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St. Henri from above 1956

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I don't like to post stuff posted elsewhere but this was worth an exception. Click these images to see them larger. They're online elsewhere in super high resolution so you can click on them and see them in great detail but that's running out of clicks fast, so if anybody has a suggestion on hosting the large-sized images lemme know.


Stuff noticed by the contributor: - Lots of tram tracks, but strangely enough, not too many trams visible.
The church where the high school outside St. Hank metro is now.  There’s a ship visible on the canal.
The block obliterated for Oscar Peterson metro.  St. Hank train station at the eastern point of the ‘Y’. Train yard where the Super-C is now. ‘Spikes’ since removed from the Atwater market roofline. Disappeared industrial buildings in Ste-Cunegonde.  Slums disappeared in Lil Burgandy in favour of park and low-income housing. Turning train bridge on canal west of Atwater replaced with fixed bridge. Finally, it’s the only spot in town where the Orange and Green lines follow a obsolete train track (for a bit, anyway).

Urban lost glory: year-round gams

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Springtime is slowly creeping closer after a tough winter in Montreal and layers will be soon gloriously dropped, starting with scarves, then gloves, then hats, then coats, then boots and we'll be clad in our glorious summer attire and our collective epidermis will once again be gloriously displayed.
    However what many don't realize is that the old style - as you can see in the bottom two photos - was to show those gams all winter long. Even older mature women would walk around in their see through tights and dresses under long warm fur coats, cold weather be damned.
   So while it's widely assumed that the world is a sexier place than it once was, the truth is that it probably wasn't.

Downtown Mtl late 1961


Why cops should reconsider calls for victims

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  In a perfect world, the daily productivity of all public workers should be a matter of public record because we have a right to know if people are actually working for the salaries we taxpayers pay them.
  In Quebec it's not uncommon for bureaucrats to be assigned no tasks if there is no work for them to do. So they get paid to read newspapers all day.
Walid Chaloub
  One area that requires scrutiny is the local police force. There has been a massive drop in crime but no corresponding police layoffs.
  Last year saw the lowest total of murders in Montreal since the island was united in one city and this year we've only had two murders when last year we had five, so there's likely a lot of officers twiddling their thumbs.
  As a consequence we've got enforcement of victimless crimes such as jaywalking and hyper-mediatization of small misdeeds.
  Laval police even issued a warning against people driving with snow on their cars, apparently a sin they deem ticket-worthy, as a way to fund and justify their jobs.
   In recent months the local cops have also tried to drum up business by issuing calls to the public to locate victims of people already accused of certain crimes.
   Now if someone is accused of 13 counts of shoplifting, does it really matter that a 14th shopkeeper come forward to serve as a witness against the accused?
   I don't know whether it's psychologically beneficial for a crime to come forward and follow through with a complaint but beating the bushes for such people seems a bit desperate.
  There's also the philosophical question of whether a victim is morally obligated to report a crime. In some countries the solution rate is so low that most people don't even bother visiting a police station it's nice to think that those who want to report crimes here will do so without being egged on by authorities.
   Last week police put out a request for alleged victims of Walid Mustapha Chaloub, 31, who allegedly got girls aged between 15-18 to sign contracts for lucrative work. He then allegedly threatened them with fines when they balked after discovering that the lucrative work consists of prostitution.
   Sounds like a terrible plan to me.
   But it could be argued that publicizing the accusations so widely could endanger his chance at getting a fair trial and even undermine his security.
   Here's the best argument against the call-for-victims practice: eight and a half years ago, on September 21, 2005 to be specific, Roxboro’s Mark Sadovski, 59, was stabbed to death at Bordeaux prison, where he was being kept in spite of not having been convicted of any crime.
   The Polish-born denture specialist had been accused by two elderly female clients of having sexually molested them.
   The police put out a call for additional victims and the media published his photo and his alleged status as a rapist of old women.
  On the same day that newspaper came out, fellow-inmates beat him to death in the prison courtyard.    Various firings, recriminations and other examination of events ensued.
  I believe that the local cops either stopped or slowed down on the call for victims scheme until about two years ago, but they're going forward with it again full steam. 

