Victor Delamarre the tiny, powerful Montreal superhero

December 9, 2013, 10:42 am

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Shout-out to Victor Delamarre, a musclebound Montreal cop whose feats of strength, (climbing a ladder carrying a horse in a sling, bending a quarter between his thumb and forefinger, etc) made him the heir apparent to Louis Cyr.
Delamarre was born into the lumberjack trade 50 miles north of Chicoutimi and came to Montreal where he fathered six girls and four boys.
He was deemed too small for the Montreal police force at 5'8" and 154 lbs but when they saw his feats of strength on display in freakshows like the one picture in the postcard to the left (the best image I could find of the guy) they hired him on and he fought crime for most of his life.
Some of his feats,* such as lifting up cars or 20 policemen or the coin-bending trick were surely stunts but that's ok..what do you want, to sue him for entertaining people?
At about age 56 he moved to Quebec City where he lived for 10 years before succumbing to a long-term illness in hospital in 1955.
He apparently did some wrestling before he died as well, which pissed off some purists.
Back in the day Montreal cops sought strong men to hire but we now have 34 percent female cops, twice the rate of Toronto.
According to a friend named LB who is looking for a Montreal apartment, "recently.a superintendent told me that he'd like to rent to me because, you know, some black people had looked at the place. Also, the windows were cracked because the building's owners were Jewish and didn't want to pay to fix them, and there had recently been cockroaches but then, the previous tenants were Chinese, and you know Chinese people aren't very clean."
That last story has nothing to do with Delamarre but I put it in just to see if you're actually reading this stuff to the end.
Delamarre is said to have lived in Alma, Hebertville, Quebec City, Montreal and possibly many other places in the province and the various timelines having him living in a couple of places at once, so who knows.
*In 1914 - Hifted world record weight of 309.5 lbs with one hand, lifted 201 pounds with one finger and lifted platforms with 60 people weighing 7000 lbs

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Point residents fight condo developments

December 10, 2013, 1:34 pm

≫ Next: Montreal's traffic planners keep giving roundabouts the snub

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Saw this poster on a little La Prairie Ave. street in the Point not far from St. Patrick, a strip that has attracted many condos over the last couple of decades because of its proximity to the Lachine Canal.
Gotta admire the feistiness of the Point, who are fighting the noble battle for affordable rents, which is something that people should be able to get in this city.
I differ, however, with their notion of how to go achieve this goal, as the folks who have put up this poster are all about the government intervening to slow down development and put further rules to prevent a lot of posh housing getting built.
They ask that 40 percent of the area be devoted to subsidized housing, but the longstanding total for social housing for the area is already at 50 percent according to a number that has been tossed around for a long time.
Placing extra restrictions on condo development is actually counterproductive for the poor because it only discourages the growth of the housing supply.
Once you do that, according to the simple rules of supply and demand, you get higher prices.
And of course, the more homes you have, the bigger your tax base, the bigger your tax base, the more you can subsidize the poor if required.

So social housing activists should embrace all construction, condos, posh units, anything anywhere - yes, yes, yes - because once oversupply returns, then rents tumble back to affordable levels.
It's a ton of fun having a cheap, affordable apartment and I was blessed to have several such places in the 80s and 90s but I certainly would not have gone on the government tit to get a cheap apartment.
Others might not all think like me, but I think some do and they should be free to get a crack at a cheap apartment without feeling like a government dependent and that's a goal that could be reached if we just kept growing the housing stock.
By the way, that abandoned building has been evaluated at $252,000, which seems sorta pricey if youze ask me. In case you might want to buy it to turn into condos, just contact the owner: 9225-4218 QUÉBEC INC. at 534 Cote St. Antoine, in Westmount, corner Victoria.

