Neo-Nazis on Mount Royal: Hitler heel-clicking in swinging 60s Montreal

November 13, 2015, 5:10 pm

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These days Mount Royal just west of St. Denis is a pretty good spot to get a drink, but in the swinging sixties the spot once had another considerably more sinister vocation.
Sock it to me! Peace and Love! Tie dye! Austen Powers! Hippies! Flares! Long hair!
Montreal's neo-Nazis were having none of that in the 60s.
Here is a description from Duplessis Orphan activist Rod Vienneau about his encounter with a neo-Nazi meeting around 1964.

I was living in Montreal on Henri Julien St, this certain night, took a walk down Mont Royal to St Denis, was standing in front of the Banque National which was at the direct corner of Mont Royal and St Denis, looking towards the mountain. I started walking on the south side, there was a Spanish night club just next Boxer’s grocery store,

I stopped between both places, it was a Thursday or Friday, and it was at this place I noticed a lot of men going upstairs, a door between both stores but what I found weird, was every man entering was wearing a blue shirt. I stayed outside quiet sometime, when nobody else was coming in, I could hear a lot of rumble and yelling.

I went up, there was a small little glass that one could look in. I looked and saw maybe 75 or more men standing hitting their boots together like the Nazis, all together they would yell Heil Hitler! with their arm out facing the ones in front behind the table, maybe Adrien Arcand was there and their leader,

I couldn’t see the whole hall, but there was quite a few, something I noticed: the men had armbands. I didn’t notice any wearing them when they went in. They all had black boots army style at the time and they looked French.

So why on earth would Montreal have such a strong neo-Nazi/fascist group into the mid-60s?

Vienneau is interested because he believes that postwar Nazis had a strong influence on Quebec. He believes there to be a link between such figures as Camille Laurin, Denis Lazure and former Nazis and the nuns who ran the insane asylums where many Duplessis Orphans were forced to live.
Laurin and Lazure visited East Germany and might have had contact with former Nazis during their time in East Germany and then went on to work with nuns at a secretive insane asylum.
I can't much comment on his viewpoint.
However the neo-Nazi meeting on Mount Royal suggests that longtime local blue-shirt fascist leader Adrien Arcand - then about 75 - might have still been going strong even at that advanced age.
Arcand died a couple of years later during Expo 67,
But what could have possibly attracted Montrealers to Nazism during a period when rock and roll was starting to catch on and young people were letting their hair grow?
One possible factor might have been incredible poverty in Montreal. Some areas were practically starving while others were wealthy. Only a tiny percentage of Montrealers owned their homes and the quality of their apartments was often abysmal. Young women would routinely turn to prostitution to make ends meet.
Some of these injustices remain true today. But people have found solace in their TV programs and Internet games.
Arcand is not entirely forgotten. He is now seen as a buffoon, indeed a recent movie portrayed him in a comical fashion, with actor Haley Osment describing him as a "total nutcase."

Exactly where?

If you're obsessive about knowing exact locations, as I am, let us speculate together where exactly this meeting took place.
What is now the Boite Noire movie rental joint was a grocery store until about 2006. In the 60s it was known as Boxer's Groceries.
Right next door, adjacent to the west, was the Chateau Madrid Restaurant, which was a popular eatery from 1960 to the mid-70s.
The next building over was a dry goods store and then next one to the west - the Bily Kun brewpub as well as the show bar upstairs known as the O Patro Vys - sat vacant.
So the meeting was held in either what is now the O Patro Vys or one of the two upstairs places immediately to the east.

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Victim of Montreal police strip club beatdown tells his story

November 17, 2015, 4:47 pm

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As we have tragically learned, a night of revelry can quickly slip from festive bliss to panic, violence and tragedy.
Police are usually on the right side of this equation but one young Montrealer tells Coolopolis that the very people who he would expect to protect him savagely beat him for no reason while at a nightclub on Nov. 1.

Robert Stonescu seen here in a collage with Kama Sutra behind him

Robert Stonescu was with five friends celebrating his pal's 21st birthday at the cozy Kama Sutra Gentlemen's Club (You mean strip club no doubt - Chimples) when the mayhem began.
One of his friends reached out to grab the bottom of a performer, which is a clear violation of protocol in such establishments.

Stonescu had no part in his friend's action, which he describes as "stupid."
The doorman quickly interceded on behalf of the aggrieved woman in skimpy thong and and he ushered the young man out the door.

The rest of the group followed.
Meanwhile a group of policemen who had been standing inside the bar for over half an hour confronted the group as they stood near the entrance one St. Dominique just south of Prince Arthur.
Stonescu believes that one office mistakenly thought he had some involvement in the offending bum-grab

The offier targeted him by screaming in his face.
"C'est quoi ton hostie d'affaire?"
The young man parroted the cop by replying in a similar bellicose style.
The cop did not deem that an appropriate answer and hit Stonescu hard on the forehead with a left cross.
Another officer then joined in and police hit him four times altogether.

He said that one cop told him in French, "shut up or I'll kill you."

Stonescu saw another officer kick one of his companions without provocation and then push him to the ground and handcuff him.

Stonescu fled amid the mayhem but then worried that his flight might further provoke the enraged officers who he feared might even shoot him in the heat of the moment.

So he simply stopped and laid down on the sidewalk.
Police then punched and kicked Stonescu - who is small of stature - as he lay prone on the ground pleading for them to stop.
They then handcuffed him and marched him to a police cruiser, forcing his hands high above his back as he walked, loudly calling him "tapette" (faggot) as he walked.
The officers, members of the Eclipse squad, which aims to "combat violent crime," drove him a few blocks away and released him without charge.
The police officers did the same to his companions.
After he left the police car, Stonescu realized that his jacket, wallet and cell phone were still inside the police cruiser.
Stonescu was unable to reach his friends and ended up waiting from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. outside in the rain near the gas station at Sherbrooke and St. Lawrence, where the cashier would not allow him to enter.
Police instructed him to come to Mount Royal and St. Lawrence to collect his belongings but made no assurances how long he'd be there.

So he did not embark on the 17 minute walk in the rain.

Nor did he hop a cab because he was unsure the police would be there to give him his money back, which he needed to pay the driver.
After four hours of waiting police finally brought Stonescu his belongings.

He returned home to Laval where he went to see if he had suffered a concussion at a local hospital and to have his other bumps and bruises examined.
Stonescu -- who has no criminal background and who one friend Coolopolis describes as a "an amazing sweetheart," -- says he is still shocked and traumatized at what he endured.

