Coolopolis

Recollection time for Francoise Guimond, 29, who was savagely murdered by a man she had just met in Miami in March 1968.
Guimond was a waitress from Dolbeau Quebec who met a hippie named James Henninger.
They went back to what she thought was his place at 3515 E Glencoe in Miami .
After their intimate interlude he stabbed her to death, later claiming that he was disoriented when he saw her pick up a knife, thinking perhaps she was going to come at him.
In fact, his gruesome knifework left no doubt about his intentions.
Henninger fled in a Cadillac but was caught after the guy watching the house told police that Henninger had previously assaulted him.
Henninger, who was described as a shirtless long haired bearded hippie, was sentenced to death but I'm not convinced it wasn't commuted..
Among the items left in Guimond's purse was an unsent postcard back home that read:“Having a wonderful time on the beach here. Hope to find a boy."

Developer Mario Di Palma's epic lawsuit against the city is finally done with after seven years.
Di Palma sued the city for forcing him to demolish a fourth-storey addition to a condo project downtown.
The marathon trial required 27 days before a judge who eventually issued a 47,000 word verdict shooting down Di Palma's claim for compensation.
The epic saga began in October 2005 when Di Palma purchased a former shoe factory at Viger and Amherst. He paid $650,000 cash for the three storey industrial structure – without any inspection - and got a balance of sale of $1.3 million at a steep 15 percent interest rate, which meant he was hard-pressed to make some money on this deal. He submitted a quickie architectural plan to the city, with a plan to add an extra floor.
Thus began a long-term back-and-forth between Di Palma and bureaucrats and politicians who noted that the fourth floor didn't conform with zoning rules and that if he wanted to try to change it he'd have to apply to certain local decision-making bodies.
In short, Di Palma had to navigate a complicated bureaucratic landscape and wagered that he'd eventually get the go-ahead to proceed.
So he went ahead and built the fourth floor and the city declared it illegal.
The construction site was shut down. He went to court for an injunction.
Di Palma met with a city official to try to settle the issue but that meeting was a disaster.
The employee said that he felt threatened during the encounter because Di Palma said that he might not be as calm if he stops taking his medications.
The city worker complained to the police and a cop met Di Palma who did not open a file because he said Di Palma didn't seem to be intimidating at all and that Di Palma was literally on medication for Crohn's.
Di Palma then accused the city of giving him the wrong information about an upcoming council meeting as an intentional method of keeping him out.
He was forced to demolish the fourth floor in early 2007.
In September 2007 Di Palma launched his $7.5 million lawsuit against the city, a bureaucrat and Borough Mayor Benoit Labonte saying that he unfairly influenced borough council against his project.
Countless other incidents and characters were involved in the lengthy case that would simply take too long to analyze and repeat but the upshot is that the condo building is now only a three-storey affair.
The story showcases the disaster that sometimes results from the clash of cultures between business folk and bureaucrats.
Surely there are lessons to be derived from what ultimately turned out to be a massive waste of time and court proceedings sparked by the city's nitpicky insistence at keeping an extra floor of a building that probably would not have harmed anybody.

Quite unexpectedly Madeline Saucier became an internationally-acclaimed artist when she was stricken with illness at this home on De Maisonneuve at age 22.

Saucier was born in 1925 and attended Villa Maria where she studied art. One day, aged 22, she was confined to bed in a lengthy battle against illness at 4212 De Maisonneuve in Westmount, so she started fashioning a little piece of artwork to pass the time.

Grape woman, a bronze of a girl with grapes in her hair, was showcased at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City where it drew praise from syndicated columnist L.L. Stevenson.
The bust was later displayed at a jewelry store in New York where it received more praise.

Who owns it now or what it even looks like remain a mystery
Saucier went on to a high-profile career as a dollmaker and in the 60s her historical dolls were exposed at Stewart Hall, Disneyland and Expo 67.
Apparently the market for her goods are not all that great, as one of her pieces has attracted only one bid since being listed on Ebay for $10.
She'd be in her late 80s if still alive. She married war veteran and financier Andre Morin, who died in 1961 and mothered Andre Morin Jr. born in 1953.

Photo re-enactment (not the actual people involved)

Veteran judge Michelle Pauze recently presided over a contentious case of alleged racism at a Sears outlet at the Galeries Joliette.
Two Muslim Algerian immigrants, Ratiba Boudebouz and Hamida Khammar sued Sears at the Human Rights Tribunal for $40,000 and $35,000 respectively after being tossed from the store by security guards on June 13, 2010.
Boudebouz, who moved to Canada in 2006, was wearing a Muslim veil, but Khammar was not.
Khammar was pregnant and had some health issues, which led the two to take a rest, sitting on a furniture display at the store while their sons, 6 and 2, climbed onto tractors nearby.