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Montreal's traffic planners keep giving roundabouts the snub

December 11, 2013, 7:35 am

≫ Next: The intellectually disabled: a history of suffering in Quebec

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So, roundabouts, as we have noted here, are rapidly being embraced all across North America because they are 30 percent less polluting and 20 percent more efficient, considerably safer and they're more aesthetically pleasant and they do not necessarily require any more space to build than an old style intersection.
People like them more, as one Canadian study has demonstrated: "A significant finding was that public opinion was consistently positive after installation of roundabouts."
And yet, as the same study notes, cities often just have any mechanism that requires them to consider installing them: "Almost all of the respondents had no formal policy in place for considering roundabouts."
Places around North America - Arizona, North Carolina, Winnipeg, and everywhere else - are retrofitting old four-way stops/traffic light style intersections with this safer system that has a European-look while we - purportedly the most European of North American cities - keep putting in old style traffic lights.
Arizona, for example, went from five to 40 roundabouts between 2005-2010 and surely have even more now.
Other places are increasingly looking like Rome and Paris, with attractive tree-laden centre islands where concrete chaos and fearful left-turns once reigned while Montreal insists on looking like Thunder Bay with its old style corners.

Asheville N.C. built this safer, faster, more attractive roundbout in the same space as a normal intersection

There are 35 percent fewer crashes and 90 percent fewer fatalities at intersections that employ roundabouts, so the undemocratic insistence of local city traffic planners to snub this option is actually a matter of life and death and considerable economic importance.
Rejecting roundabouts is so illogical and fishy that it should be probed at the Charbonneau Commission on corruption in the construction industry.
And yet Montreal's city planners keep putting more and more four way stop/traffic lights into new intersections.
In a few blocks of where I live, traffic planners have recently ordered bad, old style intersections with traffic lights installed at Crowley and Upper Lachine, St. James just east of St. Remi, Old Orchard just north of Upper Lachine, Belgrade and St. James old style corners that require people to wait unnecessarily, usually for no reason whatsoever.
Meanwhile places like posh, upscale, well-loved Nun's Island have installed many roundabouts and still don't have a single traffic light on the entire island.
Yet St. Anne de Bellevue recently proposed to add one a dinosaur-era traffic light to deal with a road issue just a week ago, something the new mayor doesn't seem too thrilled about.
So with evidence of massive incompetence by Quebec's various city traffic planners, it's time to formalize a new system that would require more public input to defend against further bad traffic choices.

one on old

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The intellectually disabled: a history of suffering in Quebec

December 11, 2013, 11:54 am

≫ Next: List: The 5 best rap videos ever shot in NDG

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Was talking to someone who worked with an intellectually disabled young man of 19 who recently succumbed to cancer without ever realizing he was sick.
Apparently the fact that he seemed to have little understanding or awareness of his many health problems made the whole thing unbearably sad for those around him who cared for him.
I thought it was time to try to start compiling a list of sad moments suffered by Quebec's beautiful thinkers (a new term I am coining for what we used to call "mentally retarded" and now call "intellectually disabled" and surely something else in the future).
1-Thirty-seven beautiful thinkers were among the 40 people who died when the bus they were travelling in scooted off the road into the water in Eastman Quebec on Aug. 4, 1978. The bus was on its way back to Asebestos after an outing organized by the Sheltered Workshop of the Handicapped of Asbestos. Driver Denis Martel, 32, survived, and said that it happened because his brakes failed. He would be 67 now, assuming he's still among the living. The bus company said that they had checked the brakes earlier in the day and that they were fine.
2-Twenty young beautiful thinkers ("retarded children") died of measles at a special facility in Austin, near Magog in 1961. Lily Butters of the Cecil Butters Memorial Home, founded in 1946, said that they did their best to keep the disease from spreading but the kids would wander into areas they weren't supposed to.
3-The Roc d'Or Bar in Drummondville was busted for having a nightclub act in 1976 that employed beautiful thinkers. It's implied that the audience would laugh at the beautiful thinkers but hey I wasn't there. They were fined $800 in the mid-seventies.
If you're aware of others please submit them in the comments so I can fill out this list.

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List: The 5 best rap videos ever shot in NDG

December 11, 2013, 12:19 pm

≫ Next: Nine major Montreal hotels that have closed in last few years

≪ Previous: The intellectually disabled: a history of suffering in Quebec

The Coolopolis jury, after much heated debate (which led to three interns leaving Coolopolis Towers in a fit of anger, leaving rather delicious bagged lunches in the fridge) has finally decided that these are the five best rap music videos ever made in NDG.

