Saint Laurent Boulevard

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Schwartz's
Schwartz's

There is also a Boulevard Saint-Laurent in Gatineau, see Boulevard Saint-Laurent (Gatineau). There is a St. Laurent Boulevard in Ottawa

Saint Lawrence Boulevard or boulevard Saint-Laurent (its official name, in French) is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. A commercial artery and cultural heritage site, the street runs north-south through the near-centre of city and is nicknamed "The Main."

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[edit] The Main

Beginning at De la Commune Street at the edge of the Saint Lawrence River, it crosses the whole island through the boroughs of Ville-Marie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, and Ahuntsic-Cartierville to Rue Somerville at the edge of Rivière des Prairies– a total length of about 11.25 kilometres.

St. Laurent Street became a boulevard in 1905, and is affectionately referred to as The Main by many Montrealers. It serves as the city's physical division of east and west. Street numbers begin at Saint Lawrence and continue outward, with street names being suffixed by Ouest (West) or Est (East), depending on their orientation.

The southern section of the street in downtown Montreal and the Plateau is lined with trendy shops and restaurants, and is the site of many street-fairs and festivals. What were once run-down factories have been turned into expensive lofts. Saint Lawrence Boulevard is representative of Montreal's shift out of the economic decline in the 1980s and 90s, since the first referendum on Quebec sovereignty.[citation needed] The corner of Saint Lawrence and Saint Catherine streets is still known as a red-light district.

[edit] 2007-2008 construction

As of October 2007, the street is still undergoing extensive and lengthy construction work, which is having a devastating effect on local businesses. [1] Over a dozen stores have been forced to close; the remainder of street construction is now postponed until spring 2008 in an effort to help merchants survive. [2]

[edit] Culture

The street traditionally divides Montreal by language, ethnicity, and class. Saint Lawrence Street was for generations the symbolic dividing line for the city, with English to the west, French Canadians to the east, and immigrant communities in between along the Main and Park Avenue. The Main runs through many of Montreal's ethnic communities, a first stop for immigrant communities for over 100 years - initially Jewish, Chinese and Italian, and later Portuguese, Greek, Arab, Haitian and others.

[edit] National Historic Site

In 2002, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada named Saint Lawrence Boulevard as The Main National Historic Site of Canada. Then Minister of Heritage, Sheila Copps, speaking at the ceremony, said: "our country does not belong to just two founding peoples. It belongs to all Canadians. [This is] a first step toward a new story of Canada that includes all of our partners as equals." [1]

[edit] Famous residents

The Main has produced many of Canada's most prolific individuals in the arts and has acted as a memory space. Novelists Mordecai Richler and Michel Tremblay and poets Irving Layton, A.M. Klein and Leonard Cohen were all influenced by this area. Canada's most prestigious award for fiction, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, was named after journalist Doris Giller, a native to the area.

[edit] Depictions in popular culture

Sass Jordan's 1992 hit single "Going Back Again" also depicts Saint Lawrence Boulevard as the dividing line between Montreal's English and French cultures, expressing the hope that "Someday we will come together/Reach across this great divide". There is a novel by Trevanian titled The Main that is set in this district of Montreal. It depicts a lurid neighbourhood that bears little resemblance to the Main of our times.

Entrance to Montreal's Chinatown, St. Lawrence at Rene Levesque Boulevard.
Entrance to Montreal's Chinatown, St. Lawrence at Rene Levesque Boulevard.

[edit] Neighbourhoods

Today, Saint Lawrence is home to Little Italy (between Saint-Zotique and Jean-Talon streets), Montreal's Chinatown (between Viger Street and René Lévesque Boulevard), a bar district (roughly between Sherbrooke and Duluth streets), and Montreal's Little Portugal, clustered around Duluth and Rachel Streets.

[edit] Attractions

Numerous art galleries and other cultural organizations make their home on the Main. including La Centrale/Powerhouse (Canada's oldest women's artist-run centre), Ethnik-art, The Festival du Nouveau Cinema, Festival International Nuits d'Afrique, the Montreal Fringe Festival, Image & Nation Festival, My Hero Gallery, and Sensation Mode. Many well-known music venues can be found on the Main, including Casa del Popolo, Sala Rosa, Club Soda, Barfly, Jupiter Room, Main Hall, Club Lambi, The Academy Club and Divan Orange. The street is also home to the National Theatre School as well as the Ex-Centris cinema complex, adjacent to the offices of Softimage. Gastronomic highlights include Montreal's famous smoked meat deli, Schwartz's.

Twice each summer, a street fair closes The Main from Sherbrooke Street to Mount Royal Avenue, once to begin the season in mid-June, and a second time to close it the weekend before Labour Day.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hamilton, Graeme. "'The Main' Acknowledged as Historic Site." National Post. 28 September 2002, page A5.

[edit] References

  • Podmore, Julie. 1999. St. Lawrence Boulevard as a Third City: Place, Gender and Difference along Montréal's 'Main'. PhD Dissertation: McGill University.
  • Tremblay, Michel. 1976. Sainte Carmen de la Main. Montréal: Leméac.
  • Richler, Mordecai. 1969. The Street. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.

[edit] External links

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