He said he has taken steps to file a criminal complaint against the officers.
"It's my duty as a citizen. I said to myself that 'I'm not going to let this happen to another guy to get beaten up for nothing,' because next time they'll do it worse," he said.

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Montreal Vodka Bar: Borough orders Decarie establishment to shink popular longtime terrace

November 17, 2015, 5:44 pm

≫ Next: Montreal's Mocambo sweetheart: old photos shine light on east end nightclub joy

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Fans of a popular watering hole on Decarie are irritated that borough authorities have forced its owners to cut down the size of its popular terrace.
The Vodka and Company bar at 5055 Decarie (corner Dupuis) has long seduced passersby with a luscious terrace that proved an irresistible magnet (don't overdo it - Chimples) to people living and working in the area.
Elderly Israeli men would meet in the mornings for coffee, while Habs fans would gather to watch games on the big screen.
The terrace has existed for as long as anybody can remember.
Now many regulars who come to the establishment feel that the bar has become a shadow of its former self since the bar was forced to reduce its terrace to about one third of the old size.

The shrinkage was reportedly ordered by Snowdon borough councillor Marvin Rotrand.
Why?
The first few feet of land and adjoining a sidewalk technically belongs to the municipality, so the borough was legally able to order it cut down after many years.
The terrace area was heated and remained open in the winter but the canopy has been removed and what's left is now cold and barren.
"It has killed the charm of the place," said one former regular.
Management declined to answer questions about the affair when contacted by phone Tuesday afternoon.

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Montreal's Mocambo sweetheart: old photos shine light on east end nightclub joy

November 22, 2015, 3:56 pm

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A set of photos featuring a cheeful woman posing with friends in the sprawling east end Mocambo bar at Notre Dame and Davidson shines a rare light on the high-spiritedness of the east end club that was around from 1948 to 1965.
The identity of the dark-haired woman posing in all of the photos remains unknown.
Was she a singer? A waitress? A customer?
So far nobody can say.
First some background on the Mocambo.

I've never seen a photo of the long-demolished building but it stood on the north side of Notre Dame E. just west of Davidson, an area now just lawns and bike paths.
The building was occupied by Danby appliances for about one year before being transformed into the Mocambo in 1948.
The bar had no cover charge but its overhead must have been very steep, so one might conclude that it served many a drink.
Here's a description of the shows from one night in 1960:

The cast stars Disc Star Ruth Brown who comes from American TV and Broadway to sing for Montreal cabaret goers. Claude Girardin is the master of ceremonies and he introduces on his bill Exotic Dancer Faith Gardner, the acrobatic team of The Mephistos and the trained dog team of Sonny Moore. Bob Lavoie and his Orchestra plays for the shows and the Big Benny Band plays for the intermission dance sets

So management had to pay an American act, an emcee, an exotic dancer, an acrobatic team, a dog show and two bands, on top of the usual bouncers, doormen, bartenders and waitresses.

All without charging cover.
Management was able to afford the high overhead partly by closing after hours and got into constant trouble for breaking the rules, narrowly avoiding having their entire booze stock confiscated in 1959. Manager Hyppolite Ross managed to prove that the club had a legit license and averted the raid.
That same year the club was described as a frequent offender when it came to violating the liquor laws but it had friends in power.
Celebrity wrestler Johnny Rougeau owned the joint, at least in name, and put a variety of other wrestlers on the payroll, including Gerard Duchesne, who wrestled under the name Gerry Bright.
Bright was busted for helping the Liberals rig an election and instead of being brought to the cop shop, police brought him to the Mocambo where Rougeau - who worked a chauffeur and fundraiser for a young Rene Levesque - dealt with the situation in 1960.
Rougeau and Duchesne were both charged with election offenses but that was considered a minor deal as he kept running the place, which frequently had to hustle to gets it booze license returned, including in 1960.
The club was known for featuring many French acts, including Alys Robi, but also faced competition from countless clubs offering similar fare including the Cafe de l'Est further east on Notre Dame.
The club disappeared sometime in late 1964 or early 1965.
Rougeau was still in his mid-30s by then. He would only live to age 54, felled by cancer in 1983.
In its twilight years, Rougeau's booze hall presented an impressive bill of Chubby Chcker with Frankie Lymon and the Ink Spos as well as Jennie Rock, an artist of the twist in May 1963..
The next year it hosted a relative unknown in the form of the 14-year-old Stevie Wonder.
More photos of the mystery woman below.

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Brilliant scrotum bag crowdfunder brings shame or glory to Montreal

November 23, 2015, 9:34 am

≫ Next: Moe's Corner Snack Bar: Montreal greasy spoon institution to close forever

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Montreal is the motor behind a lot of great ideas and the scrotum napsack is just the latest of them.
The company that is bringing this great bag to the world is at risk of not reaching its $33K US target on indiegogo.
They still need over 1/3 of that total within the next 20 days on their crowdfunding pitch.
Apparently there are more people amused by the sac than people who actually want to buy the bag.
How can you resist this pitch?

We've got every Supreme Court justice, every president every Dracula in the world with their scrote'n''tote. Where do we go from here? We sell out. We've got the Google scrotum with integrated GPS technology, the worldwide scrote boat. The best part of this part of our business plan is that it doesn't make any sense. that's why I want you to shut up and go into your crummy old non-scrotum school bag, pull out your wallet, and just send me the money. Don't think about it, just send me the money.

Daniel Bitton is the nut behind the sack. It was designed by his friend the prosthetic makeup artist C.J. Goldmaner.
So far the effort has sold 232 bags at $69, while 151 others have paid $10 for the rights to buy it for $69 later.

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Moe's Corner Snack Bar: Montreal greasy spoon institution to close forever

November 24, 2015, 11:24 pm

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Moe's Corner Snack Bar, a 24-hour greasy spoon at SE corner of Closse and De Maisonneuve is closing Dec. 7.
The landmark eatery was opened in 1958 and taken over two years later by 36-year-old Moe Sweigman,
Sweigman, from Halifax, worked the night shift while the El Morocco (later the Moustache) sat next door and the Canadiens played across the street, winning 10 Stanley Cups in the 18 years Sweigman ran it before selling out in 1978.

Sweigman was no fool, fathering a pair of genius sons and describing his operation in poetic terms.