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Nine major Montreal hotels that have closed in last few years

December 11, 2013, 12:49 pm

≫ Next: Willy the glass cutter

≪ Previous: List: The 5 best rap videos ever shot in NDG

Hotel Renaissance

Delta University St

Boutique hotels have been on the rise for some time here in Montreal and have taken an increasingly large bite out of the local temporary-lodgings pie, as have other innovations such as AirBnB.
But they don't meet the needs of conventions and other big ticket tourist draws, so the ongoing failure of hotels here could be problematic.

Maritime Plaza

Here, with some help from Stephen Pickford, is a list of some of those hotels now gone.

1-Renaissance du Parc (ex Loews/Best Western),
2-Four Points Sheraton Downtown (ex Rodeway/Howard Johnsons)

Doubletree

3-Courtyard by Marriott Downtown (ex Quality Inn)
4-Delta University Street (ex Hyatt/Radisson/Auberge de Gouverneur)

Gouverneur Ile Charron

5-Hotel de la Montagne
6-Hotel du Fort
7-Hotel de Gouverneur Ile Charron (ex
Sheraton),
8-Doubletree Metro Sherbrooke (ex Crowne Plaza/Master Hosts),
9-Hotel Maritime Plaza (ex TraveLodge)

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Willy the glass cutter

December 12, 2013, 8:30 pm

≫ Next: When tobacco companies funded McGill's respiratory research

≪ Previous: Nine major Montreal hotels that have closed in last few years

Willy the glass cutter at the Notre Dame St. Rona explains why he has never gotten cut in a job famous for mauling workers:
   "When someone is standing there waiting for you, rushing you, asking you how long it will take, you tell them it will take as long as it takes. Don't let them rush you."
   While countless other hardware stores have removed their glass-cutting services, Rona maintained theirs specifically because of this legendary glass cutter, according to his colleagues.
   Willy's birth name is actually Billy but he switched it to Willy because some folks started calling him William and he dislike the way that sounded.
   Willy says that other hardware shops scrapped their glass departments because it's too dangerous to put a relative beginner in a job that could conceivably slice one of their arteries.
   He won't say how old he is or when he started working but it's said to be a long time but he looks forward to the day he can call it quits. "When you get older you lose patience with people telling you to hurry up or asking you why you're doing something the way you're doing it."

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When tobacco companies funded McGill's respiratory research

December 13, 2013, 7:52 am

≫ Next: 100 years ago: Montreal's great water emergency

≪ Previous: Willy the glass cutter

Peter Macklem conducting lung research at McGill

On Sept 1, 1972 McGill accepted a $300,000 donation from the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers’ Council to study breathing problems suffered by humans.
Undoubtedly much of that funding went to that crazy awesome box that's featured in the photo at the left.
Dr. Peter Macklem, who died in 2011 after a long career at McGill (seen here with student breathing pure air) pointed out that "it is not practical to expect the public at large to give up smoking. The role of research is to find the 'high risk person’ the one who is likely to develop lung disease and get him to give up smoking."
So it seems that McGill just couldn't say no to that tobacco money.
About 40 percent of Canadians were smokers at the time. The habit slowly started to dip after peaking in the mid 60s. Full eradicated is on the horizon in our lifetimes. (How long are you planning to live? - Chimples).

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100 years ago: Montreal's great water emergency

December 15, 2013, 12:08 pm

≫ Next: Coolopolis on CTV talking old time Montreal sex trade

≪ Previous: When tobacco companies funded McGill's respiratory research

Christmas, coming in a few daysies, marks the 100 th anniversary of a dry disaster which left 350,000 people without water.
The problem started at 5 p.m. on Dec. 25, 1913 with the effort to widen the aqueduct in Verdun. The dredging effort led workers to crack a conduit in the water just in front of the Douglas Hospital. The conduit was a nine foot pipe built to bring clean water in from the St. Lawrence, it was initially planted in the then-northernmost limit in 1909 but the widening placed that once-secure pipe into the middle of the waterway.
The pipes went dry in the downtown core from Atwater to Papineau and from St. Catherine to Sherbrooke. The New York Times reported that people were paying $6 for a cask of water on the black market during that period. City officials were pressured to get it fixed as fast as possible and showed some promise of returning a few drips within a few days and some progress was made by Dec. 30.
The original aqueduct, built by T.C. Keefer in 1864, was just eight feet deep and 30 feet wide. City Engineer George Janin's plan was to widen it to 130 feet.
Residents were greatly bothered by their inability to access water, especially those who used it for heating. Newspapers updated progress daily with complex political and technical explanations. On Jan. 8 an engineer said that there was no news being issued because it was too technical to explain, more money was thrown into the effort of making a new conduit a few days later, and more chinwags, the next day more....etc.