A store attendant asked them to get their kids off the tractors. Boudebouz noted that she didn't understand why the kids couldn't do what they were doing and noted that there was no sign forbidding it.
According to store employees, Boudebouz asked if she was being targeted because they were Muslim.
Boudebouz said that the employees told her to return to her country if she didn't like the rules. They denied ever saying such a thing.
The argument escalated and a security guard escorted the two mothers and their two sons out.
Boudebouz returned and demanded the names of the employees.
She called her husband (a pediatrician at the local hospital), called 911, called a store manager and later filed a complaint with the help of CRARR at the Tribunal.
The story made headlines in various news outlets when the two filed a suit against Sears in 2013.
The court noted a few inconsistencies with the complaint, noting that Boudebouz wrote at one time that the employee told three of them to go back to their country but elsewhere she reported that he said it separately.
The judge also noted that Boudebouz used terms such as “savage act of aggression” and “barbaric attack” that they were “pushed violently” “several times,” in her complaint but the video imagery didn't support those descriptions, according to Pauze.
One employee, who is gay, seemed to think that Boudebouz might have made a limp-wrist gesture, mocking his homosexuality.
The employees admitted that they weren't very polite and might have spoken disrespectfully, frankness which the judge appreciated.
After hearing the case through four days last December and another day in January, issued a judgment on May 26 dismissing the case.

A legal battle that escalated when parents violated a deal not to comment on an out-of-court-settlement has led to more pain as Justice Francois Duprat has ordered Hagop Artinian and Kathryn Rosenstein to pay $1.012,327, plus an additional $13,000 in legal fees to former Roslyn School teacher Mary Kanavaros.

The conflict began when the parents Artinian and Rosenstein sued teacher Mary Kanavaros for what they said was beahviour that humiliated and intimidated their child in 2005.
Both sides settled in 2008.
Part of the deal was that neither side would comment on the issue but the parents made the mistake of telling a journalist that they felt vindicated by the decision.
The teacher suffered major stress and stopped working and sued the couple - represented by Julius Grey - for slander in 2010.
Kanavaros was awarded $234,000, partly due to lost wages.
The parents attempted to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
In January 2013 Kanavaros sued for almost $1 million more.
And yesterday she was awarded $912,327 for lost wages and a $100,000 for damages.
I don't know if that amount is on top of the $234,000 ruling previously decided, but either way it's a pretty solid pile of cash.

Five reasons arts funding should be shifted from classical music to pop music

1-Unlike classical music, people listen to, purchase and pay attention to pop music Some claim to like classical music because they think it makes them look intelligent but do you see them sleeping out for chamber music tickets? Classical music only gets played on radio to help quell road rage. Nobody wants to hear that harpsichord.

2-Pop music puts a city on the tourist map What Nirvana did for Seattle. What Prince did for Minneapolis. What Gamble and Huff did for Philly. That.
3-Classical music has no more cultural value than pop music Desperate cummerbund-wearing classical music types once convinced parents that babies became more intelligent when exposed to Brahms music. It doesn't work.
4- Wealthy people can pay for their own live music like the rest of us Boston's symphony has an endowment fund of over $140 million, Chicago's is over $100 million. If the rich want their culture paid for, let them pay for it.
5-More bang for the buck with pop musicians. Orchestras pay hefty full-time salaries to a few classically-trained virtuosos. With the same cash we could fund countless more pop musicians by offering free jam space and studio time. Let 'em keep their day jobs. Hell, amateur hockey, soccer, cultural centres all get funded by government but long-haired guitar soloists don't get a nickel, even though they might actually create some financial and cultural value.

How are your toes feeling?
If you're old and once went to Jerry's shoe store on Queen Mary, they might be falling off. That store was one of those shops that favoured an awesome X-Ray technology that allowed you to see the bones in your feet below the shoes you were trying on.

It's a rare case of a cool technology actually disappearing.
Solid confirmation that blasting one's toesies with radiation might not be a great idea only came about in 1960 or so.
The fear of course, was that people would get various types of cancers or genetic mutations through exposure to radiation but according to Wikipedia the longstanding gimmick never led to any complaints or lawsuits.
So yours will be the first. Tracking down Jerry might be troublesome as the store has not existed since at least 1970. (Thx to Bill Conrod's Memories of Snowdon in the 50s for the tip).
Eaton's had one too (1931, 1938) and surely other shoes shops in Montreal did as well.