Miss Chinese Montreal - guess who won

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   Miss Chinese Montreal usually goes under the radar here but it's a fairly big deal because the winner is sent to the larger Chinese pageant and two local contestants have used it as a springboard to go on to great fame in Chinese showbiz. So I found it interesting to note which of this year's candidates won the big prize. Can you guess by looking?
Yes, we have a winner, it is indeed 20-year-old TingLi Lorigiano, who is at the top left of this picture. She speaks English,French, Italian and "Chinese" according to a Concordia Link profile. She is a lovely young woman but by far the least Asian-looking for all of the competitors, so that's why it seems unusual. She went on to place third of 30 in the larger Chinese pageant, so she must be doing something right. She also serves as VP of Academic and Loyola Affairs for Concordia’s Arts and Science Federation Association, whatever that is. 

Quebec prisoners and their inferior phone access

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 While telephone calls have become massively easier to make over the last few decades for most of us, one demographic here in Quebec is seeing its ability to reach people on the phone diminish.
   Inmates in Quebec provincial prisons are not  permitted to simply phone people when they want, they need to make collect calls and only to land line phones, no cell phones.
   They are unable to leave messages on voice mailboxes and if the person they're trying to reach has a cell phone, well that's tough, their system doesn't allow them to phone those numbers from inside prison.
   And of course, those who receive those calls - often family - are burdened with expensive collect-call fees which cost much more than a normal call, which is often free or just pennies in long distance charges.
    Prison rights advocate Eric Belisle tells Coolopolis that advocates are now strongly urging Quebec to imitate the federal system which allows prisoners to use a sort of calling card to make their calls.    
   "An inmate trying to reach his lawyer often can't do it, he can't leave a message on a voicemail or call a bank or a 1-800 number. We're seeing this as an increasing problem that we'd like to have solved," he said. 

Who killed Native wrestler Don Eagle & his wife? We think we know

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   Pro wrestler Chief Don Eagle died of gunshots in Kahnawake in 1966 and his wife was then killed two years later.
  So what exactly happened here?
  We think we have it figured out.
  Carl Donald Bell, who wrestled under the name Chief Don Eagle remains one of the highest-profile Natives ever to come from Khanawake.
  Eagle, who in spite of rumours to the contrary was an actual Native, became a great showman pro wrestler before injuring his back in his late 30s.
   He was found dead of gunshot wounds at his home in Kahnawake on March 17, 1966. He was 40.
  Then on July 21, 1968 his widow Jean Eagle, 28, who worked as a waitress at the Khanawake golf course, was murdered.
   Her body was found two days later by her father-in-law, who was the chief. Her burnt body was inside a car that had been torched.
  So here's what apparently happened, according to wrestler Lou Thesz, who spilled on a message forum in 2000, two years prior to his death.
   Don Eagle did not die of suicide, he was killed by his wife Jean, who was tired of being beaten by the former wrestler.
   She then moved on to Florida but others in Kahnawake persuaded her to return.They claimed that that they forgave her and understood what she did.
   She moved back and got whacked in returned in retribution for her husband's death.
   To our knowledge nobody was arrested in connection with either death.

Reputation be damned: here's why Montreal is really a city for earlybirds

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  Montreal nightlife has long been known as Canada's best since the first Iroquois launched a tomahawk at a French priest's giant black hat.
   Catholic traditions have been credited - or perhaps blamed - for this phenomenon as Papists can sin, party and disco dance as much as they want as long as they confess on Sundays.
  But Coolopolis thinks that the real reason we have more nightlife is that we have more night than other Canadian cities.  
  Today, for example, the sun went down at 4:55 pm. In Toronto it went down at 5:23 that's a full 28 minutes more afternoon daylight than we got. (Note to Toronto, slap on that sunscreen, you don't want to get a January sunburn - Chimples)
   Torontonians might work harder than Montrealers by the way, partially because of that fact.    Montrealers are set to get home as it gets dark but Toronto gets a full half hour more of light, tricking them into thinking that they've still got to have their noses at the grindstone well after five.
   Regina has 50 minutes more sunlight, Winnipeg 22 minutes more, Halifax 23 minutes and so forth.
   Places where the work ethic isn't considered quite as intense have similar sundowns as Montreal, Vancouver, St. John's and Ottawa see their suns go down only minutes later than ours.
   This, of course, is because Montreal is placed less far west in its time zone, so when the sun comes around and circles the earth each day (Stop that - Chimples) our clocks are still hitting lower numbers.
   This system means that we have sumpin' those other cities don't, namely: earlier sunrises.
   The sun also rises earlier here.
   Everybody talks about the nightlife but nobody talks about Montreal's morninglife.
   In Montreal the sun rose at 7:19 a.m. today, well before all of those other cities.
  We should, logically, start branding ourselves as a morning-glory city with much longer early days than our Canadian counterparts.
   Indeed we might even starting our workdays earlier than those other places as well.
   While Torontonians, Ottawans, Winnipegers and other urban Canadians stumble to their desks in a semi-daze due to dark skies, we Montrealers should be brimming with perk, as nature has set us to alert at a much earlier hour.  

