- Saint Laurent Boulevard
"For the Ottawa road, see
St. Laurent Boulevard . For the Gatineau road called "Boulevard Saint-Laurent", seeBoulevard des Allumettières "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."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 , andAhuntsic-Cartierville to Rue Somerville at the edge ofRivière 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 firstreferendum on Quebec sovereignty. Fact|date=February 2007 The corner of Saint Lawrence and Saint Catherine streets is still known as ared-light district .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. [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=0f9dbe60-71b4-41ab-a43d-75c09fa82cb5&k=14381] Close to 30 stores have been forced to close; the remainder of street construction is now postponed until spring 2008 in an effort to help merchants survive. [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2007/12/01/qc-maindone1201.html]
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 the predominantly English-speaking population to the west, French-speaking population 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.
National Historic Site
In 2002, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada named Saint Lawrence Boulevard as [http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/lhn-nhs/det_E.asp?oqSID=1790&oqeName=The+Main&oqfName=La+%ABMain%BB 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." Hamilton, Graeme. "'The Main' Acknowledged as Historic Site." "National Post ". 28 September 2002, page A5.]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 andMichel Tremblay and poetsIrving Layton ,A.M. Klein andLeonard Cohen were all influenced by this area. Canada's most prestigious award for fiction, theScotiabank Giller Prize , was named after journalistDoris Giller , a native to the area.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 byTrevanian 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.Neighbourhoods
Today, Saint Lawrence is home to Little Italy (between Saint-Zotique and Jean-Talon streets), Mile End between Mount Royal and Van Horne Avenues, Montreal's Little Portugal, clustered around Duluth and Rachel Streets, a bar district (roughly between Sherbrooke and Duluth streets) and Montreal's Chinatown (between Viger Street and
René Lévesque Boulevard ).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 MontrealFringe Festival ,Image & Nation Festival ,My Hero Gallery , andSensation Mode . Many well-known music venues can be found on the Main, includingCasa del Popolo ,Sala Rosa ,Club Soda ,Barfly ,Jupiter Room ,Main Hall ,Club Lambi ,The Academy Club andDivan Orange . The street is also home to theNational Theatre School as well as theEx-Centris cinema complex, adjacent to the offices ofSoftimage . Gastronomic highlights include Montreal's famoussmoked meat deli,Schwartz's .Twice each summer, a street fair closes "The Main" from
Sherbrooke Street toMount Royal Avenue , once to begin the season in mid-June, and a second time to close it the weekend before Labour Day.Notes
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.External links
* [http://www.boulevardsaintlaurent.com/ Société de développement du boulevard St-Laurent]
* [http://www.restomontreal.ca/districts/montreal-stlaurent.php?lang=en/ A list of all restaurants along boulevard St-Laurent]
* [http://www.pc.gc.ca/culture/proj/main/blvd_e.asp Parks Canada - Boulevard Saint-Laurent]
* [http://www.nfb.ca/duneculturealautre/toutvoir_vis.php?mediaid=666166&full Watch "Our Street Was Paved with Gold," a 1973 NFB documentary on The Main]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/daybreakmontreal/st-laurent.html A series of CBC Daybreak Montreal broadcasts about The Main with Historian Pierre Anctil]
* [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060617.STREET17/TPStory/Travel/?pageRequested=all "Globe and Mail" article on The Main]
* [http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2003/041703/news3.html Montreal Mirror: History Passing us by]
* [http://www.jewishbulletin.ca/Archives/Oct02/archives02Oct04-08.html Jewish Bulletin: Remembering "The Main", 4 October 2002]
* [http://www.imtl.org/montreal/search.php?kind=2&vsearch=1&m=1&borough=0&subType=0&sub=Chercher&TYPE=&location=Saint-Laurent&interval=10&resume=2&sortBy=FLOOR&sortType=ASC Pictures of Saint Lawrence boulevard on Image Montreal IMTL.org]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.