Montreal 375 Tales contains dozens of stories on Montreal bars and restaurants from the past, including a variation of this one. Keep an eye on this site for news on its upcoming availability.
Unlike other Americans who drifted to Montreal during the Vietnam War, David Wittman was not dodging the draft.
Wittman had been harassed by police in Ohio over a small amount of marijuana and he saw little future in the rust-belt in a country where body-bags were returning from war full of bodies of bright young recruits.
So he came to Montreal en route to a backpacking trip through Europe.
Wittman found himself bored staying with a friend at the McGill Medical residence, so he wandered downtown and followed a long-haired hippie to see where the action was shaking.
The hippie walked into the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Stanley, which had been recently opened by a pair of popular staffers from the Sir Winston Churchill Pub.
Dan Woodward and Judy Ponting had opened the place on a shoestring bugdet after cops shut down its predecessor Seven Steps Pub following a police altercation with bikers.
The ownership duo sought new investors all the time, so a bunch of people, including Concordia Sociology prof Taylor Buckner put in about a few thousand each and a promise to bring their friends. Eventually about nine owners were on board, although it was a loosely-run place.
One day, for example Ponting and Woodward ingested a quantity of magic mushrooms that left them too stoned to move out of a downtown restaurant booth.
Wittman stayed and stayed and stayed, spending almost all his waking hours at The Rainbow until his Europe cash disappeared.
About two weeks later Wittman explained his problem to one of the owners, maneuvering to make it look like they were to blame for his running out of cash.
That owner was accustomed to laying guilt strategies himself. So he gave Wittman a job as doorman.
Co-owner Judy Ponting instructed Wittman to avoid calling police, as she felt any mentions of the club on the police blotter could lead to its shut-down. So Wittman had to deal with some hairy situations without help from cops.
Wittman rose to barman and met up with Nancy Nelson from B.C., who was paying her way through school keeping half of the $1 on each rose she sold in bars, the Cock'n'Bull being the most lucrative spot of the 40 downtown places she dropped in on.
Wittman was working three nights a week and staying upstairs from Carol's Snack Bar on Crescent Street where the Iadeluca family gave him a bed, table and fireplace.
He later moved to Stayner Ave. in Westmount where many of the staffers of the same place also had homes. Wittman and Nancy Nelson were doing well, making solid cash in the downtown bar economy.The Rainbow remained popular for some time, as people came in the afternoon to read The New York Times, play backgammon, drink and stay late and watch as Wittman announced closing time by lighting up some brandy he breathed into the air.
Buckner lived in a small apartments upstairs and used the bar to develop his understanding of sociology and human behaviour.
The eye-catching monochrome sign hanging over the street was the design of artist Gerry Lorange. His Danish business partner Michael Fog drew a cartoon in the men's bathroom of a man with a rocket penis and managed to get the same illustration in just about every bar downtown for a while.
Rainbow regulars included journalist Nick Auf der Maur who preferred it when others bought him drinks. Mike Boone, who became a well-known scribe at The Star and Gazette, hung a hat there. Fine Arts students from Concordia filled in as did a bunch of CBC staffers, including Patrick Brown, now based in China. Bartenders included a Neal J. Smitherman, now a prominent Toronto lawyer.
After three years Wittman and his wife Nancy took their savings and combined with Eftaib Kahn to purchase a building on Bishop just north of Dorchester for $90,000.
Kahn owned the Pakistan House Restaurant on Mackay just up from De Maisonneuve. Kahn was from a wealthy family and had come to Montreal for Expo 67 and stayed. He noticed that his restaurant was usually empty while the downstairs cafe in its many changing names, was always full.
So Kahn sought part of that action and went in 50-50 with the couple at what would become Darwin's.
In the months preceding its opening Wittman let his customers at The Rainbow know about his new bar and many followed him, as did many staffers when it opened on the final day of the 1976 Olympics.
The Rainbow suffered a downturn as Darwin's thrived. Unlike the Rainbow it was a bright, airy spot with ferns and an outdoor terrace.
In its first few years Wittman would lay out line of shooters on the bar to be ready for the nightly last-call rush. Waiters and other downtowners would come in and down a couple of shots just before last call.
Ricky McGurnaghan of the Irish West End Gang and friends would not take news of closure kindly and sometimes tossed a stool in protest to the night being over.
After a few years, however, the last-call chug-a-lug last call ritual faded and the late night energy dissipated at Darwin's.
Wittman and Nelson had just had their second of what would eventually become four children in 1980 when they got an offer they couldn't refuse.
They sold their interest in Darwin's to Tommy Caplan of the Caplan-Duval retail clan for $100,000.
The couple then migrated to Georgia and Florida and tried operating a few bars in those parts before returning ot Montreal. Wittman worked in a series of bars as a manager before eventually becoming a carpenter.
Both Woodward and Ponting, who launched the Rainbow are no more. Woodward, who was gay, died of AIDS. Ponting died in a car crash on the way to a barbecue in the Eastern Townships after marrying one of her former students.
Buckner now lives in the US and sells vintage firearms on the Internet.
Darwin's closed after a fire in January 1994 and the building was demolished.