He shot a ton of photos when he arrived here from Germany in 1958 but stopped around 1960.
I interviewed Bohns recently for an article I wrote on openfile, click here to have a peek.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Historic Montreal pics from the age of the tailfin
He shot a ton of photos when he arrived here from Germany in 1958 but stopped around 1960.
I interviewed Bohns recently for an article I wrote on openfile, click here to have a peek.
Thank for heads up on these Images or as they say in Hawaiian: Mahalo
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff for a 40 yr. expatriate. Much enjoyed!
How's the weather?
Relatively hot. I've got a window wide open at it's already dark out. Must be the warmest November in history.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics. Thanks, Kristian.
ReplyDeleteWarmest since the 1950s according to CBC radio
ReplyDeleteIn the fall of 1958, Harold Cummings Chevrolet on Jean Talon near Decarie had a "mystery car" shrouded by a tarpaulin and hoisted up on a crane above their lot.
ReplyDeleteThis turned out to the be the famous 1959 Chevrolet--my favourite "tailfin car" and arguably Chevrolet's most famous car of all time. I still spot one from time to time--even once in Australia with right-hand drive! Oddly, the finless 1958 model design had hinted at the coming fins and is rarely seen around anymore on the roads today.
The fun for us kids back then was to locate the hidden gas-tank cap on these iconic late '50s cars. Some models had the cap camouflaged in the fin itself while others placed them behind the license plate on a hinge. The 1956 Cadillac had it hidden very ingeniously. You had to push in the little circular red tail-light which released a catch. Then you had to lift the entire light upward on an internal hinge to reveal the gas cap!
One of my neighbours friend's father later purchased a 1960 Chevy and I was sometimes invited for rides in it. This was quite a treat for me, as my parents never owned a car.
Tailfins could be hazardous though! I was once cycling down a street in NDG just as a car was backing out of a driveway. The sharp tailfin just caught my thigh leaving a nasty welt! I didn't stop, but as far as I can recall the car was a Buick. Then, maybe not.
See this: http://search.babylon.com/?q=car+tailfins&babsrc=HP_ss&s=img&as=0&t=0
This is going back a ways, too.
ReplyDeleteMy parents purchased a new 1958 Pontiac from a dealership just east of Cote de Neiges on Jean Talon/Namur, corner of Frobisher. ( I now, at this remove, cannot remember the name of the-then dealership. )
Anyway, while the wheeling and dealing was going on, we went out the back and climbed up onto the CPR tracks between Hampstead Tower and Outremont to watch the trains pass by.
We stood closer and closer as each train approached, some with Diesels, Transfers to Angus Shops, Outremont and Hochelaga still with steam locomotives.
We were close, but, still a safe distance from the tracks when this light steam engine and a caboose approached coming west bound for St. Luc Yard.
The Engineer tooted the whistle. We did not move. He rang the bell, we did not move.
He yanked open the throttle and opened the cylinder cocks at ground level, surrounding us in hot steam and condensate as the front of the engine passed.
We MOVED!
After we rolled down into the ditch we looked after the train and saw the Engineer and the Fireman looking back at us, laughing.
We felt stupid.
The Strato Chief was a lovely car, automatic, roomy, and lasted well into the sixties, the rust taking over in the end and it went to scrap along with the steam locomotives.
( The last CPR steam engines operated out of St. Luc in the last week of June, 1960. )
The gas cap was behind an oval-shaped hinged metal door on the left beneath the twin taillights.
Looked at properly, the whole taillight assembly on a 1958 Pontiac resembled a sort of monster, forehead, two eyes and a mouth below.
In the same era there was a cartoon strip in the paper named 'Nipper' by Doug Wright, and everyone loved it, as it featured Montreal in many of it's themes.
In this one strip a snowstorm had passed through and all the neighbours were out shoveling their driveways to get the car out to go to work.
This one house in the middle of the block no one is moving, the other folk panting and sweating to clear a path to the road.
