots, crime scene photos, newspaper clippings etc. These are unfortunately missing. The book contains only very simple illustrations that appear to be tracings. Somehow, these are worse than having no images at all.
A must read book for anyone interested in the history of Montreal. I will probably pick up a hard copy as well to let friends borrow.
need to talk to miranda ! email johnryancameron4@gmAil.com
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