His clients ranged, "from the Westmounters to the down-and-outer, the show people, the kids from the discos, waiters, barmaids, cops, taxi drivers, insomniacs and ladies of the night"
He posted 8 x 10 framed glossies of celeb visitors such as Sophie Tucker, Jack Carter an Jackie Mason but he tired of cleaning them and took them down.

He was philosophical about his departure.

Nobody's indispensable. People will still come here after I'm gone. As long as you sere good food at good prices, you can put a baboon behind the counter with a cigar in his mouth and they'll still eat. That's life.

Lee Thomas, a Greek, took over and brought his son Eddie Thomas and his blonde haired girlfriend. They parked their red Corvette in my father's parking lot next door where I worked. I was about 15. They were barely older than myself.

I gobbled down a hundred bacon and egg breakfasts with my father at the place, a spot where the noisy din kept him more subdued than usual, limiting his usual customary lengthy oratories.

Sometimes at the parking lot we'd have an issue with keys. We wanted to close up but still had customers' keys.

So we'd leave the keys at the cash at Moe's or the Texan for the customers to fetch.

I was always amazed that the cashiers never complained about being burdened with this thankless task of giving the keys back.

Later memories

In later years I'd come by on the occasional drunken post-clubbing moment or with my then bro-in-law Pierre Fortin, who lived nearby for a while.

One time I saw a guy falling asleep while eating and chewing, Both dozing off and eating. Unforgettable multitasking.

Another time a staffer went to the bathroom for too long and his colleagues teased him that he was "painting the walls in there." Being a proper kid from Westmount it took a while for me to figure out the unappetizing reference.

A meeting with a pair of excellent cops brought me back in the 90s, as an Asian crime squad specialist named Livesey got me to meet him at the spot he affectionately called "the Eat and Puke." Thanks to those meetings I got what would become one of the biggest local news scandals of that year.

Though they have been there for about 37 years, I am thankful that I only have a memory of Eddie and his wife as sparkling young teens with bright, hopeful eyes and a kick-ass car.

(I later learned that there was already much tragedy in the family, as two sisters were claimed in the flower of their youth, a story that only underlines the bravery of small shopkeeper family in my eyes.) The two became parents of a brilliant and clever daughter who I do not know but have chatted with on the Internet occasionally.

Kevin Vahey, the brilliant Boston cameraman and observer of life, recently laid tribute to the longstanding eatery upon his latest visit. His enthusiasm for the place underlined the fact that sometimes people don't appreciate the good things in their own hometown until it's too late.

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Syrian refugees: Don't just welcome them, sponsor them

November 26, 2015, 11:35 am

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Glay Sperling came to Montreal from Europe after Hitler's jackbooted supporters rose to power.

Sperling, once in Montreal, became an accomplished photojournalist and taught for 33 years at Dawson College where he founded the cinema department and become friend and mentor to many.

He inspired a scholarship and even generated a catchphrase on Urban Dictionary.

Glay Sperling

So one minute Sperling was fearing for his life in Europe. The next he's thriving and sharing his many talents in Montreal.

How did this happen?

He was sponsored to Canada by a complete stranger.

Tony Oberleitner was another war refugee who had no ties to Canada before coming from Austria.

His life was threatened after he was deemed suspicious by Hitler's regime for his work alongside cutting-edge thinker Wilhelm Reich.

Oberleitner was a tall, optimistic and delightful man who filled a room with generous laughter. His wife Eva was an equally sunny person. Both went on to achieve a bunch of good things as a Canadians, starting a solid family out west.

Colin Gravenor

Neither would have been able to come to Canada had it not been for my father Colin Gravenor who was a stubborn opponent of Hitler's thugs.

Gravenor led the Montreal section of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League from his office in the Mount Royal Hotel.

In the 1940s he worked hard to help those oppressed by Nazis in any way he could, including by sponsoring strangers.

Decades later my father was honoured in an exhibit at the Vancouver Holocaust Museum.

The museum organizers told me that the efforts my father made were extremely uncommon among Canadian non-Jews at the time.

Now Canada is being asked to welcome Syrian refugees, which has left many divided on the issue.

Some good people have expressed apprehensions about these newcomers to Canada.

During the Nazi years many Canadians were also apprehensive about allowing refugees into Canada.

Those opponents were many and even included some local Jews who organized at least one protest against the refugees.

My father was bitterly disappointed and dismayed by that protest and repeatedly described it to me with great irritation.

Those protesters were not necessarily bad people but they were undoubtedly misguided and misinformed.

New opportunity to become a hero

Now there's a new group of people seeking refuge from their war-torn land and we are seeing the same popular hesitation.
Those who oppose welcoming the refugees are not necessarily bad people.

However Canada can and will absorb the Syrians without a hiccup.

Those refugees will have kids playing alongside your children in the snow and sitting next to them on the bus discussing their homework.

They will bring their wisdom, perseverance and noble survival skills to help make this country better.

If you're a cynic like myself, there's an element of self-interest at play.

Sponsor a refugee and they and their families will forever be grateful. Those my father helped would have given their left pinkies if he asked.

My father never stopped loving newcomers and their enthusiasm for Canada.

He would frequently advise me to stand outside places where foreigners convene just to watch the purpose and enthusiasm they carried with them. In the 70s he hired many boat people from Vietnam to help in his businesses.

So get involved and join the happy experience in helping out.

Here's a link to help you get involved in this latest opportunity to do the right thing.

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Leonardo Rizzuto: how bad driving almost kept the son of a longtime mob boss from practicing law

December 2, 2015, 11:42 am

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Leonardo Rizzuto - the recently-arrested son of former mob boss Vito Rizzuto - has been a lawyer since 1999 in spite of being banned from studying and practicing law in Quebec in the mid-1990s.
In Dec. 1995, Rizzuto was deemed ineligible to train for or practice law due to his tendency to drive drunk, dangerously or without a license.

The young Leonardo's driving misdeeds were plenty. He pleaded guilty to two drunk-driving-related charges following an incident on May 23 1992 in the Town of Mount Royal.
He was caught again on June 6, 1994 with an alcohol reading of 140 mm, far beyond the acceptable limit of 80 mm/100 mm blood.
He apparently lost his driver's license in 1989 at the age 19 and proceeded to caught 10 times for driving without a license, between 20 May 1992 and 6 June 1994, a cocktail of vehicular misdeeds which can easily end a driver jail.
He also received a series of speeding tickets and one for burning a stop sign.
Rizzuto explained that he hardly ever had a valid license in his early 20s:

There was never any more suspensions, it was continuous. I was always three months, and three months, and three months. I had been caught back in, I think it was in 1991. I had like a sports car and I was driving around, and it was very flashy, and I didn't have the license at the time, I had not told my parents anything, so they didn't really know.