Then, the garage door goes up, the car backs out, a 1959 Chevrolet running in reverse, the tail fins acting as a V plow, and, off he goes, the rest of the shovelers leaning on their shovels in awe.
Bit of cartoon license, but humorous in those more-innocent times.
I miss the old cars, steam engines' whistles in the night, Nipper and so much more.
In the last view showing the Cadillacs, there are wires above for MTC trolley busses, narrowing down the location to the east end, as that is where the trolley busses operated.
Thank You.
It appears that the bottom picture is an area that is now the back entrance of the Cote-Vertu metro in St-Laurent, Edouard-Laurin and Decarie, the famous Decarie hot dog is directly opposite on the east side, reasonably convinced that of that, but have been mistaken in the past though very rarely LOL
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge of Montreal's east end is limited and I cannot identify the location shown with the Cadillac autos.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I DO know the Montreal trolley buses worked in the north and east ends exclusively and that is where the Cadillac photo was taken.
I have not taken the time to use Google Maps to trace the trolley bus routes shown in the map in this link, but, at one of the turn around loops will be found the location of the Cadillac photo.
Obviously, trolley buses could operate only where the two parallel wires were strung for their electric current.
http://www.trolleybuses.net/mtl/htm/can_h_mtl_misc_map_overhead_1966_ss.htm
The sidewalk-mounted streetlight might be a clew, as they too were not that common, as they required expensive underground wiring circuits.
The Taverne on the corner might be an identifier, but, then again, how many Tavernes were there in Montreal??
Possibly the location might have been totally redeveloped for road and building improvements and not be readily recognizable today??
The trolley busses did not operate as far west as Decarie/Monkland/Vertu, that area being the province of route 17 Cartierville one of the last streetcar lines to operate in 1959, Canadair, and the once-location of Dagwood's restaurant.
Thank You.
Mr. Bumbray is correct: the photo with the black Cadillacs is facing east toward the tavern on Decarie Blvd. from McDonald Ave (now Marcel Laurin) in Ville St. Laurent in the mid to late '50s.
ReplyDeleteTrolley busses only ran in the eastern part of Montreal from 1937 until 1966, based out of the St. Denis depot on the northeast corner of Rosemont Blvd. (de Fleurimont) and St. Denis. It is currently a bus garage.
The trolley routes were: 1 and 1A on Amherst-Christophe Colomb; 26 Beaubien; 94 Frontenac; and 95 Belanger.
For more details about Montreal's trolley busses, check out Canadian Rail Magazine, issue number 302, of March 1977 in the Montreal Library on Notre Dame east just south of Lafontaine Park.
Update and nit-picks to my previous post:
ReplyDeleteOops! I am second-guessing myself as to Mr. Bumbray's suggestion as to the location of that photo showing several chauffeurs with their caps.
Placing the photo side by side with a current Google map of the intersection of Decarie and McDonald (now Edouard Laurin), it is easy to be fooled as up until the end of 1959 the 17 Cartierville tram turned west off of Decarie at that point to continue alongside Edouard Laurin on a right-of-way and then later north up along the west side of Grenet. Furthermore, in comparing the "yesterday and today" photos, the buildings are just too different to match up, regardless of any later renovations.
There is no doubt, however, that the left hand black Cadillac is a 1957 model with the yellow 1959 license plate. The black Cadillac to the right is a 1958 model. Could the "event" in the photo be preparation for a funeral procession?
Crucially, Lovell's directories for that era do not list any tavern on the odd-numbered east side of Decarie. There is a Texas Tavern, but it is at 960 Decarie on the west side; the blue sign on the building to the left (north of the tavern) is indecipherable and I cannot match it up with any businesses registered with Lovell's on Decarie near Edouard Laurin. The 7-Up sign to the right ought to be a dead giveaway to anyone old enough who can positively identify that business. Decarie Hot Dog is not listed in Lovell's either in the late '50s, unless it had originally been called something else, of course.