Al Palmer's tips on making small talk with 100-year-old Montrealers

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If you ever cross paths with someone from Montreal who has become very, very old, here's a few useful topic discussion starters from that eternal fountain of wisdom, the one and only Al Palmer.
Do you remember back when your number was listed as an East number?
Remember when you learned to use a dial phone at one of the instruction branches Bell opened around town?
Remember ogling chorus at the movie-vaudeville theatre on the north side of Mount Royal just east of Papineau?
Remember playing the horses at the Fashion Race Course, or before that King's Park?
Remember paying 10 cents for a stein of beer and plate of free sandwiches?
Remember when most of Quebec's downhill skiing was done on Mount Royal?
Remember when every church had its own basketball team?
   And finally: do you remember thinking that Russell Bowie is the greatest hockey player that ever lived?
To answer that last one, Bowie was a purely amateur player who refused to take payment for his fine play for the Montreal Victorias. He was born in Montreal and lived here his entire life, scoring 239 goals in 80 games before retiring in 1909. He was so far ahead of the next-best player that its argued that he was ice hockey's greatest-ever statistical outlier.
   Also, let it be noted that it's the 65 th anniversary of Al Palmer's Sugar-Puss on Dorchester Street, so let's finally rename a street after him.
   In case you want to know what the book is about, here's the plot: drunken journalist meets big breasted farm girl, loses her to gangster impresario, and gets her back when she realizes that the new boyfriend has hidden drugs in her jewelry.  

Pure Nightclub - how it lost its license for four months

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    Don't bother heading down to the Pure Nightclub this weekend on St. Cat coupla blocks east of the Main at St. Timmy-T.
  It has had its license yanked for four months and will only reopen in early May.
   Wanna know why? Here's some of the action from the police blotter inspired by this joint.