Rizzuto graduated law at the University of Ottawa in May 1995 and then applied to Quebec Bar School for further training.
On his application he was forced to admit that he had a criminal record.
His case went to the Quebec Bar Verification Committee (now called the Professional Access Committee) where he was banned from practicing law in Quebec.
His attempt to get the decision reversed was turned down in 1996, as batonniers Benoit Emery, Donald Michelin et Nicole Gibeau once again rejected his dream of becoming a lawyer.
But sometime later downturned legal thumbs turned skyward and Rizzuto was apparently greenlighted to complete his civil law studies, which he did at the University of Ottawa.
He was accepted into the Quebec Bar on May 20, 1999 and at last count remains a lawyer in good standing.

How do he get approved?

Coolopolis and its many minions have attempted to find out how and why the Rizzuto ban was reversed with both the Quebec Bar, and the Professional Tribune.
A clerk told they can find no documents detailing his successful appeal and they could find nothing that exists at the Quebec Superior Court or the Quebec Appeals Court.
While Rizzuto's driving habits as a young man under 25 were hardly praiseworthy, his perseverance in attaining his goal of becoming a lawyer - a status also enjoyed by his sister - is notable.
People acquainted with a younger Leonardo tell Coolopolis that he was a gentle soul who did not have a mob-boss personality, something hold now-deceased older brother Nicolo Jr. seemed closer to.
Rizzuto was arrested in a sweeping bust on Nov. 19, along with an entire who's who of the familiar local characters including Salvatore Cazzetta, Gregory Wooley, Stefano Sollecito, as well as lawyer Loris Cavalieri,
The nature of the evidence against the accused remains unknown, other than that it based on an investigation that started in 2013. Rizzuto has been kept behind bars pending a bail hearing.
The proof against Maurice "Mom" Boucher, also arrested on Nov. 19, appears to have been taken from conversations he allegedly had with his daughter visiting him in prison.
It will be interesting to see what case prosecutors produce.
Were wiretaps employed to gather evidence against the crew? Could police have been listening in on a recent gathering of the accused at Holt's a few weeks back? Will a high-profile mobster flip on the rest of them?
It shall be interesting to watch.

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Laval love: 10 reasons you should move there

December 2, 2015, 2:21 pm

≫ Next: Drug debt murders: how to put an end to the ongoing plague

≪ Previous: Leonardo Rizzuto: how bad driving almost kept the son of a longtime mob boss from practicing law

Montreal makes a lot of noise about itself but its sister city Laval is quietly making some major ground as an interesting place to live a better life.
Here's a list of reasons why the old also-ran has become a place you can no longer overlook as a location to live.

Place $427 M development here

Cosmodome

It's Canada's 13th largest city and its growth rate of 8 percent between 1996 and 2011 is higher than Montreal's and is the sixth-highest of those 13 cities, real estate values tend to rise faster in quicker-growing cities.
Condos cost something like $100,000 less than they might in Montreal, with places near the fast-growing Montmorency metro station area costing as little as $136,000. When the vacancy rates tighten up those prices will shoot right up.
Bridges are short, highways and roads are wide, with the 13 and 15 make getting into the city a breeze.
Metros go downtown Montreal along the main orange line, no changing at Berri required.
It's a paradise for those with cars. Having a family just became a ton easier. Meanwhile Montreal is yanking out parking and closing ramps with the idea of forcing people onto public transit.
It's clean, new, growing, booming. Not all the island is a hotspot but culturally-speaking it's no worse than many other parts of Montreal
The Montreal Canadiens AHL team is expected to move there in two years
A massive $427 million commercial project connected to the Montmorency metro station announced this week will make that area abuzz with action. That project is expected to create over 3,500 jobs
It has still has an air of wild-west opportunity where things can grow and thrive, and has attractions ranging from family friendly Cosmodome, Centropolis, baseball batting cages to strip clubs and nightlife hot spots like the Moombah.
Still loads of green space and nature parks.

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Drug debt murders: how to put an end to the ongoing plague

December 3, 2015, 11:38 am

≫ Next: Coolopolis needs all of your knowledge of Montreal bars and nightclubs

≪ Previous: Laval love: 10 reasons you should move there

It's time to put an end to drug debt murders, an ongoing plague that needlessly claims bright and energetic entrepreneurs sentenced to death simply for falling behind on their payments.
Have you ever fallen behind on your rent? Forgotten to pay your cell phone bill?
Imagine if debt collection agencies had a murder squad out there to kill you for it.
Crazy at it sounds, murder happens routinely to people who simply lose fall into debt to their supplier.

Police and mainstream media press-release-retypers dismiss these murder tragedies by invoking such dismissive terms as "known to the police" or "underworld settling of accounts."
But these victims are real people, they are us: bright, well-loved and non-violent people simply responding to a market demand, as we have shown on many occasions on Coolopolis.
These murder victims have loved ones, families, children who suffer from their loss. Even the killer and his family suffers, as they are infected by soul-deadening guilt or possible imprisonment.
So when an NDG drug dealer killed his longtime friend in 2003 over a drug dealing debt, the suffering went well beyond that of the victim and his family. The killer was forced to live away from his wife and children, who were raised without their father.

Our tax dollars paid the costly of trial and lengthy imprisonment.
Of course, the killer's bullets eliminated any chance of recouping his money, so the exercise was entirely counterproductive for all of us.

Bright lights put out

Many bright lights have been extinguished by this madness right here in Montreal.
Well-loved concert promoter Dutch Garner was savagely killed in the prime of his life simply for owing money to a drug dealer. Elizabeth Barrer, an able entrepreneur who dabbled in trafficking marijuana, was gunned down dead in Lachine for similar reasons.
Bad News Brown, a widely-loved and respected local entertainer was possibly killed due to a drug/money conflict - although some believe it was a jealous lover who did it. Nonetheless all Montreal lost out when he died, as he was a great talent who gave much to the whole city.
Have a good look at Montreal's missing persons list and you'll see at least three others with similar untold stories.
Drug retailers are not necessarily bad, mean or violent people. They are simply helping supply an existing demand for a product that has been arbitrarily deemed illegal.
Drug usage has been declining steadily anyway, as people have come to their senses about what they put into their bodies, so the scope of the trade is no longer too large for the government to get a grip on.
But it needs to be addressed as the blood continues to flow as the insanity reigns.
Another example: imagine your small store suffered a theft. You would call your insurer, declare bankruptcy, or arrange a line of credit Nobody would be trying to murder you.
However that's exactly what you would face if somebody stole the stash your guy fronted you, or your embittered ex grabbed the $20,000 she knew you kept hidden in your sofa.
Such mishaps should be a minor setback, not a death sentence.
You shouldn't have to make your funeral arrangements, say farewell to your loved ones or write your will because of such a setback.
Lawmakers have failed to address this problem because they are academics, journalists, doctors and bankers. The world of daring entrepreneurs is foreign tot hem and the drug dealer lobby is not very strong.