Jacqueline Laurent-Auger, now 73, has been fired from teaching at posh Brebeuf School where she taught theatre for 15 years because she appeared nude in a few risque European films in the 70s, although never - from what we can see - doing anything particularly graphic on camera.

Judging from her IMDB page, Laurent - who is from Quebec - first appeared in TV movies at around age 27, in 1969, transitioning to more risque films three years later with Dany La Ravageuse where - in this bits we saw - she appears fully-frontally naked and smooches.
She's naked (although always wearing a thick swathe of lower-body fur) in Journal Intime d'un nyphomane (Diary of a Nymphomaniac 1973) but only a few minutes of that film are easily found so we can't evaluate her entire body of work.
Perhaps her best-known work was shot when she was aged 33 to 38, notably in a pair of Swedish films and one made in France: Ta Mej i Dalen (Country Life 1977) Nathalie Escape from Hell (1978) and Swedish Sex Games (1975).
Laurent had large roles, suggesting that she was near the top of her Euro-pulp film hierarchy.
As you can see in the collage of images from her Swedish farm drama, Laurent was called on to show some acting chops while lesser actors were designated for the graphic sex scenes involving penetration and oral sex.
In the climactic scene (see collage) Laurent changes her mind about killing her cheating boyfriend in an epiphany expressed through extensive facial contortions.
Naughty boyfriend then comes down, runs his fingers over furry lower mane and they hump.

The dirty bits aren't shown up close so the penetrative plausible deniability remains intact.
In Swedish Sex Games she is similarly emotionally abused and even begs on her knees naked for her loutish drunken wide-lapelled curly-haired Swedish hunk to keep her. Concealed humping and subsequent rejection ensues.
But once again, her scenes are far from graphic.
There's plenty of real genuine dramatic fully-clothed acting scenes to round the business out, so let's say it's at least 50 percent acting and 50 percent sex-related titillation.
A 36-year-old Laurent doesn't strip down a whole lot from what I can see in her prominent but relatively-tame role as a Nazi dominatrix in Nathalie Fugitive from Hell (1978) except for a scene where a prisoner touches her boobs and Laurent slaps her. Laurent stands around brandishing a whip and sporting the standard-issue sexy S and M kit (pts. 1,and 2)
She told the journal de Montreal that she did the films because she the money at the time.

But she offered a more spirited defence to Radio Canada.

"I contributed to moral emancipation and the fact that young people enjoy so much freedom of expression these days is partly because of the path that men and women like myself opened."
Another arts prof made the point in the same article that it's difficult for an actor to become a teacher because the two worlds have different ethical codes. "In art anything goes," said Lucie Villeneuve of UQAM.
Someone get a film-festival going in her honour please. Impresarios, get on it!

What started out - and should have ended - as an innocuous street bravado conflict on a summer night in St. Laurent ended up leading to two deaths and much more collateral damage.

Wendell Small, 21, killed

The story begins when Philip Bird, a 22-year-old from Pierrefonds, met a woman named Heidi Koula at a park and offered to drive her back to her home in St. Laurent at about midnight on August 12, 1985.

Du College metro

Not far from their destination, Bird stopped his 1976 Pontiac Parisienne at a red light outside of the metro station at Decarie and Du College.
Many people were outside at the corner that night, including a bunch waiting for the 118 bus.
Carl White, a former boxer, stepped to the car to chat with Koula, who he knew.
Their little chat left Bird - who had consumed six beers and smoked hashish - irritated and he got out of his car to confront Wright and a crowd of mostly young black males.
"I can take that girl away from you," Wright told Bird.
"Fuck you boy," replied Bird, a phrase which carried a racist overtone.
Shawn Rogers intervened to advise Bird to get back in his car.
But then White tossed a plank from a nearby construction area at Bird's car.
Rocks and a steel bar were also apparently tossed at his car.
Humans, as we know, don't much enjoy having their car attacked and Bird was no exception.

He drove off but veered around to take a U-turn to return to the scene.

Magalie Joachim, 18, killed

Koula, still in the car, asked to get out but Bird ignored the request, so she helpless covered her eyes as he accelerated towards the crowd.

Bird's idea was to scare the people who had taunted him and attacked his car by slamming on his brakes just in time to avoid calamity.
As we have seen elsewhere in this city, speeding towards somebody and stopping just before impact is a lousy idea idea that can easily lead to tragedy.
Before he came close, one man entered the road wielding a sign he had picked up and was ready to toss, as if expecting Bird to come around. The man dashed out of the car's path when he saw it speeding towards him.
Bird's lawyer later claimed that the car failed to stop because it skidded over the assorted debris that the young men had tossed at his car.
Bird drove straight into the crowd, killing Magalie Joachim, 18, and Wendell Small, 21.
Sophia Brown, 7, and Mandy Menshick, 14, were seriously injured as well.