If indeed those are trolley-bus poles and not regular overhead tram lines, then a little more digging through old photos and Lovell's in the east end trolley districts will be required to properly identify that intersection.
Now, if only that blue sign was clearer!
Before It was Decarie Hot Dog it was Carnival Snack bar
DeleteCan sure tell one of us is on Pension and has time to kill as there is 5 inches of new snow outside, and this is easier than shovelling same!
ReplyDeleteAnyway. I am NOT trying to make an issue of this photo with the Cadillacs, but, it is NOT at Decarie and Vertu/Edouard/Marcel Laurin area.
We used to ride the Cartierville 17 streetcar to Parc Belmont often in the fifties from Garland. I grew up at Decarie and Queen Mary when that was still Snowdon Junction on the Tramways.
Anyway, as mentioned, the 17 car turned left/west at the Macdonald corner, Decarie there was called Monkland, as I recall, I could be wrong, its been 50-odd years.
The streetcars could back east then north onto Decarie/Monkland to wye to go back south to Garland if needed. The Tower Car was often in the wye as the crew went to eat.
The private right of way of the Tramways started as the cars turned left/west to head over to now-Grenet, there being a road in front of the apartments on the north side, and a road on the south side, also.
The nice curve right/north onto now-Grenet from Edouard Laurin/Leduc at the west end is more or less on the streetcar track alignment west to north.
Vertu was a level crossing with crossbucks and the streetcars stopped, then the tracks were in almost all open country north to Bois Franc where another wye was to the west on BF, and a single-track Tramways spur along BF to serve the War plants next to the-then Cartierville Airport.
There was a double-track Tramways bridge over a now-long gone-creek at about half way to the CNR Electric Line at then-Val Royal.
The streetcars had locomotive headlights applied, and a single red kerosene marker on the right rear as found on a caboose.
When the word got out that the 17 was being converted to buses in June 1959, we rode the 17 route out one last time and walked over the Cartierville Bridge over the Back River upstream from Parc Belmont.
Later that summer we went and rode the last cars on Papineau and saw the last day of streetcars in Montreal parade. It poured as the last cars arrived.
We had done the same in 1956 as the streetcars came off Ste. Catherine and so many other routes the same day.
Now, back to the Cadillac photo.
There are TWO trolley wires curving above the scene having the curved metal segments found only on trolley bus wires.
Altho' not common, the streetcars could share the LEFT trolley bus wire, as it was the 'live' one. The current from streetcars returned thru the rails to the powerhouse.
The architecture on the homes adjacent to the 7 Up sign are of a style found in the east end, not at Decarie/Vertu.
I admit, I do NOT know where the Cadillac photo is taken, but it feels like the east end.
Trolley buses never went near Decarie.
We used to have to go by streetcar and trolley bus to get over to Park Avenue Station once in a while, and we had to go up to Ahuntsic and out the Back River Line on occasion.
We made a special trip on the Back River line in February 1959 before the cars came off there.
Occasionally we would go by CPR to Park Avenue Station and take trolley buses down to Frontenac Terminus by the Harbour, as we never saw trolley buses in the west end.
P.S. when we were at the Pontiac Dealership awaiting the new Strato Chief in 1958 and playing on the CPR tracks, far to the west near Hampstead Tower we could see the 17 streetcar crossing high above the CPR main on the Tramways Trestle to the west of then-Decarie underpess just to the southeast of the Blue Bonnets raceway.
The Tramways had a spur into Blue Bonnets for Special streetcars route from all over the city to the south of the Orange Julip.
Northbound 17 Cartierville streetcar crossing CPR tracks on Tramways Trestle at Blue Bonnets. Decarie underpass to right.
Red kerosene marker on rear corner post behind rear door.
http://dewi.ca/trains/montreal/pix/a005_13.jpg
Should go shovel snow, as the plow has been by three times.
I too would like to know where the Cadillac photo was taken.
Thank You.