Some possible solutions

Legalization. Upside: could eradicate the illegal drug trade and thereby also decrease the many gratuitous drug rip-off murders unrelated to debts. It would create a new stream of government tax revenue but it also might encourage drug use.
Insurance drug dealers might have access to a confidential insurance fund that they pay into which would front them money when faced with the threat of murder. Downside: numbers might be difficult, if not impossible to organize, however.
Charity or government humanitarian relief. A person who owes money should be able to go to a confidential third party group for mediation in the aims of organizing a debt-resettlement plan that would satisfy both sides.
Police protection Refuge, relocation and identity concealment could be offered to those imperiled by such situations.

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Coolopolis needs all of your knowledge of Montreal bars and nightclubs

December 3, 2015, 2:00 pm

≫ Next: Killer shoes: scorned Laval stripper seriously injures customer with stilettos, battles cops

≪ Previous: Drug debt murders: how to put an end to the ongoing plague

Coolopolis has been putting a book together that attempts to recap all of the most important bars in this city's history and we need you to send your tips to help get it right.
Much, much research has already been done but we need anecdotes, ribald stories, descriptions of the decor and personnel and every other tidbit you know.
Here are a few nightclub ads all from 1967, which was a great year for such establishments in spite of claims that clubs died with the start of TV.
Send me more info on these places, either in the comments or at megaforce@gmail.com. Photos would be particularly appreciated.
I've added other bars at the end that I'm curious about. So please share what you've got for the sake of this noble literary initiative.

Stone's toss from the Roddick gates of McGill. Did folk music and a lot of comedy with Dave Broadfoot performing there for months, if not years. Aka the Shrine.

Mobbed-up Detroit Red Wing tough guy Jimmy Orlando managed a Algier's//Aldos on Mountain after being banned from the States on a draft-dodging affair during the height of his career. In 1960 he then moved on this strip club-esque deal on Crescent, west side, a few doors south of St. Cat. Building was eventually demolished around 1970 and the vacant terrain has only recently been filled up.

No idea what this short-lived place was. Its address corresponds to what we know as Moe's Corner Snack Bar, It couldn't be that because Moe's has been Moe's since 1958 and it wasn't the El Morocco/Moustache next door. Anybody?

The Empress, aka Cinema V, that long-abandoned art deco masterpiece on Sherbrooke across from NDG Park, was a strip club/burlesque spot for a few years due to a determined investor who braved some local opposition. I've heard a few vague stories but need more.

Local much-travelled veteran musician Peter Barry got to own his own place, which to this day bears the same name on St. Catherine. Of course guys who claimed to be owners of various places were often just minor stakeholders while other silent partners controled much.

Copa Cabana was a basement place on St. Catherine at the southwest corner of Peel. It lasted for much longer and was later embroiled in a racism dispute. Don't know much more than that. Not sure if this is where Fred Ward murdered the guy who stuffed his head in the toilet. I'll have to check my notes.

The Country Palace was on the same strip as the New Penelope Folk music club and the Swiss Hut, the Spanish Club and Harry Ship's belly-dancing place. Seek confirmation of the story where two Irish thugs, irritated that they were asked to pay rather than put their beer on a tab, returned and shot the place up. Cops had been tipped off and chased and shot one gunman dead. Haven't seen a newspaper report confirming this though. Please help me. Seeking info as well on the exact date and location of Harry Ship getting shot in the legs somewhere around the same time and place.

The Esquire was the best club in town, with crazily-great acts like Wilson Picket doing an entire week there and even Jimi Hendrix played before going solo. It was later ordered closed because too many hookers were hanging around, which is pretty crazy because it was just like any other place in that regard.

The Faisan Bleu is at the same location launched first by the famous Frolics club and has since continued with what's now the Kingdom strip club. I spent a lot of hours on Lovells digging up the exact date of each club. It was mobbed up for a while with the Cotronis playing an interest and was known as a place for francophone singers for a while.

The Lorelei was in that cash machine of clubs on Stanley below St. Catherine which included the Limelight, Chez Paree, Tic Toc, Esquire and others. Its name lived on until the early 70s.

The Metropole was a short-lived little known proto-peeler joint which set a tradition of strip clubs at Drummond and St. Catherine (the old Chic'n'Coop and its adjoining bar being predecessors. Before that it was the home of Thomas D'Arcy McGee.)

Le Vieux Rafiot was Alfie Wade's Old Montreal effort, which he established after bringing disco to Montreal around 1964. Wade was a young black hustler who copied the trend of bringing big speakers into nightclubs. He later moved to New York to do black civil rights stuff. I went to high school with his daughter and he visited me when he dropped in from Paris about 20 years ago and still occasionally writes me. Never found this bar too interesting, convince me otherwise please.

Cafe St. Jacques sat across the street to the west of where the main Berri metro entrance now sits. It was attached to a church and was long propelled by a single owner who couldn't resist a gimmick. I have a few pretty good stories from this place, please send me more.

In the early 60s stripping was risky because of law enforcement but belly dancing passed the obscenity test so Fawzia Amir became a celebrity thanks to Harry Ship's investment. A lot of hype was required to keep interest in her Sahara Club on Sherbrooke west of Park, in a strip of building long demolished for hotels.

The Silver Slipper Cafe burned down not long after this. The place was just above St. Catherine Metcalfe and had previously been the original El Morrocco as well as the Cavendish Club and Golden Dome.

Casino de Paris would have been a place occupied by what later became the Spectrum. Tell me more if you know about it.

Harlem Paradise occupied the same premises as the fabled Cafe St. Michel, or at least might have, one was listed at 770 Mountain, the other 772. I'm still trying to figure if the building still stands, although I believe it does not. It rivalled Rockheads as the Montreal's best black club. St. Michel lasted from 1940-1955. In 1962 it reopened as the Harlem Paradise. It was the scene of a battle beteen gangsters which left one man crippled for life. Actor Percy Rodrigues worked as a doorman there.