Philip Bird

Joachim was not at all involved in the dispute and was only there because she had driven to the metro to drop friends off after watching a fireworks display.
Small had been at a nearby restaurant with his younger brother and he left to go out side in order to talk to a girl.
Bird came out and expressed shock at the result of his recklessness.
Witnesses Christine Vibert, Alphonsus Linthorne, Gisele Gagne and Shawn Rogers were among the many people who saw the awful event up close.
The two bodies remained pinned under the vehicles for three hours after the incident.

Bird was brought to prison and was originally to be charged with first degree murder but a jury reduced that to manslaughter and criminal negligence. He was sentenced to 7 1/2 years but even that was further reduced.

The story does not end there, however.

Sean Small, 19, was also on the scene and saw his brother killed.

He was so shocked that he was unable to speak to utter a word to his mother Margery Marshall to recount that his brother had been killed.
Sean's life did not go well after that incident.
Justice Dionysia Zerbisias later called Small a hardened unrepentant and violent criminal.
Almost exactly 13 years after his brother was killed, Sean Small was walking in NDG with his new girlfriend Tina Diaz on August 22, 1998.

Koulas, seen in a recent photo, was trapped in the car

They had been arguing loudly inside the Stripes bar on St. James St. W and continued their bickering in the street walking home.
Police asked them about their dispute but then allowed them to continue to their home on Beaconsfield.
Once inside Sean Small, by now 32, jabbed Diaz, 18, in the chest with a sharp object.
He brought her to St. Mary's Hospital in a taxi at 4:30 a.m. and left.
She died 10 hours later, as surgery to repair the perforation in her heart failed.
She refused, or was unable, to report what had happened.
On January 3, 1999 Sean Small was sentenced to life in prison for murder with a minimum jail time of no less than 10 years in prison, so there's a good chance that he is out of prison now.
The only glimpse of goodness that came out of this series of disasters? A charitable foundation to help Haiti was later launched in the memory of Magalie Joachim.

This triplex, built in 1925 at 4833 de Grandpre (now a coop and evaluated at $640,000!) once hosted unfathomable tragedy.

The geography was not kind to Victor Benson and his wife nor their five children: Bernard, (b. 1921) Johnnie, (b. 1937), Jeanette, (b. 1935), Phoebe (b. 1939) and Barbara (b. c. 1922).
Within the decade In a short span of time after moving into the building in 1939, three of the kids would die and the father would be seriously burnt, all in four separate calamities.
Benson, who worked at the Montreal Locomotive Works in the power house, saw the first heartbreak when eldest son Bernard, then aged 24, was killed in battle at the Invasion of Normandy in June 1944. The young soldier was cited for valour.

Johnnie Benson, murdered on Mt. Royal

And then John, aged just nine years old, was killed in one of the city's most shocking deaths, as he bled to death after being was sexually molested and stabbed and buried in the snow on the Park Ave. side of Mount Royal on February 24, 1945.
The boy loved the mountain and knew his way around it well. On that afternoon he left his home on De Grandpre at around 2 p.m. to ski on the mountain and visit the grave of his recently-deceased uncle.
He apparently came across Rolland Charles Chasse, 43, an unemployed homeless man living at the Meurling shelter.
Chasse had a habit of photographing children and then luring them back at a later date with prints of the photos he took.
John was found dead, sporting his Habs sweater. He had been bound, stabbed and buried in the snow. Another little boy located his body a couple of hours later.
Edward Collins, 38, confessed to the crime but he was not deemed credible and was transferred to an insane asylum.
Police interviewed about 150 people before receiving a tip fingering Chasse on an anonymous postcard send from the shelter.
They could not find the potential witness who sent the card in spite of a $100 reward.
Chasse - who had previously been arrested for loitering - was woken at the refuge and arrested by officers Allain and Fitzpatrick on April 18, 1945.