12 March 2011 20 people in a drunken fistfight.
19 March 2011 a man was beaten by two suspects, kicked and punched after being turfed by bouncers. Suffered facial injuries.
20 March 2011 Police responded to an attempted murder after a dispute that began inside the establishment and continued outside between persons related to street gangs. One individual was hit with a baseball bat and suffered very serious injuries. He had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance and remained unconscious for several days. Arrests were made.
23 July 2011 Police used pepper spray to calm the crowded space near an exit. An agitated, aggressive and uncooperative individual insulted the police and tried to rally the crowd.
20 August 2011 Police intervened in a fight that started inside the establishment and continued in the parking lot at closing. When they arrived, they saw a person lying on the ground in the parking lot. The latter had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance for severe injuries to his face and head.
5 September 2011 Police were called three times to deal with fights, including one after closing a clubgoer celebrating his birthday was punched and injured in the face.
10 September 2011 September more fights.
16 October 16, 2011, police were called to an early conflict between two men opposite the bar. Upon arrival, a crowd of about 75 people stood outside the door, then at closing at 3 am, about 200 people were gathered outside. The agitated crowd included 20 very aggressive individuals.
5 November 2011 A fight outside at closing time attracted a crowd of about 20, which quickly grew to 75 outside the club. About 20 fought with police, who used pepper spray. Only a couple of bouncers were around to oversee the closing.
20 November 2011 Police were called to a dispute in front of the bar that started when a dozen had been kicked out ofthe club. They threw traffic cones at the offices and one was assaulted. Gas was used to disperse the hostile drunken crowd.
4 December 4, 2011 Police had to deal with an alleged on the bar manager, who was attacked after reusing to let a couple of people enter. The suspect ted had previously threateed the manager with a fake gun. On the same night they arrested a drunk involved in a brawl with a bouncer. Police were called back a third time to deal with a patron refused entry. He said he was going to get his bang to back him up. The bar said that he had been caught selling drugs inside.
11 December 2011 A fight between two men went out on the street and saw eight people kick and punch the victim who fell unconscious and had to be rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
17 December 2011 Police dealt with a fight involving six club goers, one of whom was hit in the face with a can of Red Bull.
18 December 18, 2011 A bouncer was hit by a customer who had been denied entry. He was brought to the police station and told not to return to the club. But he did anyway pretending he had a gun.
15 January 2012 A clubgoer fired shots at two men after being kicked out of the club. One was seriously injured and underwent surgery following the attempted murder.
22 January 2012 An expulsion leads to more drunken fights outside. Later that night police rounded up a woman outside in a state of advanced drunkenness shouting insults
29 January 2012 Police intervened in a fight directed against the doorman who was hit in the face by a drunk customer who had been kicked out after he fell asleep in the club. He was arrested.
5 February 2012 Police came after a customer was kicked out and uttered death threats against bouncers, saying he'd get his gun in his car.
18 February 2012 Police came to break up a fight among drunk patrons outside.
19 February 2012 Police came after people who had been refused entry were seen tossing bottles at doormen.
19 February 2012 Two groups had a large-scale fight that cops could only control with gas. One was arrested for assaulting an officer. A two pound cement block was tossed at cops and missed them by two feet.
25 February 2012 Police detained a drunk screaming and shoving bouncers in front of the club.
18 March 2012 Cops came after reports that criminal gangs were wreaking havoc in the club. One inebriated gang member was arrested for attempting to assault an officer.
14 April 2012 Police came to deal with a very drunk woman who required ambulance service. They returned to deal with another drunk woman who had been kicked out. Police were forced to use pepper spray to calm the individuals down.
15 April 2012 About a dozen people fought outside, including some tossing bottles.
22 April 2012 Another call for a fight outside.
29 April 2012 Police were called for yet another fight and had to calm an individual with blood on his face, reeking of booze. He had drank before coming to the club and got into a fight in the lineup.
28 April 2012 Police were told of gunshots in or outside of the establishment.
29 April 2012 Another mass fight outside required usage of MK-4 gas after doormen lost control of he crowd. One person suiffered serious injuries to the face. Another tried to grab an officer's police baton.
6 May 6 2012 Police dealt with a fight involving four people outside. The fight had started on the dance floor. A bouncer got hit on the had with a bottle and was rushed to hospital.
7 May 2012  The same person arrested the night before laid a complaint against the bouncers, saying they broke his gold necklace after grabbing him on the dancefloor. They would not allow him to collect his lost items afterwards.
13 May 2012 Police came to stop a fight and found a patron with a bloody head and another confronting the bouncers, who had already been hit in the head with a bottle. They were arrested for assault.
17 June 2012 Police came to deal with a man lying unconscious on the ground after being hit and kicked in the head by a bouncer. He had been kicked out of the club due to aggressive behavior. Paramedics found that he was intoxicated . He had to be rushed to hospital by ambulance for his injuries.
23 June 2012 Police arrested and charged a man for attempted murder, for discharging a firearm and possession of narcotics. During an altercation at the outlet of the establishment between two (2) groups of individuals, a man pulled a gun and pointed it. He fired a shot that hit a wall. One of the victims reported receiving bursts of brick behind the head.
26 July 2012 Police called to deal with a fight between two customers outside.
29 July 2012 Police responded to an assault that started from a dancefloor dispute. A woman had been punched in the face and fell to the ground . She had to be rushed to the hospital for severe head injuries. Later that night several policemen intervened to a fight at the exit of the facility. During the intervention , they arrested a person for sitting on a police vehicle that refused to exit the vehicle . The man was drunk and refused to identify himself.
4 August 2012 Police were called after a drunk refused entry became very agitated and aggressive towards the doorman. He refused to identify himself to the police and did not cooperate with them. He then engaged in assaulting one of the officers . A mob surrounded the police had to ask for reinforcements. Later that night a man who had been inside asked to go fetch his sister but was not allowed in. They argued and the doorman punched him in the face and pushed his sister as she left.
5 August 2012 Police saw a doorman hit a customer in the face.
22 August 2012 A representative of the owner, Maxime Paquette made a complaint against Charles Payette, who he accused of stealing. He said that Crips were regular customers but did not wear their colours inside and did not make trouble.
9 September 2012, police were called to deal with a woman in crisis outside the bar. At the scene, they located a very intoxicated lying on the ground outside the bar. She kept screaming and was uncontrollable . She had to be taken to hospital by ambulance. .
23 September 2012 police were called to a fight involving about 50 people outside, some armed with sticks and belts. A crowd of about three hundred ( 300) people were in the street and several fights broke out . A highly intoxicated and aggressive individual who sought physical confrontation and refused to obey police was arrested and then he grabbed a police officer by the throat with both hands. During the arrest a mob came to surround the police to try to attack . Pepper spray had to be used to disperse the crowd. Later police returned and arrested two for loitering around the club after they were told to move.
 7 October 2012 at the closure of the establishment police, with the assistance of the Eclipse group arrested a very intoxicated and aggressive individual. He had assaulted an officer, uttered threats and attempted to disarm another officer.
21 October 2012 Police pepper sprayed a person who refused to cooperate with police who were trying to get clients to leave in an orderly fashion.  .
28 October 2012 Fight between two individuals in line. Later another fight created a panic in the crowd of about 150 people. The police used pepper spray to control the situation.
3 November 2012, police were called to a brawl involving about 20 people outside. Police had to resort to MK- 3 gas to control the situation.
9 November 2012 Bar mentioned that they had refused entry to five gang members and feared reprisals.
10 November 2012 A mob got violent and one was arrested. Later on, another fight ensued and a customer threatened a bouncer. The staff was nervous. Cops heard the name JP Célestin. And yet another incident occurred after closing when two women fought near the rear exit. Same night cops ticketed a drunk for blocking the sidewalk outside and another fight took place between two ejected bargoers.
11 November 2012 Police were called to a fight involving about 20 people outside. A man was knocked down and knifed.
17 November 2012 Police busted a man yelling at girls outside.
8 December 2012 Cops dealt with a fight between drunks. One officer was hit in the face and required gas and the baton.
9 December 2012, police responded to a fight involving gang member Jean-Philippe Célestin . A drunk had been beaten in the face. Doormen said they allowed him in out of fear.
14 December 2012 the police ensured surveillance inside and outside of the institution, in order to prevent various problems of incivility accrued during the opening and closing bar hours. Around 3am , a skirmish broke out inside the bar and security officials expelled two (2) individuals outside where they have been arrested.
15 December 2012 Police were on site again and gave a ticket to an individual for drinking in a parked car opposite the bar , the man was in the company of people attending the institution. During the evening, two (2) ambulance transports were required to drunk and unconscious people. Several statements of offense were handed over by the police and arrests were made.
30 December 2012, during a courtesy visit to the property, the police arrested several individuals linked to organized crime (street gangs and gang, bikers).
12 January 2013 Police stopped a brawl outside.
19 January 2013 2.30am , police were called in relation to a man who was beaten by 7-8 men near the club. A violent fight broke out at 2:25, a bouncer was injured. Staff called back complaining that they had been threatened. Around 2:45 , police located a group of men that matched the description of those in the fight. One of them was beaten with fists, feet and with a retractable stick by about 10 bouncers.
10 February 10, 2013 at 1:27 , police were called in relation to a man who was beaten inside the establishment, lying on the ground and bleeding from the head.
Thefts: 2011: 22 May, purse stolen, 22 October wallet, 10 Dec. purse, cell phone, March 10 2012, cell phone, 7 Oct wallet, 2 Feb. purse, 7 March cell phone, 31 March purse, 6 April wallet and passport. 

