A local peep show complex which has long screamed screw you to advocates of cleaning up the Lower Main has closed.
The peep show was a haven for perverts and prostitutes who would cruise up and down little closed cabins where men would sit watching porno films.
I once wrote a freelance article for the local English daily about how there was a strange co-habitation between young kids playing video games upstairs and perverts and junk-riddled hookers prowling around the same joint and below. The Journal de Montreal copied it for a full front page spread the next day. The video games were removed long ago.
The Lower Main has long been disputed territory in the heart of this city as many top city officials have pushed for the area to be gentrified while others - including myself - believe that the market should dictate what should become of the area in an organic way and if that means keeping the area true to its longstanding gritty roots, then so be it.
The central turf in that battle was Cafe Cleopatra whose owner Johnny turned down many purchase offers and threats to expropriate his property.
The now-demolished west side of St. Lawrence between St. Kit and Dorch - long controlled by the Goulakos family - was slated to be turned into provincial government offices under a deal struck between friend-of-the-PQ Christian Yacciarni and then-PQ-minister-of-something Jean-Francois Lisee but that costly deal was nixed by the incoming Couillard Liberals.
Worth noting as well that the longtime ownership of the Midway changed last spring and a younger crowd has replaced the dive-bar set.
We will endeavour to find out more details concerning this new vacancy. Apologies for the poor photo taken yesterday. You'll note that the holes in the facade reveal that the buildings are stubbier than they appear.
In the 1920s, the Minerva Café at 315a St. Lawrence (address updated to 1199 about 1930), was the main hangout for Italian hoodlums. That building was demolished decades later.
ReplyDeleteDirectly across the street in that era on the west side was the original Montreal Pool Room, address 316 (later 1200).
Ironically, due to demolition, the Montreal Pool Room was forced to move across the street to the east side virtually adjacent to where the infamous gangsters used to hang out.
If the walls could talk!
See:
http://www.whitenewsnow.com/canadian-white-news/10560-montreal-crime-family.html
White News Now? Canadian White News?
ReplyDeleteBloody hell.
Posted by one who hides behind a pseudonym, I note.
The U.S owner of "whitenews" is shown at the bottom of that webpage.
ReplyDeleteBetter to call it "white noise" instead.
Ever spend some time searching for something within Google and going deeper and deeper from page 1 to as far as you care to go?
Such a journey will reveal the most outrageous sites and blogs imaginable by what seem to be some pretty weird characters.
Evidently some people have way too much time on their hands to be that self-indulgent. :-(
Believe me, I know about the owner of "White News Now"; James "Jamie" Kelso has led quite a life. My reference was to WNN "Contributing Senior Moderator" PatrioteQuebecois (though Kelso himself also hides behind pseudonyms).
ReplyDeleteYes, research sometimes takes you into some very dark places. More than once I've had to get special permission to consult material at Library and Archives Canada. That said, is it such a great idea to direct people to a White Supremacist website?
I think not, especially since the page in question is nothing more than a copy-and-paste from another site. I wonder whether PatrioteQuebecois sought the author's permission.
My apologies for choosing that website as a reference point.
ReplyDeleteIt was near the top of the Google listing and I gave it only a cursory glance. The information it gave about the Montreal Italian mob was direct and to the point. I didn't bother to read any further.
Nuff said.