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Coolopolis on CTV talking old time Montreal sex trade

December 16, 2013, 9:21 am

≫ Next: Plattsburgh-North Pole Burlington to be replaced by Boston?

≪ Previous: 100 years ago: Montreal's great water emergency

There's a cool exhibit on vice in the 40's & 50's going on downtown at the city history museum just east of Youville and McGill... they were kind enough to give me a freeb as a journalist but I had to rush through due to time constraints so I can't give any spectacularly brilliant evaluation.
It seemed a bit of a wide scope for such a small museum and...you know it's a huge topic.
So to contextualize that museum thing, I was invited to discuss - at least one element of that subject, ie: the sex part - on TV with legendary local TV anchor Mutsumi Takahashi, one of those few people who I totaly revere as a journalist.
Mits told me that the 4.5 minute interview got a good response (so you're saying you're big among local degenerates watching the noon news? - Chimples) . I can nae bear to watch it myself as I feel that I look like a braying jackass, especially while explaining how much a prostitute cost on the Main in the 1930s.. but you should most def' watch... so you want to see the interview? Well.. here 'tis.

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Plattsburgh-North Pole Burlington to be replaced by Boston?

December 17, 2013, 11:56 am

≫ Next: Hooker gold rush expected as Canada's anti-prostitution laws struck down

≪ Previous: Coolopolis on CTV talking old time Montreal sex trade

Many of us here in Montreal don't spend much time thinking about the smaller rural towns outside of the city, particularly those of us anglos who tend to think of those areas within the province as scary separatist hotbeds that don't exactly share our interests or attitudes. But for decades we've been in contact with another set of small towns through our TV sets as the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox TV feeds have included programming that fill us in on the latest Rutland vs. Winooski high school lacrosse games and the familiar doe-eyed anchors with their threadbare blazers keep telling us about snow warnings near Champlain while shaking their old style shoulder pads under the harsh studio lights.
A little sometimes-unreliable Boston TV birdie told me that Videotron is planning to replace our Plattsburgh-North Pole (North Pole wtf? - Chimples) - Burlington ABC/CBS/NBC TV feeds with feeds from Boston via Shaw.
I called 'Tron to see if it's true but a low-level clerk checked with a higher-up and then told me that it's just a rumour at this time. Not exactly the most emphatic denial that I've ever heard.
But if our TV feeds get switched from upper New York state/Vermont to Boston, that means that we might have to finally bury our psychic Bird Berdan attachment to the border area, say goodbye to the earnest folksiness and tune into the big brashy news from Beantown.
Being raised on the five English TV channel universe (PBS doesn't count) made us all familiar with Vermont and upper New York State: Frontier Town, the chair shaped as a hand, Aubuchon "where you can charge it" Hardware, Tom Messner, the Plattsburgh Mall and so many other goodies.
Now if this ever happens, I would imagine that these little channels might lose a lot of viewers and ads.
It might also take some time to get accustomed to watching Boston announcers thrilled to beat our dearest of hockey teams. So here's a quick effort to give a side-by-side analysis of what we have versus what we could get if this goes through.
We'd lose:
WPTZ

So let's start with NBC - WPTZ. The current one you might know is Stephanie Gorin, with the big shoulder Courtney Kabot, Stephanie Gorin, Cat Janisko, George Mallet, David Schneider, Bridget Shanahan. Reporters : Ashley Allen, Alison Carey, David Charns, Stewart Ledbetter, Vanessa Misciagna, Jack Thurston, Lauren Victory. Sports reporters: Ken Drake, Stephen Watson and weather folks Gib Brown, Hayley Lapointe and Tom Messner

pads and that smiling Tom Messner weatherguy too.

