Like a flash in the pan, the 12th edition of Montreal’s infringement festival has come and gone! Running from June 17 – 21, the festival offered a 5 day schedule packed with poetry, spoken word, musical performances and theatrical walking tours! Opening on Wednesday night was Fractal III, an activist evening of poetry and spoken word. Performed […]
Peace Park, a cultural crossroads for the city’s underground community, celebrated its 18th birthday on November 20th in style. The party was organized through social media by MQC, producers of the critically-acclaimed skater documentary Peace Park (2012). Spearheaded by skateboarder David Bouthillier, the film documents not just years of skateboarding on the park’s granite ledges, […]
November is often said to be the most depressing time of year. As the sunlight dwindles, temperatures drop below freezing and the first snowflakes begin to fall, life becomes more grey and difficult, especially for the disadvantaged. Luckily, the Quartier Latin, renowned for its students, tourists and extensive homeless population, is starting to heat up […]
Artists are crying “Victory” in the Quartier des Spectacles after winning a David vs. Goliath battle that pitted powerful corporate interests against local artists at the Café Cleopatra, a popular burlesque venue and centre for alternative arts. Café Cleopatra hails from another era and symbolizes the city’s once thriving Red Light District. Situated within “The […]
Eyebrows are once again being raised concerning the competence of urban planning on the Lower Main. First came the wholesale evictions and gutting of the now-crumbling historic block on the west side of the Lower Main, effectively transforming an area where entertainment once thrived into a dangerous and boarded-up eyesore. Now, on the south-east corner of Ste. Catherine Street […]
Montreal’s Lower Main has been the site of controversy as of late, with powerful business interests squaring off against artists and heritage activists to determine the future of the historic stretch of road that was once the heart of Montreal’s bustling Red Light District. The battle has been characterized by powerful business interests dislocating the area’s […]
Montreal’s “Quartier des Spectacles” project is proceeding at a fast clip. The neighbourhood is currently undergoing major transformations as new parks are laid out, a state-of-the-art concert hall goes up, and select buildings are appropriated and destroyed to make way for “development”. Designed to transform Montreal’s old red light district and environs into a less-seedy […]
The latest evictees in Montreal’s new Quartier des Spectacles aren’t sex workers, historic hot dog joints or even the homeless. The latest residents forcibly removed by the city do have a history in the area, though. Each of them, in fact, has been living there for 45 years and their roots do run deep. The […]