Quebec to allow customized plates, Coolopolis takes credit

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We would like to rather humbly take credit for finally topping the Quebec government's refusal to allow customized plates.
   We noted in a recent post that the province loses quite a lot of potential income by not permitting this method of vehicular self-expression so common elsewhere.
   We assumed they maintained their ban out of fear that sneaky anglos would sneak clever phrases by bureaucrats who'd only realize they'd be 'ad after issuing the approval.
   So if Quebec wants to form a blue ribbon panel to tour the province for an Estates General on customized plates, I am available at the fee of $1,250 per day.
   Here, meanwhile, are some ideas for the plates which should cost anywhere from $100 to $250.
   The one above is meant to be "neverendum" a term to describe the constant referendums we have on sovereignty in the Kweeb.
   ANGLO  ANGLAIS  BLOKE  WESTEND  PEASOUP  POUTINE STEAME 25CUPS CUP4HAB
EXPOS OFF2ONT EXPO67 KORDIC THPOINT GUMPER HIVER FRVSNOW POTHOLE VERDUMP VIPSTKR JMTAFEM BRNSSUK SUBBAN KWEEBEK ENGLISH POUTINE BIEREFD ROCK4HF MITSOU OLFORUM BIGOWE ELVISG THEMAIN THADEEG THAGRIFF SHOVEL RDREPRS

Suggestions? 