We'd get:
Boston's NBC
This big staff of 25 NBC, includes three Asian women and one very light-skinned black guy, the rest being all Caucasians including eight anchors. Most of 'em look like they've been around for a long time. Kim Khazei Adam Williams Amanda Grace Nick Emmons Christa Delcamp Kayna Whitworth Sarah French Tim Caputo Reporters: Byron Barnett Nancy Chen Steve Cooper Jennifer Eagan Brandon Gunnoe Jonathan Hall Dan Hausle Andy Hiller Nicole Oliverio Hank Phillippi Ryan Ryan Schulteis Susan Tran Victoria Warren Janet Wu Weather: handled by three men: Pete Bouchard Jeremy Reiner Chris Lambert Sports: Joe Amorosino Rhett Lewis Alex Corddry

We'd lose:
CBS (WCAX)

Sweet Melissa

Kristin Kelly

Anchors: Steve Bottari Kristin Carlson Bridget Barry Caswell Roger Garrity Julie Kelley Kristin Kelly Mike McCune Darren Perron Molly Smith Adam Sullivan
Reporters: Gina Bullard Logan Crawford Ali Free Melissa Howell Elizabeth Keatinge Keith McGilvery Kyle Midura Jennifer Reading Judy Simpson Weather: Sharon Meyer Gary Sadowsky Dan Dowling Dave Busch Dave Busch Sports: Mike McCune Scott Fleishman Dylan Scott Marselis Parsons

We'd get:
CBS Boston
Seems to have at least a bit more ethnic diversity in the form of a couple of black sports anchors. The most promising character for a folksy connection is a guy named Joe Shortsleeves. Anchors: Bobby Sisk David Wade Jack Williams Kate Merrill Kerry Connolly Lisa Hughes Paula Ebben Reporters: Beth Germano Bill Shields Bree Sison Christina Hager David Robichaud Jim Armstrong Joe Shortsleeve Jon Keller Karen Anderson Ken MacLeod Lauren Leamanczyk Michael Rosenfield Michelle Roberts Paul Burton Sera C ongi Dan Roche Levan Reid Steve Burton Weather: Barry Burbank Danielle Niles Eric Fisher Todd Gutner

We'd lose:
Fox 44
Fox channel. I've got to say that this Lauren Maloney grabs my attention and I'm still

Lauren Maloney

unsure if it's for the right or wrong reasons. Weather: Kerrin Jeromin Steve Glazier sports Mike Curkov Ross Lippman Brittney Hibbs Matt Austin Jenny Day Kirsten Tripodi Michael Page David Hodges Steph Machado

We'd get:
ABC Boston (WCVB)

Add caption

Kimberly Bookman Kathy Curran Jack Harper Todd Kazakiewich Julie Loncich Liam Martin Jorge Quiroga Rhondella Richardson Mary Saladna Kelley Tuthill Janet Wu Bianca de la Garza (left0 Randy Price Susan Wornick Pam Cross Jim Lokay Antoinette Antonio John Atwater

Please pipe in with comments below concerning this issue, otherwise I'll otherwise feel like a freak caring about, (ok, almost caring about) something this obscure.

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Hooker gold rush expected as Canada's anti-prostitution laws struck down

December 20, 2013, 7:39 am

≫ Next: Who killed Alphonse Quenneville?

≪ Previous: Plattsburgh-North Pole Burlington to be replaced by Boston?

If you look out the window right now you might see buses jammed with farm girls rushing to the city with dollar signs in their eyes to make their fortune in the skin trade, or perhaps you'll see good old Joe the

hardware guy walking out of his store with a bunch of cash while pimps in flashy suits take over to set up an industrial sized brothel.

Canada's Supreme Court struck down anti-prostitution laws in Canada Friday and that is not necessarily a bad thing, as Canada's anti-pimping legislation seemed pretty draconian.

Most citizens don't appear to be bothered much about prostitution (or even drug consumption) as long as it's not happening in front of their front doors.

In the 90s anti-prostitution marches attracted massive crowds in the east side of town, but those residents appeared to specifically oppose the presence of street prostitutes, which is something I have little patience for as well.