Bernard Benson, killed in battle

They showed him photos of the event, then turned off the lights and one of the officers imitated the boy crying. He denied any involvement. This lasted about six hours.
About 36 hours after being arrested Chasse was questioned anew, on a very empty stomach and he finally confessed to the crime after overhearing the officers threaten to bring him to a certain "Dr. Plouffe."
According to his confession, Chasse – who had enlisted for the war effort but was released due to his physical condition – complimented the boy on his skis and then walked with him to the second gully on the mountainside, (about half a mile from Park Ave.) then tripped him, kicked him in the face, stabbed him in the groin with a pocketknife (the fatal wound) and then sexually assaulted the boy as he bled to death.
Chasse, a thin, greying and balding ex-con later said that he only confessed because he feared that he would be beaten.
His confession was deemed legal and he was found guilty by jury in June, in spite of a dogged effort from his legal team that included Jean Drapeau. An appeal failed and Chasse was sentenced to hang. He was hanged by the neck until dead at Bordeaux prison on February 15, 1946.
The next tragedy to strike the beleagured family occurred when Barbara sister, then aged 23 died of pneumonia sometime between 1945 and 1948.
And finally on January 8, 1948 their home was slammed by a blast and fire. Father Victor suffered life-threatening wounds, including a broken jaw and perforated chest. We assume he survived.

It took six years but Giovanni D'Amico has finally been found guilty in a court of law for attacks and sexual assaults on street sex workers after first being arrested over six years ago. He faces 14 years in prison.

The trial took a long time, possibly because the defence attorneys hoped that the witnesses might forget, or die or move away or something, if the case dragged on.
Someone with knowledge of the case told me that one of the sex workers did indeed pass away in the years since, which isn't that shocking considering that the crimes were committed between 2002 and 2007.
D'Amico was an upbeat guy with a go-getter attitude who knew a lot of people.
He did not appear to have any alcohol, drug, or psychological issues that anybody ever noticed.
I was acquainted with him through a third party, although I probably bumped into him only a couple of times after 2000.
He would often talk exuberantly about his great apartment somewhere near say Sherbrooke and Grand (I never visited) where I believe he he said he lived with his sister.
I never heard Giovanni D'Amico mention prostitution, which he apparently boasted elsewhere of having some expertise in.
Being interested in prostitution was a bizarre hobby for a few men at that time.
I once wrote a long profile on a tall, affable Verdun guy whose main hobby lay in roaming city streets and mingling extensively with street prostitutes and then telling others of his low-cost conquests.
Street prostitution was a going concern in Montreal up until relatively recently, as sex workers would converge on corners such as Notre Dame and St. Remi, and Charlevoix and Wellington and Verdun and Church (much to my frustration as I owned property there).
Some argue that street hookers are still around but have simply been displaced. Police say otherwise, however. Seems to be an uncelebrated urban triumph that this tawdry and dangerous practice has been radically diminished.

Sylvain Lefebvre's unlikely campaign to rename the Laval West Arena after journeyman NHL forward Harland Monahan, who moved away from the Montreal area over 40 years ago, never to return, has succeeded.
After years of raising interest in the cause through social media, lobbying and presenting a petition with an impressive 900 signatures, Laval city council greenlighted the name switch in September.
A ceremony is expected in February or March.

Monahan's parents still live in the area but Hartland has been living in the States since 1971 when he started with Baltimore of the AHL.
He starred with the Laval Saints in 1968-1969 before spending two years with the Junior Canadiens who played at the Forum.
Monahan, known for his unhelmeted curly mane, was a fourth round choice by the California Golden Seals, 43rd overall in the 1971 NHL Entry Draft, back in a time when pretty much only junior players from Canada were drafted.
He scored 61 goals in 334 games in his seven year career with a half dozen teams.
After hockey he settled about a half an hour north of Atlanta and worked as a manager at UPS after retirement.
He is now also retired from UPS at age 53 and works with an online charity donation site.
The woman on his home answering machine says "have a blessed day."
His son Shane had to quit hockey as a kid after the only rink in town closed. Shane excelled at baseball and played briefly on the Seattle Mariners.
Lefebvre writes that his campaign was inspired by the fact that Monahan was the only resident of the western Laval area to make the NHL.
Monahan has repeatedly expressed appreciation for the effort.
Former NHL superstar sniper Mike "Don't Call me Michel" Bossy has an arena named after him further north in Laval. But some average players have arenas named after them, notably in the form of the Francis Bouillon arena, which was rechristened after long carrying the name of Raymond Prefontaine.

Indira Pintal in a recent photo

Indira Pintin, then 8 and dad Miguel

Uplifting story about an immigrant family that overcame intense financial hardship after arriving in Montreal from Central America.

