A journey through Montreal’s notorious and naughty past
Montreal’s entertainment district is now dominated by upscale condos and open-air festivals, but there was a time when it was home to the most notorious red-light district in North America.
From 1925 to the early 1960s, the area’s seedy streets of the Paris of North America were lined with brothels and gambling dens.
Taverns catered to thirsty American clients running north to escape prohibition, while stars such as the legendary Lili St. Cyr entertained guests with tantalizing burlesque shows in the many nightclubs and cabarets.
Now, a Montreal company is launching a new walking tour that highlights the city’s history of racy entertainment, traces of which are still visible tucked among the bars and restaurants of the city’s entertainment district.
“We have this Quartier des Spectacles, and yet we don’t talk about the amazing performances that occurred there in the past, and (the city) even demolished a lot of the old theatres,” said Donovan King, the tour company’s co-owner.
On a recent tour, burlesque artist Marlene Borras — better known by her stage name, Lili Lollipop — led a group of visitors through the crowded downtown streets, holding a red lantern as she pointed out landmarks.
There’s the Ste-Catherine Street ice cream shop, once the annex to a hotel, which she said was the only building saved from a massive 1959 fire — reportedly because legendary gangster Al Capone used to like staying there.
Or the Monument National, described as Quebec’s oldest operating theatre, which once hosted a burlesque theatre called the Starland, as well as a wax museum in the basement.
In addition to a burlesque walking tour hosted by real performers such as Borras, the company is also offering a “haunted redlight tour” focused on ghost stories from the city’s sin-soaked past