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Mid-60s pic reveals mysterious downtown structure
The Navy League property in 1947 See that little image in the inset on the bottom right? What the heck is that little thing behind the Seville Theatre? The apartment building behind the Seville on...
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Lifelong mystery solved: portrait subject finally identified
This painting has been transfixing me my whole life. From the day I was born it stood on the wall at the head of our of our kitchen table at 580 Grosvenor, covering up the electrical panel. So...
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Electric cars, easy to charge if you've got a driveway, otherwise not so much...
Now I hate to state the obvious but the massive provincial subsidies being rolled out to subsidize consumer purchases of electric cars here isn't exactly going to benefit all motorists equally. If...
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When residents block laneways
A major benefit of laneways is that firefighters and other emergency staff can access that alternate entrance to your home in case of emergency or animal attack or some other form of bedlam. But...
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Ormstown actress invites 23 guys to her special birthday party
Heidi, as you can see in these photos, is a lively young woman from Ormstown.. yep.. Ormstown.. and she's planning a special birthday party for herself that you guys might be able to get yourself...
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Slitkins & Slotkins on Dorchester
Dorch looking E from about Mountain The Slitkins and Slotkins bar was frequently mentioned by folks such as Al Palmer as the epicenter of Montreal during one of its most buzzing periods in the '40s...
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Montreal artist goes missing
As I've mentioned here before, I've long admired the work of local performer-artist and punk scenester Stacey Ross, who I have known, superficially, for a few years. Ross is an accomplished...
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Who died in the fire at Oxford Park
The second victim of a fire that struck a building on the southeast corner of Oxford Park one week ago today has been identified as Sarah Hassane, an 18-year-old Egyptian who came to Montreal five...
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Griffintown oldest house boarded up
Some jarring sights... One of the oldest houses175 Murrayin the Griff has been boarded up as have the adjacent buildings on Mountain just north of Wellington on the east side. Friend of Coolopolis...
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24 years ago: how girls plotted fire that killed four teen inmates
Today - Sunday Jan 19 - marks the 24th anniversary of a tragic fire that saw four teenage girls burn to death the Shawbridge Youth Detention Facility at 3000 Levesque W. Chomedey Laval. Michelle...
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How Malcolm X's parents met in Montreal
There would surely never have been a Malcolm X had the great black-rights leader's parents just stayed in Montreal. Malcolm Little, aka Malcolm X's parents met in Montreal in a sequence of events...
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Tattooed faces - they're coming sometime, maybe
Tattoos have exploded in recent years as young and old rush to get pictures on their skin that they will surely never regret getting. But rare is the person who actually put 'em on their face until...
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Montreal houses more affordable than last year: study
A study released yesterday suggests that Montreal's homes have become more affordable since last year at this time, as the city's median multiple has fallen from 5.1 to 4.7. That means that it would...
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Genie Bouchard: Possible future billionaire
Not to put any additional pressure on my fellow raised-in-Westmounter Genie Bouchard, 19, who is playing in the semi-final of the Australian Open later tonight, but there's more riding on these...
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Anthony Calvillo -the story that won me over
Longtime Alouettes QB Anthony Calvillo has retired, a year too late, clearly, as he suffered a pretty bad brain trauma after being ineffective in his short-lived season. I was on the fence about...
View ArticleJane Jacobs on Montreal 1969, city planning chinwag
I was never a huge fan of that Jane Jacobs guy. She gained fame, of course, by writing The Death and Life of Great .... zzz. sorry dozed off there for a bit. Her thing was that cities should be...
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Montreal: the city that lives alone
Lonely Montreal guy There's a case to be made that Montreal is one of the Can-Am's loneliest cities, as one in three Montrealers lives alone, putting us behind only Quebec City and Cleveland for the...
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Quiz: Who lived here?
A great Montreal writer from the mid-20th century - ok, mainly the 1950s - lived in this house before moving out of the country. Anybody?
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The once-glorious corner of Atwater and Notre Dame
The corner of Atwater and Notre Dame.. sigh. was once a bustling corner but was somehow wrecked and turned into a suburban-industrial style space waste. You've got not one, but two, gas stations...
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Montreal bakeries, onetime hotbread of unionization
The small ad below from the Canadian Jewish Review is a testament to the strength of unions in the city in Montreal as of 1960, as it shows a fairly long list of unionized bakeries here in Montreal...
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