But in recent years street prostitutes have all but disappeared in Montreal except for stretches on St. Catherine between say Prefontaine and Pie IX.

One cop recently said that only three percent of Montreal's prostitution is of the street variety but that might rise as it now appears to be entirely legal for a sex worker to sell their wares on the street.

And while we might try to keep this stuff indoors and out of view, the principle of someone earning a living in a manner that doesn't actually victimize anybody seems hard to object to. For those who can stomach that sort of thing, the sex trade can be a pretty high paying gig, as one could earn something like $50,000 a year by working a mere 10 hours a week and possibly not even paying much tax on that.

From what I'm told Montreal police might have abused the anti-pimping legislation in order to go after prostitutes, at least according to what one prostitution-defender told me a while ago, citing the case of a young who works as an independent escort. According to the story, the escort was asked by another woman to help with tips to enter the trade and for help with management. So the escort went to meet that woman but it turned out to be a police officer, who arrested the escort and charged her under the pimping law after their discussion.

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Who killed Alphonse Quenneville?

December 20, 2013, 10:45 am

≫ Next: Verdun resident makes unexpected discovery during icy water rescue

≪ Previous: Hooker gold rush expected as Canada's anti-prostitution laws struck down

One of the most stunning unsolved crimes ever surrounding the local taxi business took back when horse and buggies still roamed the streets and 135 years later we have an idea who might have committed it.

Scene of the crime

On May 31, 1879 attackers broke into Morey's cab service at de la Gauchetiere just west of Bleury, on the north side. They brutally killed the night watchman and set the place on fire, destroying much equipment and almost killing dozens of equine transporters who managed to get out in time.
Here's a description of the event from the Dominion Annual Register.

Alphonse Quenneville, watchman at Morey's livery stable, Montreal, is brutally murdered by some incendiaries who then cover the 19 carriages in the stables with coal oil and other inflammable matter and set them on fire, destroying property tot he value of $15,000. There were 70 valuable horses in the stable but the alarm was given in time to save them. The outrage was supposed to be caused by an ill-feeling which had existed of his having almost a monopoly of the hotel business. The murders made good their escape, and although a reward of $1,000 is offered by the city for their apprehension they are not discovered. After adjourning over from May until 15th August, and there being no further evidence to adduce, the Coroner's jury return a verdict of willful murder against some person or persons unknown

The Gazette reported the sequence of events: John Cloran, a driver for J.W. Morey returned from Lachine where he had delivered Mr. Light who was staying at the Windsor Hotel. Quenneville the nightwatchman let him in and they smoked and talked until he left at 12

A Montreal horse cab seen in 1933

:10 a.m. then at about 2:15 a.m. a French woman living across at 558 Lagauchetiere screamed "feu. feu!" Officers Gravel and Beauregard came from the nearby police station on Jurors street and one sounded the box alarm at Bleury and Dorchester.
The injured Qunneville was brought to the Jurors street station, even though he wanted to stay and help. Bspan style="font-family: inherit;"> Blood was oozing from a wound on his neck. His head had apparently been battered by a blunt instrument. blood was flowing out of gaping wounds in torrents. Attempts to wash it turned the police station sink red. Quenneville couldn't identify his killers. He was brought to hospital where he died at 10:20 a.m. Saturday morning. Morey had been in dispute with the carters of Dominion Square and had been threatened by them on many occasions, as Morey got all of the traffic from the Ottawa Hotel and was strategically located to dispatch cabs quickly over the telephone. The damage was calculated at $15,000 and the insurance was $9,000. The building was owned by J. T. Morgan of H Hawell Company. Over 50 years later in a retrospective article recounting the history of horse taxis in Montreal, the writer noted at the end that the McGarr clan had scored Morey's monopoly after the attack. Could the McGarrs have been behind the attack and murder?

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Verdun resident makes unexpected discovery during icy water rescue

December 21, 2013, 6:59 am

≫ Next: Bridge and Wellington - demolished!

≪ Previous: Who killed Alphonse Quenneville?