Gloria Pintin and her husband Miguel Pintin left war-torn El Salvador in 1982 and moved here with their daughters Indira, born in 1976 and Amena born 1977.
Their poverty was so intense that in 1984 they could barely afford their shabby apartment at Sherbrooke and Frontenac. Mom was a cleaner and dad struggled to find work.
The family was deemed ineligible for subsidized housing because their landed immigrant status was pending.
Many who read about their plight might have assumed that the family had been launched into an inescapable cycle of multi-generational poverty.
But fast forward 30 years and little Indira has not only thrived, she has excelled, having graduated McGill and become a Certified Business Analyst Professional.
In spite of the oppressive poverty the family ensured that academic studies be a priority.
"You have no idea how I was raised to be a hard worker and I really had - and still have - to work much harder to get to where I am and will be," Indira Pintal told Coolopolis.
"As a child I couldn't understand what my parents were going through nor why would my parents push me so hard to achieve things on my own. They even propelled me all the way to my McGill University graduation to a very successful career and life with my husband and two wonderful kids," she told Coolopolis.
"Now as a mother, I wouldn't hesitate to do the same for my kids. I totally get it," she says.

Kimveer Gill, left and Rajiv Rajan

Pierrefonds resident Rajiv Rajan, who was close friends with 2006 Dawson rampage shooter Kimveer Gill, has posted these photos to his Twitter account.

Rajan has reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was quoted in an excellent newspaper report as having taken some responsibility for the fatal shooting incident which left one dead and 19 injured.
He said that Gill was "easy to psychologically manipulate."
Gill killed himself at the shooting after being shot in the arm.
According to the article, Rajan's response to learning of the attack was that he was "looking at myself in the mirror," and "laughing hysterically."

He was reportedly placed in what was once known as the Pinel Institute for the Criminally Insane for a month following Gill's shooting.
The only serious crime Rajan appears to ever have committed was the theft of an ambulance.
Rajan remains active on social media and sometimes takes to YouTube to create videos in which he simply talks into the camera, often reading encyclopedia-style online texts on such subjects as schizophrenia and the Canadian Criminal Code for several minutes at a time.

This morning the Pierrefonds resident also posted some items on his Facebook page, including images from the 911 bombings and Denis Lortie's attack on the National Assembly in 1984, perhaps not a great idea following a pair of terrorist attacks in Canada.
The dates of these photos are unknown, but of course the photo at the top featuring Gill was taken prior to September 2006.
It might be worth noting that Rajan is believed to be a Sikh, so no Islamic stuff can be imputed into this.

He has also posted photos of what appears to be him having sex with a blonde woman. 1, 2, 3.

Mado staff final night after 40 years as a strip club

Chez Mado, a throwback old-time peeler joint on Pie IX, complete with epic retro motel-style sign out front was shut down and demolished four months ago but questions linger about the events that led to its closure.

But first a little history.
The 1965 building was purchased 52 years ago by Madeleine Giroux, who sold her home for $11,000 to buy the property and open a snack bar to earn enough money to raise her young daughters.
A mini-putt and swimming pool out back helped turn the ramshackle joint popular and it became a magnet for minor celebrities in a fast-growing Montreal North.
In 1967 Madeleine obtained an alcohol permit and sold her car so she could buy a big supply of booze.
There was an orchestra and ballroom dancing below while the family lived upstairs.

Madeleine "Mado" Giroux

In 1972 the doorman persuaded Madeleine and her daughter Lison to allow pasty-and-panties dancing in during the day.
The format proved so popular that the entire upstairs was gutted and transformed into a full-time peeler joint in 1974.
Madeleine sold the business to ex-cops Maurice Lacroix and Normand Beauchamp in 1976.
Daughter Lison stayed on as an employee and remained until its final closure.
More recently, according to reports, the borough frowned upon the place and pleaded with owner James Kouri to repurpose the building. Two years ago he finally agreed and the demolition took place in June.
The city councillor for the area, Monica Ricourt is a Haitian-born Montrealer first voted into power in 2009. I have not managed to speak to her as of yet (and don't expect a call back because Transit Committee members often claim to be too busy to return calls.)
If indeed the borough frowned upon this place, what - if any - enticement or pressure-style measures were taken to encourage the demolition?

Mado Giroux (photo from courrierdeportneuf)

A nearly-completed residential project has been built on the site. It's clearly a commercial strip, so a look at the zoning question might also be of interest.
I visited the club before it closed and had a delightful conversation with a coffee coloured bikini-clad young woman about some shady local characters she had met. The doorman was quite friendly and the place was packed.
A perusal of the merb.ca sex consumer discussion forum (which seems to have mysteriously disappeared from the internet) and a peek at photos on social media also suggest that there was nothing sinister about the place other than young women making some money and young men being entertained.
As we've recounted on this site, several politicians have ongoing campaigns against strip clubs and massage parlours. Indeed one person on my Facebook page crowed recently about having persuaded councillor Jeremy Searle to pressure an NDG massage parlour to close, even though there had been no evidence of its causing any disturbance.

