Montreal Taverns In Bygone Days

[old faithful]

I would like to offer reminiscences of Montreal taverns and their customs in the period from 1968-1982. In 1968 I first became of age to drink, and in 1982 I left Montreal to live in Toronto.

In 1968, taverns did not admit women. This was a hold-over from earlier times when beer drinking was regarded essentially as a man's pastime and a tavern was not a place for a lady. There did not exist the women's beverage room or mixed beverage room as in Ontario. Of course, women could frequent a bar proper and most of these were in full-scale restaurants or hotels.

I recall that while people of all backgrounds went to taverns, it seemed to attract more middle and working class people, and of course students.

There were so-called (or so I heard it termed when living there) French taverns, English taverns and mixed or downtown taverns. Of course, these distinctions were not airtight. Still, on the west side of town one usually heard English spoken, e.g., in N.D.G., lower Westmount and Snowdon. In the downtown tavern it was mixed or French-speaking except perhaps in pockets around Guy and Ste. Catherine and parts of Verdun perhaps where English endured. East of Bleury Street the taverns tended to be French-speaking.

The food however was similar in all: pizzas, hamburgers, french fries with or without gravy (I never saw poutine when growing up in Montreal), ham steak, large sausages with brown gravy and onions (McGarry's or La Belle Fermiere and good!), pork chops, veal escalope, and tourtiere sometimes. And omelettes too: cheese, plain, ham and cheese, with mushrooms, etc. An omelette with french fries was a popular order. Also, grilled cheese sandwiches.

The beer was a draft from Molson or Labatt or O'Keefe before it merged with Molson I think it was. I distinctly remember one time in the Mansfield Tavern south of McGill University remarking with friends that the beer oddly looked green. It wasn't St. Patrick's Day. It had a light tint of hops but we did not know what hops were. This did not prevent our enjoyment of the beer.

Even then, before I cared really about beer quality or had purchased my first beer book (called A Book on Beer by John [yes] Porter), for some reason I watched what people ordered. You sometimes heard a call for a "tablette" (shelf beer), which meant the drinker wanted it unchilled. At the time I marveled that anyone would drink beer voluntarily in this way but now I often drink it that way myself.

I noticed too the odd dark beer served, porter. The brand I recall was Porter Champlain. It tasted to me like black licorice and I didn't really like it but I kept tasting it in the early 70's so that my palate was attuned to a better-quality ale by the time I noticed imports in the SAQ and the micro thing started. In the spring, some breweries released a "bock" which was stronger than regular beer and tawny-coloured. Brador was popular for its extra strength. Apparently at one time it was an "ale" and was better before it became a "malt liquor" (I remember people talking like this if they were interested in beer beyond the norm).

Sometimes, people would order beer and say, "la table", which meant, cover the table (small round tables) in drafts! Students would do this after exams, say. Or one might say in the Montreal argot: "donnez moi deux draff". Or, "une grosse Molson, svp". Molson and Labatt 50 in the so-called quarts (22 oz. I believe and you can still get them) were popular.

There was usually a choice of beers from the big three in bottles but the draft only came from one of them (in each tavern I mean). I remember that Labatt Blue, even in French taverns and even well before Budweiser and Miller started in Montreal, was making inroads on the typical tavern beer which was Molson Export, Labatt 50, O'Keefe Ale or Laurentide Ale. I liked all of these.

There were no imports available, not even Heineken. No American beers either until licensed Miller and Bud came in in the later 70's. You could get some of these at English-style pubs and some restaurants in Montreal but not in a tavern.