Next time you're down near the aqueduct, maybe waiting to cross at that infernally-endless red light at 4th and Champlain, think about William Napier, of 3351 Evelyn, a married father of two, who leaped into the freezing waters to save a life many years ago at that very spot.

Scotty, as they called him, was a labourer at a make-work program to widen the aqueduct.

He was not far off when he heard children, who were busy skating on the frozen ice, suddenly start screaming at about 3:15 p.m. on Wed. Dec. 28, 1932.

He saw a figure splashing around in the 35-foot deep water and rushed back to the work camp, stripped down and brought two big ropes back.

He tied the ropes to his body and crawled towards the hole in the ice on his hands and knees and leaped into the chilly waters and grabbed the struggling little battler. His colleagues then yanked him out of the water with the ropes.

While in the water he realized that it was a dog, not a child, that he was rescuing .. but he saved it anyway. (Petit Journal Jan. 1, 1933 p. 2)

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Bridge and Wellington - demolished!

December 24, 2013, 1:29 pm

≫ Next: --- Article Removed ---

≪ Previous: Verdun resident makes unexpected discovery during icy water rescue

This long-abandoned building has been razed and to Montrealers like me, it might take a bit of adjusting to get accustomed to its disappearance.
It stood at Bridge and Wellington for a very long time and was known as the spot which housed the CNR Local Freight Office building and the Yardmasters Office and the Canada Customs and CNR Cartage.
It was part of a once-busy strip and sat adjacent to Robin Hood Flour Mill, Maple Leaf Milling, Montreal Stock Yard and Goose Village just a two minute walk away.
In recent days, local subsidized housing protesters made a big stink about a condo advertisement that had been placed upon its wall, as it apparently is against the rules to advertise a condo project on anything other than the actual construction site.
I was unable to get a photo of the now strangely-naked spot when I rolled by this afternoon but I'll endeavour to do just that forthwith, but if anybody passes by and feels inclined to send me a pic, pls pass it along to me at the megaforce on the gmail.

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--- Article Removed ---

December 24, 2013, 1:45 pm

≫ Next: Winsor Hotel among trove of recently-found footage from WWII

≪ Previous: Bridge and Wellington - demolished!

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*** RSSing Note: Article removed by member request. ***
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Winsor Hotel among trove of recently-found footage from WWII

December 29, 2013, 7:45 pm

≫ Next: Old phone rehabilitated, made workable

≪ Previous: --- Article Removed ---

Adm. Giovanni Galati

   A huge stash of films has been discovered among stumbled across a massive collection of film footage dating from World War II, while rooting through his deceased grandpa's basement.
   The footage includes scenes from Montreal, it would appear, as one roll is entitled "Windsor Hotel."
The films belong to Admiral Giovanni Galati, who is described on one online account as "one of the most respected convoy escort commanders in the Mediterranean. He is said to have never lost a ship under his protection. A staunch monarchist, he refused to surrender his ships to the Allies, preferring to be arrested by the Italian Navy for insubordination. He was in charge of the San Marco Battalion in China from 1931-1936, then captain of the frigate Arborea, then full captain in 1938, and rear admiral in 1943."
   The grandfather who left the booty behind was Galati's nephew.
The collection contains: "about 45 boxes of 8mm film, two 32mm cans of Kodak film and one red case."
The new owner went onto Reddit where his query on how he should proceed to deal with the footage, which is already starting to decay.

   At least one of those is entitled "Windsor Hotel" so Montreal would appear to figure in the images.
    The discussion attracted over 2,000 replies in just a couple of hours.
   We are hoping that the the owner finds a way to share the treasure with the world so the films can be seen.

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Old phone rehabilitated, made workable

January 2, 2014, 2:46 pm

≫ Next: Blue Bonnets racetrack: a portrait of decay

≪ Previous: Winsor Hotel among trove of recently-found footage from WWII

This from regular commenter MP & I: "Years ago I worked for The Bell at the end of the Step by Step and Rotary Dial era.

Recently I 'Installed' a Telephone I have had since 1978 or so.
My last 'Installation'??
A N 293 G Dated II-35 on Dial Back. ( The Font does not show correctly, is really 2-35. )
Works! just fine!