Should cities fund and build sporting facilities for residents? If so, which ones? And to what degree?
The question is simple but important and yet there appears to be a massive void when it comes to a formal process to answer these questions.

The lack of guidelines to evaluate what sports services to provide allows various city officials to make arbitrary - and often costly and inexplicable - decisions that often end up in tears.
The latest of these is the St. Michel soccer complex, which will now cost at least $40 million, far higher than the original estimate when the project was approved by Mayor Tremblay. (No big surprise if you see how many well-paid experts they have talking in that video above - Chimples)
Consider that the ambitious double-underground rink/outdoor pool project in Westmount cost the same.
In the case of Westmount, voters were invited to oppose the scheme but failed to do so in adequate numbers, even though many argued that an indoor pool would be used by far more people than a second rink.
Indeed the question is legit: should a city fund a facility that only a tiny fraction of its residents will ever use? If so, what's the numerical formula, 3 percent, 11 percent?
The cost paid by taxpayers for sports facilities is also often more than financial. City parks are often carved up and sacrificed for various sports associations whose players mostly don't live anywhere near the area, at the expense of local residents who do.
But to what extend should nearby residents have a say in the nature of the park? In Cote St. Paul recently a group of citizens blocked a new artificial turf field even though it would have had several advantages over the grass.
That may or may not have been a good decision but the process that led to the decision was – as always – haphazard and unguided by any sports zoning code.
Psychology dictates that people go along with a crowd and a councillor – when ambushed by a demand from what seems like a significant group – will simply give in without thinking that the vast majority of those who aren't present or being consulted might vigorously oppose the project.
So while it might look democratic, public consultations are often not because the silent majority doesn't get consulted.
That's why it's absolutely essential to create sports-funding guidelines.
Another example of the disaster that can occur in the absence of such guidelines: in Oxford Park 14,000 square feet of green space were paved over and fenced off with provincial government funds and the local councillor's approval, simply because some obscure group showed up to a council meeting and asked for it.
Had any real discussion or research been put in prior that, better solutions could be have been found, for example the creation of courts on an already-paved city site further west, without cost to any of the all-to-rare green space in the area.
Later in NDG a popular gymnastics club called Flex Arts was closed by the borough, which declined to renovate the building, at the very time that they were pouring vast sums into sprucing up a hockey area a few blocks.
Why the mainly-male attendant ice rink was deemed worthy of funding while the mainly female gymnastics centre was not remains a mystery.
And while there are internationally-accepted rules of thumb for such urban planning issues as green space – where a rough acreage-to-population rule exists - there appears to e a void when it comes to questions about sports funding.
The current system will only lend itself to more improvisation and incoherency.
Mayor Coderre - who was once a federal Sports Minister – should appoint someone (I'll do it, if asked) to head a committee to create sports funding guidelines.
Over the years many myths have gone unchallenged concerning the nature of sports. In the States the Midnight Basketball program was funded based on the idea that black males would be getting into crime if they weren't played basketball.
But then again maybe if they weren't encouraged to play basketball those same people would have been at home studying how to repair motors or reading books to their children?

Con U's soccer roof cost only $4 million

As for the way-too-expense soccer sports complex, another alternative could cost one tenths as much.
A few years ago Concordia paid just $4 million to install a removable roof over an artificial turf surface.
Indeed such roofs could be installed over countless tennis courts, soccer fields to make facilities usable year round but once again, neighbours might object to having a massive tempo in their local park for six months per year.
Guidelines are necessary to know how to deal with such questions when they arise.
Currently the only legal precedent that I can think of to deal with such questions was a residents' failed legal challenge to block the installation of fenced-off plastic field on Fletcher's field, which has left the door open for cities and boroughs to do whatever they wish.

This is not Pia Grillo

An important verdict was rendered in Montreal's small claims court, as Maria Pia Grillo has been awarded just under $2,500 from the internet giant for having shown her on Google Street View.
In the image, taken in October 2009, Grillo was shown sitting on her stairs looking down at her phone.
The image also failed to blur her license plate number. The car door was still open so it would be easy to make the connection between herself and the car out front.
She reports that the image led others at her workplace to mock her and make inappropriate reference to the way her chest appeared in the picture.
Grillo said that the situation led her to a mental state that caused her to leave work and she eventually switched jobs.
She wanted to sue for $45,000. But presumably to avoid legal costs she opted instead to represent herself and lower than demand to $7,000, the maximum allowable amount at small claims court.
The judge partially awarded her in the decision.
In his verdict Justice Alain Breault referenced the famous Aubry case which has been discussed several times on this site.