Montreal celebrates 50 years of bus identification from behind: bad or good?

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   A salute to a great, or perhaps not-so-great technological innovation that came to Montreal 50 years ago today (give or take a few calendar pull-offs)
   Montreal's public transit system changed forever in early 1964 as a new form of identification was put onto the 2,000 vehicles of the city bus fleet.
   Those buses were equipped with a new and special sign that made them easier to recognize from behind.
   That sign contained the bus route number, allowing you to tell which bus you just missed.
   Prior to that, transit users would have to run to the front of a bus to identify the route it was taking.
   So for the last half-century bus riders have been equipped to know that their just pulled away without them in it.
   Chimples, myself and a batch of four interns just conducted a blue-ribbon roundtable panel on the psychological impact of this technological innovation on city dwellers at the University of Herouxville and two of us argued that the innovation was positive while the other four said it was a bad idea, as it made people depressed in the knowledge that their bus had pulled away.
   

Upper Lachine and Harvard: slated for demolition

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    This unremarkable garage at the southwest corner of Harvard and Upper Lachine is not long for this world as the owner has filed a demolition permit application to be evaluated at an upcoming CDN/NDG borough council meeting on Feb. 26.
   The garage at 5710 Upper Lachine was most recently occupied by a pair of jovial identical twins from Armenia who specialized in vehicular electrical systems. They had been there for a half dozen years after relocating from nearby De Maisonneuve on the other side of the tracks. The garage housed, in previous incarnations, Tuff Cote Rustproofing and Norad Automobiles and other such stuff.
   The building has become a fish-out-of water for the area as is the only remaining garage in a residential area increasingly coveted due to its proximity to the upcoming Sueprhospital.
   It sits adjacent to a site where the not-so-old Sul Viale restaurant building, previously owned by noted local entrepreneur Tony Magi, was demolished for a recently-completed condo project.
   The enterprise behind this proposed demolition is a numbered company based in a St. Laurent strip mall.
   I don't know whether zoning restrictions will pressure the new developers to include some commercial on the property, as it's technically the high street of St. Raymond's, although not much commerce happens on the strip, with the exception of the thriving Minto convenience store, Momesso's restaurant and NDG Bakery.
   The strip is significantly quieter since the nearby Inuit facility was transferred to the old Reddy Memorial Hospital on Tupper just West of Atwater but those moving into the area should be aware of upcoming Superhospital-related traffic construction hell, expected to bumper-to-bumper streets of the area for at least a couple of years.
   Watch for local politicians to give into all of the architect's demands, as the borough has, in the past, rolled over to even the most ridiculous requests along that strip, including illegally allowing the installation of new electrical poles across the street.
   The setbacks on the upcoming project can be expected to be nil as well, as the borough routinely allows to build right onto the edge of the sidewalk. I'd barely blink an eye if they approved a Drummond Court over-the-street type project.

Montreal 's Peg Leg dance craze

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   Postwar Montreal dance-show couple Rosita and Deno brings to mind that exchange from Spinal Tap:

David St. Hubbins: It's such a fine line between stupid, and uh...
Nigel Tufnel: Clever.
David St. Hubbins: Yeah, and clever.

   Rosita and Deno were a publicity-hungry wedding-parties-anything show duo who may or may not also have had day jobs. We don't know their real names but would like to.
  In June 1953 the duo unveiled their latest dance, the peg leg, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.
 The male dancer would strap on a fake wooden leg for the dance and I guess that somehow made it more fun.
   They claimed that the dance was based on a craze that had caught fire in the Dominican
Republic after a wooden-legged sailor took to the floor with great results.
   The stunt got them some media attention beyond these borders and surely helped their bookings in such resorts as Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks.
    The first mention I find of Rosita and Deno is when they were on a bill at the Normandie Roof in 1948, teaching 600 people the samba without forcing them to get out of their chairs, they were at the Snowdon Theatre in 1950 and had Sunday night gig teaching the rumba at the Downbeat Club on Peel by 1952.
   Somebody mentioned that the dance might be considered offensive by amputees, of which there surely must have been many after the war, but I don't know if it was any worse than some rock star posing with an eyepatch. 