Kindly women organ players were a surprisingly big element to this city's entertainment scene. This place at the SW corner of Lincoln and Guy seems like a mystery.

A long-demolished joint on Dorch west of Peel sat in the same spot as Slitkins and Slotkins and was once attacked by mobsters who leaned on pro boxer Charlie Chase to do the dirty work. Chase, by the way, apparently once tried to pimp out women at Chez Paree by getting them hooked on heroin, which led Irish mobster Johnny Maguire to give him a famous beat down.

Rockheads was closed for a long time by the provincial government after owner Rufus refused to pay a bribe. It came back but pretty much died when he did. Famous story: Davey Hilton Sr. bit off a random guy's nose there because somebody had insulted his friend.

Whatever Whitey's Hideaway is, it didn't last long and it and the building is long, long gone. The Black Bottom was not far from there for several years before moving to Old Montreal for a couple of years to a location that later became Night Magic.

I'm also seeking information on the Times Square Cafe on Bleury north of St. Catherine, near the old theatre, particularly to confirm a tale that a Mafia guy was beaten to death outside by the Irish owners after trying to extort them.
Seeking information on the Venus de Milo, Checkers, Molly McGuire's/Clove Cafe, The Mocambo, Sportsman Tavern, Blue Angel Cafe, Swiss Hut (need a photo!) Samovar/Downbeat/PJ's, Skyway Lounge, Old Munich, 1234, Smitty's, Kon Tiki, Palomino, Alfie's, Brasserie d'Iberville, The Flip/C Plus/Dice Club on Paineau, Chez Mado, Lodeo, Sextuple, Hunter's Horn, Maple's Inn, Garage/Backstreet, Casa Loma, Toe Blakes, The Royal, El Morocco/Moustache, Smitty's, Cafe Campus, Bellevue Casino, Rainbow Bar and Grill, Playboy Club, Cafe Srajevo, Casa Del Sol.
You have one not on this list? Please share it.

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Killer shoes: scorned Laval stripper seriously injures customer with stilettos, battles cops

December 5, 2015, 2:04 pm

≫ Next: Moe's Corner Snack Bar: one last visit before closing

≪ Previous: Coolopolis needs all of your knowledge of Montreal bars and nightclubs

Collage reenactment

A 30-year-old man was rushed into surgery with several fractures after being attacked by a 26-year-old dancer following a dispute over how much he owed her for dances at the Modernic Bar at 253 Concorde E. Wednesday night.
Police came but the dancer did not calm down.
She fought vigorously and even damaged the cop cruiser with the same set of devastating shoes.
The woman has been charged with assault-related crimes and was released Thursday.
I've asked a few people from the mileu to provide more information and will update with further information when and if I get. Tips appreciated.
One analyst of such affairs tells Coolopolis that hell often hath no fury like a stripper scorned.
A doorman might have been expected to intervene before such an attack got too serious, but it's not always easy because the incident undoubtedly happened in a private booth behind a curtain, according to my expert.
Such conflicts are a staple of strippernomics, as unlike other sex-trade relationships, which see the customer agree to a price and pay it in advance, such strip club encounters are routinely subject to money disputes as dancer and customer might not agree on the number of songs that played at the end.
The dancer might also ask for more than the official $10 per dance if she thinks that her dances went above and beyond the standard dance. Signs are often posted in such establishment explaining that dances cost $10, however.

Artist re-enacment

The higher demand often leads customer to balk at the price tag, as the arrangement had not been agreed on in advance.
Another contributing factor is that exotic dancers are not tied to any one nightclub as much as they once were and sometimes change workplace almost daily, leading them to have less need to maintain a good reputation at any one establishment.
As for women attacking people with high heels, incidents are surprisingly common and can lead to serious injury especially if the heel hits around the eye.
So next time you want to lay bad news on a woman in high heels think twice.

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Moe's Corner Snack Bar: one last visit before closing

December 6, 2015, 12:06 pm

≫ Next: Empty lots and the sad stories that often sit behind them: Lachine teen burns in curtains

≪ Previous: Killer shoes: scorned Laval stripper seriously injures customer with stilettos, battles cops

It's last-day ever at Moe's Corner Snack Bar, the longtime iconic Montreal greasy spoon at Closse and De Maisonneuve.

Moe's Corner Snack Bar: Montreal greasy spoon institution to close forever

Atwater-area roofer Pat Shearing, who moved to Montreal from Matapedia about a dozen years ago, shares this description of his final meal there Saturday.
===

Pat Shearing

Went to Moe's for last time today.
The windows shone with dust and grime.
Across from me a rocker who would have fit in at any Pointe-a-la-Garde fight club was devouring a grand slam to cure his hangover.
I opted to take what he was having.
A hipster couple (complete with Mohawk hairdos, trust funds and septum piercings) ordered a bunch of random cobbled-together menu items to show that they knew the scenes, and took photos on their Iphones to cement the evidence.
Two older blue collar gentleman shared coffees and PG13 stories in the corner.
A Donald Sutherland-ish man read a bad book with an order of pancakes and overcooked bacon.

Bill Binns @bdgbill

A rich older couple who looked Westmounty showed up with their son and elected for the bar stools near the cash. They has never been and were told it was closing shop soon.
They silently sipped their coffees and hot chocolates until the sheepish kinda cute waitress asked how they felt about knowing that this would be both their first and last meal at Moe's, the son answered with the single predictable lame word "sad" as he picked at the undercooked home fries.
I quickly wolfed down my meal and jacked a teaspoon for the memories, glancing over at Eddy, thick skinned, resplendent in a well worn baseball cap and some grease stained jeans, and for one brief moment I understood him completely: the muscle cars, the vintage decor, the ghosts of the Forum hard boiled in their glory.
All had eaten here, the pimps, the gang leaders, the rich, the homeless, the drunks, the prostitutes, the well-to-dos and the do-to-wells, the capitalist brothers who sell computers over the phone, the Socratic anarchist cousins, the American tourists who feared for their safety wandering that last stretch of downtown near the forum ready to run at the drop of a pin, the grid-less, the grinders, the strappers, the coked-out hustlers, the boys, the West-enders filing in for their daily steamies...
This would be my last time at Moe's and I knew it...
-

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Empty lots and the sad stories that often sit behind them: Lachine teen burns in curtains

December 6, 2015, 1:21 pm

≫ Next: Monday Morning Montreal Mafia roundup

≪ Previous: Moe's Corner Snack Bar: one last visit before closing

Empty lots in a city are like a missing teeth in a mouth.
There's a story of failure behind each gap.
In many cases a tragedy took place that claimed lives and buildings. Owners either didn't have insurance cash or the heart to rebuild.

