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| Dorch looking E from about Mountain |
The Slitkins and Slotkins bar was frequently mentioned by folks such as Al Palmer as the epicenter of Montreal during one of its most buzzing periods in the '40s and '50s.
But I could never find much information on the 5 Ws of its existence. But to my delight upon rising from my slumber this fine Friday morning I saw that I had received an email with a complete research on this very question, noting that the fabled bar sat on the
parking lot on Dorch between Mountain and Drummond, which friend of Coolopolis
James Essaris is currently turning into the Icone condo tower.
Here from the eagle-eyed Jim McGraw, is that very note printed in full below.
The only detail I would add is that in the early 50s mobbed-up hockey player Jimmy Orlando also had a bar close by at the time, on Mountain, east side just south of Dorch, which would have been just to the right of where this photo was shot.
In a piece on the old Provincial bus terminal on Dorchester,
you mention Slitkin & Slotkin. The 1940s were an especially fascinating time in Montreal's history with several books written about it including Bill Weintraub's City Unique: Montreal. Slitkin & Slotkin is often mentioned. (The 1940s in Montreal is certainly very deserving of a movie about its nightlife and characters. Perhaps computer generated images (CGI) could recreate the streets for long and establishing shots.)
Slitkin & Slotkin, a hangout for hockey players, sports fans, newspapermen and various Damon Runyonesque characters, had an interesting pedigree.
The Slitkin & Slotkin name apparently was only officially used from 1949 to 1950 according to Lovell's directory. The club was at 1235 Dorchester on the north side between Drummond and Mountain, where there is a parking lot today (according to Google Streetview). It wasn't directly across from the old bus terminal but diagonally across in the next block.
The club was in a great spot. The three train stations of the day were all nearby (Central having opened in 1943, Windsor and Bonaventure). There were first rate hotels like the Windsor and Mount Royal but also a multitude of lower rated accommodations including a lot of rooming houses all within blocks. Quite a few other clubs and bars were in the neighbourhood as well. As you yourself wrote in a 2007 Coolopolis entry: "Like all of the world's great streets, it was a cornucopia of booze, loose women and illicit gambling dens all of which made it an even more alluring target for demolition by the puritan Mayor Drapeau." Drapeau did succeed in demolishing many of the places on Dorchester by widening the street in 1955. Most of the demolition however was on the south side leaving large swaths of empty lots (west of Peel/Windsor) that are now quickly filling in after all these years with office towers and condos.
Ironically the building that would house a succession of entertainment venues like Slitkin & Slotkin was the Danish Lutheran Young Peoples Home until 1929-1930. By 1930, it had become the Milano Cafe, a "spaghetti parlour" as it was called run by an E. Tosini. The last mention of the Milano Cafe is in the 1940 directory.
Apparently the business was bought during the war years by Jack Rogers and Lou Wyman, two longtime partners who I believe were boxing promoters among other interests. They renovated the building but the name in the 1941 directory is now Chez Madame Henri E Tosini. Now was that E. Tosini's wife, widow? It's especially interesting because in 1946 the name changes to Chez Madame Henri J. Rogers. Was Henri an abbreviation for Henriette? Did Jack Rogers marry her? So it appears. Was she used as a front for their operation. Then again, their establishment was officially known as Jack & Lou's Bar & Grill although that name never appears in the directories. Jack Rogers and Lou Wyman apparently came up with the Slitkin & Slotkin moniker drawing inspiration from a vaudeville act of that name performed by comedians Joseph Watson and Will Cohan at the Gayety Theatre in Montreal in the 1920s.
As mentioned, the Slitkin & Slotkin name is listed only in the 1949 and 1950 directories. In the 1951 directory it was already the All-American Bar & Grill, the name it would carry until the 1974-1975 directory. By 1976, it was the Baby Face Piano Bar. I don't know when the last business existed there or when the building was finally demolished. I also didn't go back earlier than 1929-1930.
I'm sure there are a lot of stories that go with the place but I'm not in Montreal so research becomes a little difficult from a distance. Perhaps others will know more and fill in the blanks.
I'm attaching a photo you had used in your blog of Dorchester in 1946 looking east from about Mountain. Look closely and there are amazing details. On the left (north side) is the Victory Coffee shop, then Burrow's Drug Store. The building with the flag on the turret is the old and original section of the Windsor Hotel, which would burn down in the late 1950s. In the background is the mass of the Sun Life building.
On the right (south) side, you can see the Coronet Cafe and then the Hotel Laurier, with "Laurier" hidden behind the Coronet sign. In the distance is a sign for the Rex Tavern.
The bus terminal is actually in the space between the Laurier and the Rex, set back from the street so the building can't be seen from this angle. Several parked cars in the terminal's front driveway to the right of the sidewalk show its location. Note the Eaton's panel delivery truck and the horse-drawn wagon. Look carefully and you can see what appears to be a city bus and a Provincial bus behind the wagon. The Provincial bus is recognizable (even in black and white) in its orange with black stripe livery.
A higher resolution of the photo might confirm it. When Dorchester will be widened in 1955, all the buildings on the south side would disappear except the bus terminal, which would end up right against the sidewalk with no driveway for taxis or cars. The new Laurentian Hotel, on which construction had begun, would also be built set back from the 1946 Dorchester Street so the widened 1955 Dorchester Boulevard would be up against its walls.
