Boulevard Saint-Laurent – La Main

main artery dividing east from west. what we call the main is a section of town between sherbrooke street and mont-​royal street.
it still is a busy street despite slowly dying for some years now. there’s some gems and lots of bad like the wired crossing lights. good idea but poorly executed. the streets surrounding the main is where you’ll find most of the gems. its a big part of why you’ll be on the main.
and all the repairs throughout the year makes this a very bad street to be stuck on, cars or bus.
anyway, the main becomes something to behold late night on those summer days. its definitely more interesting than ste-​catherine, that’s for sure.

There is a street in this town where you can find anything. It’s very similar to magician’s black hat — you can pull white rabbit from there, or bouquet of flowers. That hat… errr… Boulevard… is named St. Laurent.
At day time, you will find small boutiques, coffee shops, banks and delis opening their doors.
You can go into small yards in zigzag fashion and admire street art. I can truly say it has one of the best urban graffiti art collection I’ve seen.
You can stop at every historical building line and gawk at sidewalk plaques that tell you dates they were built or rebuilt.
At night, it lights up with funky pole signs and restaurants windows. Bars with hidden doors and iron clad bouncers guarding them. Burlesque clubs and English pubs tempting you with dances and drinks.
…as I said, everything is here. This street is always alive, ²⁴⁄₇.
I am loving it.

La Main is across the street from Montréal’s more famous smoked meat delicatessen, and for that reason I overlooked it for a long time. Little did I know that I was missing out, not getting the amazing assortment of Hebraic delights when I waited in line for a sandwich. Oh, the pickles! The matzoh ball soup!
We need to have a separate discussion about the latkes. Now, I’ve never had a bad latke. I can’t imagine there are many bad latkes in this world. But I’ve never had a latke like this. These latkes don’t mess around. They’re huge and perfectly crispy. They come with sour cream but you should get applesauce on the side because there is a lot of latke to love.
Next time you have guests from out of town and they want smoked meat, bring them to La Main and skip the line-​up, get some latkes instead.

The Main is closed for one weekend in June and one weekend in August for a great big street fest where the retail shops on the strip sell last seasons goods at crazy discounts. There are some stylish things, and some insane looking things like neon macramé dress shirts for men! Every bar and restaurant on the strip extends a patio onto the street, and most locals start on the pitchers in the sun early so as to maximize crazy people watching time. The area around Prince Arthur gets really crowded and clubby. Up around Rachel it’s a little easier to breathe, and you are more likely to see those Chilean guys with the pan pipes, or that little girl who defies all child labour laws by slaying on the accordion for hours in the sun. (Who are your parents!!?)
In general, the Main is what it sounds like; kinda the main drag. A little piece of it’s heart died when the monuments and gravestones yard that used to haunt the heart of it was shut down, but as it stretches further and further north it keeps sprouting out new life and new hopes for business owners and remains one of the classic spots for late night roving, bike rides, and shot walks.

How cool is it that a section of the street is consistently closed to cars and vehicle traffic? The section of Saint Laurent Boulevard (also known as «the Main») in Montréal is the street food loving, patio chilling, bargain shopping sidewalk sales (or ventes trottoirs) heaven.
When the weather in June is still raining and cold in Vancouver, it is sunny and very much summer in Montréal. Take the Metro to nearby stations of either Station Sherbrooke, Station Berri-​UQAM, or Station Mont-​Royal. A few minutes walk will land you on the street where beers are cheap and patios abound. I truly love how Montréal embraces patio life. Even random streets in the Finance district will land you a sexy open table with some delicious Sangria!
Even if you are parched from the sun you can option to sit inside the bar while people watching.
$ 4 Pinte, $ 12 Pitchers, avg $ 5 bottles
Meat galore — Hungarian sausages, sauerkraut
Visit the ever so busy Schwartz’s Montréal Hebrew Delicatessen. They have some killer smoked meat that are super tender and juicy!
If eating isn’t your thing, there are plenty of tees on sale and questionable dog grooming for your entertainment!
After all this, maybe it‘s time to head back to the hotel for a power nap or visit the beautiful McGill University.

Le boulevard St-​Laurent est l’axe le plus important de Montréal, celui à partir duquel on se repère sur un plan. Par exemple quand on vous donne l’adresse suivante: 55 rue Ste-​Catherine EST, cela va dire que c’est le numéro 55 à l’est de St-​Laurent. De même le 55 OUEST de Ste-​Catherine se trouvera à l’exact opposé, à l’ouest de St-​Laurent donc. C’est bête mais si on né vous précise pas ça avant votre arrivée à Montréal vous pouvez très facilement vous retrouvez très, très loin de votre destination: à l’exact opposé en fait!
Cette situation centrale vaut au boulevard le nom francophone de La Main qui assez ironiquement vient de l’Anglais Main Street. Il y a d’ailleurs très régulièrement la fête de la Main, une sorte de marché un peu festif durant lequel le boulevard est rendu aux piétons entre Mont-​Royal et Sherbrooke. Vous pouvez y aller pour l’ambiance et les petits shows qui sont organisés de-​ci de-​là, mais n’y allez pas spécialement pour du shopping: ce sont exactement les mêmes magasins que d’habitude, AUX MÊMES PRIX QUE D’HABITUDE, mais avec la foule de curieux en plus, donc vraiment pas l’idéal pour magasiner. Sauf si bien sûr vous raffolez à ce point des bains de foules…
Autre détail intéressant, La Main a longtemps été considéré comme la ligne de démarcation entre le Montréal anglophone (à l’Est) et le Montréal francophone (à l’Ouest donc). C’est toujours en partie vrai, même si cette frontière tend de plus en plus à disparaître.
Enfin, le boulevard et ses nombreuses petites boutiques de mode sera parfait pour les Fashionista qui souhaiteront trouver une alternative aux grosses enseignes de la rue Ste-​Catherine.