This parking lot on 18th Ave. near the water in Lachine, was where a young girl died by fire at a building that once stood at 38 18th Ave.
Simone Barbarie, 15, dropped her ring and sought to find it somewhere near the curtains.
This was in Feb. 1928.
She had no flashlight so she lit a match or candle to see better in her search.
That match lit the curtains up and she got entangled with them.
She rolled around shouting in the snow out front before dying.
The story merited a five paragraph article underneath a similar report of a six-year-old who was badly burned while lighting a cigarette oat his home on Casgrain Street.

Tough times in Lachine

Lachine was going through tough times in those years as the Great Depression forced a lot of people to go into default on their properties and the municipality became owners of many homes in the area, particularly along St. Catherine, 18th, 34th and 36th. They rented the units out at prices that they kept lowering just to keep them full in 1934.

Another haunting death

A decade after the poor girl burned to death, another teenage girl died in a similar haunting manner.
On Sept 4, 1938 an unidentified girl was seen standing up to her knees in the waters at the foot of 18th Ave.
She was dressed normally. When a man and wife went into the water to get her out, she allowed herself to get taken away by the rapids. They sought her in a rowboat but it was too lately, her aquatic suicide was done.

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Monday Morning Montreal Mafia roundup

December 7, 2015, 2:00 am

≫ Next: Mario Lemieux Street: time to rename Jogues in Ville Emard after local hockey great

≪ Previous: Empty lots and the sad stories that often sit behind them: Lachine teen burns in curtains

Inside Giuseppe "Ponytail" De Vito

Some impressive images were aired this week of Giuseppe "Ponytail" De Vito, who police now say had a hand in something like 20 killings.
De Vito rebelled against the Rizzutos and recently died of cyanide poisoning in prison.

Ponytail De Vito

The videos include one which show him staring silently and mournfully into the camera after learning that his two daughters had been killed. His ex-wife was later convicted of killing her daughters.
De Vito worked for Paolo Gervasi, owner of the now-long-gone Castel Tina strip club at Viau and Jean Talon.

Tomasino

Police say that De Vito killed his boss Gervais in 2004.
The shocking part of the story is De Vito might killed one of his own guys simply because he was injured.
Police now say that Carmelo Tomasino, 32, was hit by a stray bullet while helping De Vito kill Gervais.
Rather than drop him anonymously at a hospital, as one of the group members suggested, De Vito simply shot his friend to death.
The group then burned Tomasino's body in the woods.

Vito's father-in-law Leonardo Cammalleri

Let's talk Leonardo Cammalleri, Vito's father-in-law who died aged 92 in 2012 in Toronto after moving to Canada from Italy in the 1950s.
Cammalleri was convicted in absentia in Italy for the assassination of a left-leaning politician Giuseppe Spagnolo on Aug 14, 1955.
This story will soon come to a spot near the Mount Royal metro, so keep reading.
Italian police solved the Spagnolo assassination with a brilliant piece of detective work.
They came across a donkey that was employed in the killing so police caught their man simply followed the beast back home.

Leo Cammalleri

The donkey's owner, Giuseppe Gurreri admitted to lending it to other guys and named the killers four years later.
He said he wasn't involved in the murder but he probably was.
Gurreri, after naming the others, was pardoned and came to Canada.
Cammalleri had already fled Italy to avoid the rap. He ended up in Venezuela and eventually found his way to Canada but there was no way he could ever return to Italy and Canada apparently made no effort to extradite him.
As for Gurreri, the donkey-owner who squealed on Cammalleri?
He did not live a long and healthy life, as you might imagine.
He came to Montreal and opened a restaurant across called the New Miss Mont-Royal Restauarant at 707 Mount Royal East in 1967.
He was forced to publish his real name in the newspaper as part of his liquor license request.
Gurreri continued using his real last name but used a variety of first names, including Rosario. That didn't help him much.
Gurreri received visitors at his restaurant - located in what's now the Echange record store - on March 5, 1972.
The killers put an end to Gurreri's life with a knife, axe and fists. They were not apprehended.

Charbonneau Commission report printouts will kill the forests

The Charbonneau Commission report has been online for several days now, but think twice before you click print on that pdf.
It comes in at 1,741 pages.
It is, however, searchable, however but you'll still have to do much flipping around.
The name Rizzuto comes up 359 times Zampino 528 times. (Tony) Magi 85. Accurso 218 times.
My man Giuseppe Fetta didn't get a mention. Sorry guy maybe next time.

Tony Magi

No luck if you're hoping to find some smoking guns about such interesting projects as the old age home at the SW corner of Decarie and Cote St. Luc (the tower that came about after nearby nimbyites opposed the relatively benign pharmacy).
Nor is there much about how the dodgy condo project at Upper Lachine and Wilson came to be.
Not that those projects aren't mentioned.
Indeed the report goes into some detail about the friendship between Nick Rizzuto and Tony Magi and Vito's input into their real estate affairs.
It notes that the Rizzutos managed to make a good profit, possibly at Magi's expense.
This might be interesting on some level but it doesn't appear to be anything other than normal, regular business done by business people doing business.
Its inclusion into a crime report suggests that the writers are not necessarily familiar with the way that businessmen hustle deals, often at the expense of some other guy.
Once again the gulf between the legislative/legal class and the entrepreneurial class is exposed.

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Mario Lemieux Street: time to rename Jogues in Ville Emard after local hockey great

December 7, 2015, 10:52 am

≫ Next: The CDN/NDG borough fast food ban - reasons for and against

≪ Previous: Monday Morning Montreal Mafia roundup

Mario Lemieux lived here

Isaac Jogues move over.
It's time for Mario Lemieux to take over.
We call on Montreal to rename the four-block Jogues Street to Mario Lemieux Street.
Why?
Not only because Mario Lemieux might have been the greatest player to ever play hockey, but also for another reason.
Mario's parents Pierrette and Jean Guy Lemieux moved to 6700 Jogues in 1960 and stayed there well after Lemieux became a superstar hockey player.
Jean-Guy and Pierrette could have lived anywhere thanks to their son's riches, but they chose to remain in their humble home.
So clearly they liked living in humble Ville Emard.
They only moved a few years ago, in fact.
As for Mario Lemieux, he is a classy guy who showed great perseverance and played for his country many times and is surely the greatest hockey player ever to come from Montreal.

