Throughout my youth I'd pass by there in awe, wondering what it would be like to inhabit the discreet and powerful world of adulthood.
Sure us teens from Westmount High could get lunch at the neighbouring Carb (Les Caribinieres) in the basement of the Alexis Nihon Plaza thanks to our fake ID and yeah this place shared the kitchen.
But the Maidenhead, now that was an adult place with adult affairs going on.
People discussing marriage issues, employment challenges, car payments, their need for a new couch.
What would it be like to finally enter that world of complexity and gravitas, a place so heavy that it required lightening by liquor and exposure to heart-thumping pulchritude of friendly women with low cut blouses and ample bosoms?Oh, the anticipation.. my day will finally come where I can sit there with my shades and jean jacket and order a martini....waiting..waiting...and then... nothing.
The Maidenhead ceased to exist somewhere along the line.
I turned 18 in December 1980. The Maidenhead had either crept to the graveyard of fancy theme bars in the sky or perhaps by that point I was still feeling inadequacy of gravitas to stroll in.
Walking up to a bar like this as an 18 year old and pulling out a bar stool and ordering a drink. Man, that's grown up stuff. To do it without looking like an idiot would be a major challenge, like giving a speech or something.
The only person my age that might be able to pull it off was Glenn Grey, a prodigy of distance running, mountain climbing and poetry, who alas died young soon after falling from a mountain.
So the Maidenhead left me behind but luckily these photos have been found floating around the internet to allow me to peek inside.
The woman singing in the back near the piano and at the top is named Elaine.The young woman on the right dropped in from Australia to stay in Montreal for a while and toted tray in her medieval wench costume. (and no, wench is not an insult, in spite of popular misusage, look it up).
The Hill brothers, who also opened the Frolics in 1932 or so on the Main above St. Catherine and the ChicknCoop and the Stagecoach previously, owned this place and the Bali Hai upstairs.
Their story is in my upcoming book Montreal 375 Tales. I hope to have it out soon.
Bring back the Maidenhead. Let me finally have a crack at the adult world promised to me in my youth. (More on this place from DC Stubbs in an excellent post he wrote on his site).