The lovely folks at the Bar Net will be keeping their clothing on.
Due to a recent court ruling, there will be no stripping at the local strip mall for the marthelacquois of Ste. Marthe, a fast-growing town of 15,000 between St. Eustache and Oka.
Sylvie Courville's Bar Net opened on Oka Blvd nine years ago. As well as being a joint to grab a beer and play some pool, it was also occasionally a place to attend such events as fashion shows and karaoke performances.
She applied for permission to switch those shows to the nude variety in 2009. The provincial RACJ booze authorities didn't seem to mind and the town told her in writing in 2009 that no bylaw forbade any such transformation.
But a few weeks later the town passed a new zoning rule outlawing any such peeler clubs in that area, as there are apparently school kids somewhere in the area who might be shocked while looking out the window of their yellow buses.

Sylvie Courville

So Courville did nothing for the next 31 months. In 2012 she challenged the decision, arguing that her bar had earned acquired right to put on shows. A judge had, after all, sided with a country music club that had a sought to make a similar transformation in another case.
Courville sued the town for a reversal of the strip club ban, describing it as discriminatory and abusive.
A judge, after considering all of the evidence, rejected Courville's arguments in a verdict handed down October 15 and now the clothes will have to stay on.

So...how do you like our prices?
In 1988 a cell phone you connect into your car cost $1,400 at Radio Shack here in Montreal.
The same store sold the Michael Douglas Wall Street brick portable version for $2,500.
To put that into perspective, at around the same time you could rent a small, heated apartment in the West Island for $230-month all included.
$4,900 in 1988 is equivalent to about $9,900 in today's currency.

Next time you're in the bathroom at work or in some other public facility, consider that it's possible that you're being watched by video cameras.

Video surveillance in a bathroom is "inappropriate," according to guidelines from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada but according to a veteran security guard at a downtown complex, interviewed by Coolopolis, cameras could be pointed at the area that does not contain the toilet stalls.

Don't do anything too private in that public washroom

According to the guard: "Cameras look at the toilet 'hall' usually. Not in the stalls. If it's a single toilet there's no camera, maybe one outside looking at the door. Incidentally those are usually the ones in the cases of toilet smooching. I've caught couples and hooker/client fucking multiple times," he writes.

Other points about the life of a downtown security guard, in his words:

You're more of a walking information kiosk. Sometimes shit hits the fan and you're suddenly a fireman, first responder or somewhat policeman though. You have to gauge if it is secure enough for yourself and your client to proceed with whatever situation that presents itself. Always remember that you're the eyes, ears and brain of the client while on site. You're not really (duh, no shit) a fireman, paramedic or policemen, simply an agent of the owner and everything you do is in his behalf. Most agents will be a simple walking radio with eyes and ears. Some though, mostly in high-value buildings, will be trained agents with extensive training in close intervention, fire prevention and advanced first aid. Usually those guys are easily identified by wearing 'the belt'' with Kevlar gloves, medical gloves, cuffs and a flashlight. Seems stupid but it means that the clients trusts its agents to pay for the liability those things will incur in case of an intervention. They consider you are worth the money, everything is about the money.

Interventions. Do I arrest this screwdriver-wielding hobo with my two or three fellow agents or do I contain him while waiting for police? Will police arrive soon or will I be waiting an hour? In the case of a theft the owner of the shop needs to himself press charges for us to arrest and summon police, which means that a wise agent won't go all-out for a simple theft. With experience you know you'll catch the guy, get him to cough up the stolen goods, go back to the shop and be told ''nah I'm not losing a day in court over this... hey but wait guys, why don't you arrest him? Guys? He's a criminal!'' Ugh.

Fire. Is it safe to attack with an extinguisher or do I need to evacuate this section/the whole building? It's more than ''just being safe'' as time is money and if the threat can be contained while it remains safe to continue with normal operations in the office towers you could be out of a job tommorrow for being the dumbass who evacuated thousands of people for nothing. But that's the job of the supervisor on site to assess and determine wether or not to proceed.

Cameras. Boring. Essential. Drink lots of water, better than coffee to stay sharp during the night.

Elevator smooching. Yes. Parking smooching, backstore smooching, office smooching, stairs smooching, hobo smooching, toilet smooching (ew).

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Chez Mado on Pie IX - why was it closed and demolished?

Sporting facilities - how should cities decide which ones to build?

Montrealer wins lawsuit against Google over Street View

Legal verdict: no stripping at the Ste. Marthe strip mall

What a deal! Two cell phones for just $5,000!

Do you really think that are no cameras in public washrooms?