Montreal Canadiens' General Manager Marc Bergevin is a lifelong friend of Lemieux's, as is Jean-Jacques Daigneault as the three played together as kids. They, among others, could leverage their influence to get a name change done.
If you're wondering who will lose their street name with such a switch, it appears to be a French missionary named Isaac Jogues, born in 1607 who tried to convert natives to Christianity and was tortured and maimed by Iroquois in 1642. He was massacred in 1646 and canonized in 1930.
Consider that nothing is named after Lemieux in Montreal, whereas Laval has named an arena after a far more obscure character with much weaker ties to his area, we're talking about journeyman forward Hartland Monahan who left Montreal for good in 1970.
Lemieux meanwhile, scored 690 goals in in 915 games and is the eighth all time points scoring leader with 1723 NHL points and is behind only Wayne Gretzy for points-per-game.
Coolopolis does not usually encourage street renamings. This one, however, is so obvious that it just needs to be done.

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The CDN/NDG borough fast food ban - reasons for and against

December 7, 2015, 2:19 pm

≫ Next: Body found on cliff could be that of missing Matthew Kustra

≪ Previous: Mario Lemieux Street: time to rename Jogues in Ville Emard after local hockey great

New fast food outlets will be banned in the borough of Cote des Neiges / Notre Dame de Grace starting Feb. 1 in all but three spots: St James twixt Benny and West Broadway. Cote des Neiges Plaza and Decarie from Queen Mary to Vezina.

The borough's definition of a fast food place is any place that serves food in containers and has no table service.
Here are some arguments for and against this policy.

Reasons to support the ban

The ban might help people lose weight by limiting their eating options.

Reasons to oppose the ban

A restaurant that uses fast-food techniques to sell healthy foods will not be permitted to open.
It is unfair to focus on the serving method as the determining factor in the quality of a food.
It confers an enormous advantage upon existing fast food places by eliminating any future competition, whether it be of the healthy or non-healthy variety. This undermines the spirit of the free market.
Fast food is not always unhealthy. It's an excellent alternate to starvation, scurvy and low blood sugar, for example.
The ban reduces the enjoyment of life of residents by limiting many people consuming food that they might like.
The ban is a goalpost shifter that reduces opportunities for commercial landlords by limiting who they can rent their properties to. (This objection applies to any limiting of the type of business a landowner can rent his property to).
It suggests that residents live in a nanny state that assumes citizens are too stupid to make their own choices.
If somebody is surviving on beets and broccoli and wants to eat an ice cream at a fast food joint, then why not?
The ban could be challenged in court and lead to a costly legal battle to be paid by taxpayers.
Municipal fast food bans enacted elsewhere were often enacted through less direct means, such as by citing traffic issues, indicating that a direct ban might not survive a court ruling.
The ban makes it appear the city council has nothing better to do.

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Body found on cliff could be that of missing Matthew Kustra

December 7, 2015, 10:26 pm

≫ Next: Bomb threat on Air France San Francisco-Paris flight forces emergency landing at Montreal's Trudeau airport

≪ Previous: The CDN/NDG borough fast food ban - reasons for and against

The body found at the bottom of the St. James Street cliff could well be that of Matthew Kustra, as Coolopolis reported.

The body was found in the remote spot on Sunday Nov. 29, apparently by hikers.

The remains are reportedly in too advanced a state of decomposition to identify and DNA matching might be the next step to determine the identity.

Matthew Kustra, a 26-year-old father of a small child, disappeared from the West End in early September 2014.
He last was seen at PJ's Bar, which sits at the top of the very same cliff.

One report initially suggested that the body was not that of Kustra.

Sources now suggest that it might be him after all.

Kustra stands 5'6" and was clad in a dark grey T-shirt, blue jeans and Nikes, according to a Facebook page created by his girlfriend Sarah Sisti.

Kustra was a former co-owner of the Liquid Lounge, a bar on Sherbrooke just west of Claremont, a spot known for mayhem and firebomb attacks.

He is an avid hockey player who often played in night leagues.
Much speculation and rumour has revolved around what led to the situation.

This story has struck an emotional chord as Kustra was a well-loved guy who certainly did not deserve such a fate.

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Bomb threat on Air France San Francisco-Paris flight forces emergency landing at Montreal's Trudeau airport

December 7, 2015, 10:49 pm

≫ Next: Montreal's worst dive bar - where was it?

≪ Previous: Body found on cliff could be that of missing Matthew Kustra

Little has been revealed concerning the nature of the unnerving situation at Trudeau Airport which has led a Paris-bound plane to make an unscheduled landing in Montreal somewhere around midnight.
Air France tweeted at 1:37 a.m. a somewhat reassuring note that the stop is standard procedure for situations which involve a bomb threat.
Montreal police are on the scene and investigating, as of last word.

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Montreal's worst dive bar - where was it?

December 8, 2015, 11:33 am

≫ Next: 'No black men' - racism rampant in local sex trade

≪ Previous: Bomb threat on Air France San Francisco-Paris flight forces emergency landing at Montreal's Trudeau airport

A reader has related a brutal and harrowing memory from the late 60s about a Montreal bar that she is unable to identify now.
Please read and let us know if it rings a bell.
****
I once went with a friend to a club that I only recall being west of downtown and near the water.
I was too stoned to remember but years later hearing stories about the Bucket of Blood on Wellington in the Point I think it may have been there.

The worst dive I've ever been in. It was a mostly all black club and two guys started fighting to the death.
The barman was yelling at one that he'll end up back in jail but he broke two wooden tavern chairs over the other guy's head into pieces!
The guy then took one of the legs of the chair and continued beating the other till he had a huge gaping hole in his head that was pouring blood. The guy wasn't moving but the other one kept beating him till the barman told him he called him a cab and the cops sirens could be heard.
I ran for the bathroom right away but could see the fight still cause oddly the toilets were in the middle of the bar and were almost like outhouses.
The wooden door was two feet off the floor, like a piece of plywood long ago painted white and the door ended under my chin so I could look over it to see what's going on.
Both toilets were like that. If anyone was passing they could've just looked in on you. Very scary place.

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