People moving to Montreal need to know that there are divisions between areas that they should be intuitively tuned into because it can dictate their enjoyment of living in any given area.
Every city has these swift changes in atmosphere, one minute you're walking amid a lively streetscape of new boutiques and cafes and suddenly you're in an area of sketchy dilapidation wishing you had packed your numchuks.
One example in Montreal that always strikes me is Dorchester Blvd.* which offers a different feel on each side. The south side feels strangely detached from downtown even though it's just feet away. It feels like it's already part of the downhill, more attached to Griffintown than the city.
I know this because I lived for seven years just south of Dorch and five years just north of the same artery.
Of course you could just cross the street but there's a psychological barrier involved in conquering that wide boulevardarian obstacle. So if you want to get thyself to Peel and St. Catherine you'll only feel that you're on your way once you cross the busy boulevard and you're not in the GSM** land of fun.
Living on the north side of Dorchester is better, which is why I'd opt to buy a condo at the Icon rather than the Canadiens Tower if I was on the market for a condo.
The first time I became attuned to the concept of this invisible separation in a city was when I was in grade 10 doing some sort of enumerating task for Elections Canada, delivering flyers around NDG. Suddenly on Decarie below Sherbrooke the familiar middle class homes gave way to sloppy apartments with the smell of desperation, no more brazen soccer moms asking what you're doing, instead reclusive people watching Soul Train on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Naturally St. Catherine west of Guy will see a subtle change of mood and another occurs around St. Matthew where the sheen and ambition has rubbed off and has a more run-down look.
The Main above Pine is another obvious one, where the emotional dropoff is impossible to ignore. St. Catherine from Place des Arts east is the end of the party as well.
I'll try to add more examples and possibly even create a mood map in time but meanwhile please add your suggestions to any such geographically-dictated mood borders that you've encountered in this city so we can collaborate
*aka Rene Levesque, I still call it Dorch cuz of historical reasons and the fact that 2 of the 3 municipalities retained the original name.
**Golden Square Mile
Every city has these swift changes in atmosphere, one minute you're walking amid a lively streetscape of new boutiques and cafes and suddenly you're in an area of sketchy dilapidation wishing you had packed your numchuks.
One example in Montreal that always strikes me is Dorchester Blvd.* which offers a different feel on each side. The south side feels strangely detached from downtown even though it's just feet away. It feels like it's already part of the downhill, more attached to Griffintown than the city.
I know this because I lived for seven years just south of Dorch and five years just north of the same artery.
Of course you could just cross the street but there's a psychological barrier involved in conquering that wide boulevardarian obstacle. So if you want to get thyself to Peel and St. Catherine you'll only feel that you're on your way once you cross the busy boulevard and you're not in the GSM** land of fun.
Living on the north side of Dorchester is better, which is why I'd opt to buy a condo at the Icon rather than the Canadiens Tower if I was on the market for a condo.
The first time I became attuned to the concept of this invisible separation in a city was when I was in grade 10 doing some sort of enumerating task for Elections Canada, delivering flyers around NDG. Suddenly on Decarie below Sherbrooke the familiar middle class homes gave way to sloppy apartments with the smell of desperation, no more brazen soccer moms asking what you're doing, instead reclusive people watching Soul Train on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Naturally St. Catherine west of Guy will see a subtle change of mood and another occurs around St. Matthew where the sheen and ambition has rubbed off and has a more run-down look.
The Main above Pine is another obvious one, where the emotional dropoff is impossible to ignore. St. Catherine from Place des Arts east is the end of the party as well.
I'll try to add more examples and possibly even create a mood map in time but meanwhile please add your suggestions to any such geographically-dictated mood borders that you've encountered in this city so we can collaborate
*aka Rene Levesque, I still call it Dorch cuz of historical reasons and the fact that 2 of the 3 municipalities retained the original name.
**Golden Square Mile