The Bull Dog Transmitter and mount are from a more-modern Telephone, as is the receiver.
A stock Transmitter would not 'stick out' so far and was mounted with four screws into door front.
A Bell Back Board would be painted Black.
Those that have seen the telephone prefer the 'grain' look.
WhoCares at this late date??

The modern Mounting Wire is CHEAP, and THE SHITS to work with.
The screws should be black round head.
This is the first telephone of this type I have ever seen, never finding one 'In Service'.
Photos by CAD.
Thank You.

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Blue Bonnets racetrack: a portrait of decay

January 3, 2014, 8:18 pm

≫ Next: Verdun aviation pioneer pays ultimate price for ignoring premonition

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The amazin'pics of the ol' Blue Bonnets racetrack have got me trying to round up Zombie Boy to film a post-apocalyptic thriller.
Those like myself who recall the racetrack with fondness might be saddened to see its current state, which was photographed by someone who evidently snuck in rather illegally and went shutter happy shooting and posting these images of its dilapidation and decay since it was closed a few years back. As far as I recall the province bought the site in 1991 from Robert Campeau and tried various manoeuvres to make it more profitable, including a generous subsidy under PQ Premier Bernard Landry, but Haitian taxi drivers and pensioners gambling a little $30 here and there weren't enough to justify keeping those little guys driving those buggies behind the horses. It has been under study for just about forever and the idea is to make it into a huge condo development, which seems rather legit, as it would funnel more cash into the city's coffers and presumably lighten the tax base for the rest of us suckers. On the other hand thousands of new homes on Decarie would surely also lead to crazy congestion on the Decarie, which is already overburdened.

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Verdun aviation pioneer pays ultimate price for ignoring premonition

January 5, 2014, 2:21 pm

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Verdun-born Murial Hanning-Lee, a stewardess, author and early-aviation pioneer did a whole lot of things right in her brief life. Ignoring a nagging premonition in 1957 was not one of them.

Murial Hanning-Lee

Hanning-Lee did not have an easy childhood. Her mother died when she was a baby and by age eight her single-father dad agreed to allow her to unofficially join her best-friend's family.
Hanning-Lee was not just a beautiful young woman, she had an exceptionally bright mind, as proven by her ability to remember details from the great number of books she consumed.
She joined the Montreal Red Cross during WWII and at the end of the war moved to London, England to take work as a a stenographic replacement.
She loved London and right after the war, at the age of 21 - very much in the pioneering age of civil aviation - she took a job as a stewardess and then kicked around at a variety of airlines until taking a steady job with Aquila about eight years later.
Hanning-Lee had a lot of insights and tales about those early years of civil aviation history, so much so that she started penning a book about her experiences, undoubtedly recruiting the assistance of her good friend Jerrald Tickell, an Irish writer who she know from Hornsby, North London and who was 20 years her senior.
Tickell had written several books about aviation and he later recounted that she told him something unusual.

A new colleague, 22-year-old Angela Kitchner needed some training and Hanning-Lee volunteered for the flight so she could help train the newby.
But out of the blue, Tickell recounts, Hanning-Lee developed a terrible premonition.
"She was so convinced something was going to happen. She thought of getting a doctor's certificate stating unfitness to fly. She kept saying, 'I don't want to go on this flight.' She only decided to go at the last minute."

The flight was on Solent G-AKNU, a flying boat which lands on water.
It left Southampton at 22:46 and was to fly to Lisboa and then Las Palmas and Madeira. But a propeller feathered and the plane crashed into a chalk pit near the village of Shalcombe in the Isle of Wight.
The flight crashed on the Isle of Wight on November 15, 1957, killing 43 - including the girl she was training - and leaving 14 survivors.
Her book, Head in the Clouds, can be purchased used at various online book resellers. It might be available at some local libraries but I haven't checked.
One reader described her book in 2008 as, "some fantastic stories when flying was 'glam', era of the flying boat, and real thinking on your feet. No shy girl this one!"
One recent tribute to the dead crew members singles her out, "Most of all, Muriel Hanning Lee the lovely Canadian airhostess for whom I fell in a big way. Although my senior by many years she was very sweet to me," wrote Jim Colthup from Woodbridge.

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