The Pontiac dealership where the 1958 car was bought could have been Parkway Pontiac at 3500 de Namur (now Jean-Talon) just east of CDN. (Lovell's 1958 directory).
ReplyDeleteIt's now located near the intersection of the 40 and the 13.
The pic with the Cadillacs seems to be taken from the south-west corner of Jean Talon and Cote des Neiges.Saying that because the old Tavern pic looks familiar.
ReplyDeleteSuch blind mice we are!
ReplyDeleteThe comments on the Flickr site in question clearly indicate that location with the '57 and '58 black Cadillacs.
See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63018108@N06/6081829729/in/set-72157627354094294/
It's the southwest corner of Parc Lafontaine and Rachel looking west.
The tavern is long gone, replaced by the Cycle Pop bike shop.
A new police station has replaced the building fronted by that 7-Up sign, and the gabled greystone building at the far right edge is fire station 16 built in 1891--the oldest fire hall in Montreal that is still used for that purpose.
The overhead trolley wires were used by route 1 and 1-A which ran from St. Hubert and Craig (St. Antoine) St., and terminated at Christophe-Colomb and Villeray St. where the original trolley "turnabout" was eventually replaced by a park playground.
Nevertheless allowed me to enjoy Mr Bohns wonderful photography, Montreal love it, thanks for the memories.
ReplyDeleteProblem Solved! Great!
ReplyDeleteMuch Montreal history rehashed for the younger folks from the days of streetcars, trolley buses, steam locomotives, column standard shift and tail fins.
I learned to drive on a '3-on-the-tree' shift and had to take a Company course in the handling of '4-on-the-floor' gasoline cane-shift trucks, two-speed rear axle.
The Pontiac Dealership WAS named Parkway Pontiac! Thank You!
We first went to Harold Cummings Chevrolet on Decarie @ Namur, but, for whatever reason, decided to go Pontiac instead.
The passage of years has erased much detail in memories.
The auto entrance to Blue Bonnets was right across the street from Namur and you bumped across the streetcar tracks going in and out.
Just to the south of Namur was a concrete and earth platform on a spur to the west of the streetcar tracks where horses were loaded and unloaded from horse cars brought to Blue Bonnets by a Tramways electric locomotive from interchange with the steam railways.
So many years ago.
Thank You.
Of course I remember the steam trains very well. In fact, when the Cartierville 17 trams stopped using the trestle over the CPR tracks in 1959, we kids would walk over it. No barriers were placed to prevent this, either. If a steam train went under it, the black smoke would chuff right in between the wooden ties!
ReplyDeleteAnd one last last loose end regarding the aforementioned photo:
That blue sign on the left in the photo must be the Park Coffee Shop at 4190 Parc Lafontaine--as per Lovell's directory.
Looking at it now, it all makes sense.
I grew up in VSL and recognize that area!
ReplyDeleteI remember some people still having those cars when I was very young, they were still on the road! there are some photos of me as a toddler with those cars parked in the background.
These photos are just great. Thanks for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteParkway Pontiac was at 3500 Jean-Talon W, east of Cote-des-Neiges...current site of Cite Nissan.
ReplyDeleteVery happy that in this website, Mr Bohns did take pictures of what was the prime era of Steinbergs.
ReplyDeleteTwo storefronts, one of these are still standing (the Ste-Catherine store). The Rockland one is now foregone in history, but it was really a great storefront of the era with tall baywindows. This store did announce the big suburb stores which did opened in the 60-70s.
Still happy about the old Rockland pics, it was such a cool outdoor mall at the time. However, the refurbishment which occured in the beginning of the 80s (with the mall) was not bad, but makes me regret a bit that it was a nice place then.
The other Steinberg scenes inside the Van Horne/Victoria store were interesting.
Mr Bohn's gallery is one to watch indeed, along with one called Le Present du Passe on flickr...
The lower photo is taken at the corner of Rachel and Christopjhe-Colomb
ReplyDeleteGabriel Deschambault