Fifth anniversary of David Fortin's disappearance: Why we believe he's living as a transvestite in Montreal

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An altered image of what David Fortin might look like now
   You might be able to earn a quick $10,000, solve a difficult mystery and reunite a heartbroken family split five years ago Monday.
   There's a reward from Sun Youth on the table - or at least there was one and likely still is- for the return of David Fortin, who disappeared on February 10, 2009 from Alma at age 14.
    Coolopolis has received a credible a tip that Fortin is the Montreal area, living the lifestyle of a transvestite.
   The claim came from a woman who said that she met with the young man who told her that he was working as a drag queen performer at Mado's on Ste. Catherine St. near Amherst.
   He apparently begged her not to tell anybody.
   I dropped into Mado's on Friday night and hung around and watched a few dolled-up mime performances, showed his picture to some staffers but all said they'd never seen him or the photo.
   I got the impression that nobody had ever asked them about Fortin, which is surprising because a taxi driver told Claude Poirier one year ago that he had driven Fortin around Montreal and that Fortin was dressed as a woman.  I dropped into another drag show club, Cleopatra's on the Main, where a doorperson looked at the photo and said that Fortin had indeed come to attend a show at the club sometime in the past.
   A ramped up search, specifically targeting the transvestite milieu here and elsewhere, could possibly bear fruit.
   Fortin - assuming he is still alive - would be an adult now, so there's no reason for him to fear getting sent back to live in Alma where he was apparently badly bullied before his disappearance.
   So sharing information concerning his whereabouts would not endanger him in any way and could bring great relief to his family.
   It's possible that Fortin might be staying in hiding because he fears exposing those who protected him to charges of harbouring a runaway, or something to that effect, but that's just speculation.  Nonetheless it could  be useful if authorities would issue a sort of an unofficial advance pardon to anybody who helped Fortin while he was still a minor.         

A killer's voice: let's hear from the man who killed this woman

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   Katherine Hawkes, 33, was raped and killed in a wooded area on her way home to St. Laurent on 20 September 1977.
 The killer, who spoke French, called police not once but twice to describe the location of the body.
  Those calls were taped and yet the killer remains unapprehended.
   Detectives made those voice recordings public in 2002 in hopes somebody might recognize the voice of the killer.
   Those recordings were broadcast on Radio Canada Zone Libre program but have since become unavailable, in spite of requests made by my friends at Cold Cases Media to share them again.
   Coolopolis would like very much if authorities or even Radio Canada could get that voice recording from the killer back into the world so we could try to get back on the trail of the killer of this innocent woman.   

Q- where in Mtl was this taken in 1910?

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   The church is still standing and it's one that you have likely been inside if you're a Montrealer. This newer image was taken in roughly the same spot.
  Yes ! It's that Mile End library on Park.

Quiz - where was this Montreal building, seen in 1929?

Is 5'7" too short to join the police? We seemed to think so a century ago

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  Here's our photo reenactment of a terrible event that took place on Notre Dame W, seven doors down from the Main 100 years ago.
   An unidentified Romanian immigrant, who had just been told that he was too short, at 5'7", to join the local police force, went into the gun shop known as T.W. Boyd & Son and asked to see a gun.
   Once said revolver was in his hands he slipped out a bullet and put the cartridge in and pointed it at his head.
   "Well, here goes, I am going to kill myself," he said before pulling the trigger in front of the shocked employees.
  The man was said to be well-dressed and appeared to be a capable candidate for the police force had the height issue not been such a factor. The local top cop had even told him that they'd try to find another spot for him, as he was considered a good candidate.
   It seems a little strange that if indeed he was 5'7" that he was considered too short, as even today the average height for a male in Quebec is only slightly taller than that and just about half the guys on our local NHL team are barely that height even today.
   And indeed many female officers appear to be less than that even today.
   Perhaps we should take that spot on Notre Dame and make it the local capital of height discrimination.
   I feel deeply because I am a short man trapped in an average-height-guy's body.
   The man died, that day, August 21, 1914.

Quiz - help..where was this?

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  It's entitled 1909 Champs de Mars, which is that big field adjacent to the Montreal City Hall that was used as a parking lot fr several decades.
   Can't quite place where precisely this would be.
   My only theory is that it could be a park slightly to the west where at least one of those two church spires still until at least 1947. 

Q-where was this?

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