Student taverns, like the "Manse", had their own character and I guess every tavern did. I recall the popular waiter at the Manse in my time was "Red" (after his russet-coloured hair), he was a genial yet dignified man who enjoyed a joke and worked hard at his job. I recall one other waiter at the Manse, taller than Red with dark curly hair, equally good at his job. At another place, on Beaver Hall Hill where I went occasionally after I started working, a waiter surprised me because of his English background. Of course there were and are many Anglophones in Quebec but not too many at that time, at least in my experience, worked in taverns because your French had to be perfect and Anglophones then tended to be less bilingual than many French Canadians. But this man spoke perfect French, I forget now where he had learned it, maybe he grew up in the East End and I think he may have told me he was an ex-policeman. He was a dapper gent who, like the guys at the Manse, was a hard worker and proud of the good job he did.

If business was brisk they wouldn't tarry but otherwise they would take the time to have a word, share a joke, and ask about you and your family.

I never recall any significant unpleasantness in taverns. I tended to have a couple of beers, eat and leave, and at night I went home or (earlier) studied in the school library, so no doubt I didn't stay late enough to see any bad stuff. I think I do remember now the odd argument or fight, and people were then ejected, but this was a rarity in my experience.

Some of the taverns (returning to food now) specialised in a certain kind of food. Kraussman made great pig's knuckles in an Alsatian style - there was a fashion for such pubs then in Montreal. Kraussman still exists, not too far south of its original location, on Beaver Hall Hill or rather, today, Cote Beaver Hall. I haven't been there in 20 years but I am sure the "PN" is as good as ever!. Magnan specialised in roast beef dishes - and still does.

The Montreal tavern was a kind of fused Franco-English-Italian institution in the sense of the people that worked and patronised them and beer and food offered. It had its own character and while it was never a lionised part of Montreal life (since it had a downmarket image), it had features of its own which were interesting to a young person living in Montreal at the time who was trying to get beneath the surface a little about the drinks and food served and people you encountered there. Of course, it was male-only and everyone (almost) could see by the early 70's that this was outmoded and had to change. And it did, in the form of a renascent style of tavern called the "brasserie". The brasserie was okay but for some raeson I never liked them. When the old tavern started to disappear, I started to buy imports at the SAQ and bring back beers from the States including the then-new micro beers. And I started to go to the faux-English and Irish pubs. Soon, too, Quebec started to have its own brewpubs and small breweries.

As Ray Davies of The Kinks sang in the song Walter, "people [and institutions I'd add] often change but memories of people can remain".

Gary

[Bobsy]

Really interesting post, thanks for sharing. I've often wondered hat it would be like to hop in a time machine and have lunch in an old bar somewhere, although I suppose that there were not so many micros available in the 70s.

[Uncle Bobby]

Great stories, Gary. Fond memories seem to swirl out and back into the haze of time. Like an NFB "Vignette".

Toronto had a similar scene, although I am a few years behind you, and many of the names my Dad mentioned were gone by the time I hit the drinking age in 1982. By that time the best taverns were all the old tap rooms along Queen West (which formed one long pub crawl with a punk soundtrack), and the Morrissey Hotel on Yonge below Church.

A few still remain in my neighbourhood: the Linsmore, the Ulster Arms and the Duke of York. But they are shells of their former selves. It was never really about the quality of the food and drink at these places, as fondly as you recall them and as fun as you make them sound. It was -- to my mind anyways -- about the atmosphere which was overwhelmingly male, loud and smokey.

And I do recall the beer giving me some wicked hangovers regardless of how much I did or did not drink. I've alway assumed it was a result of formaldehyde or some other preservative in the keg. But at least one only had to show the waiter fingers from across the room to order the round.

Thanks again,

Brian

[Tapsucker]

Fantastic log! Thank You!

My vintage is from the early 80's (at least legally). I used to travel to Montreal often to visit friends. I remember the most charming taverns being in the east end. I speak barely a word of French, but I always felt welcome with my friends and I suppose I would have been taken care of alone too. Many of my French friends claimed that I was the only English guy they knew that people never felt I had a chip on my shoulder so even most ardent separatist would warm up to me despite my language deficit. Alas, it never seemed to work with the women.

In the west end there were (and still are) Irish themed pubs (not like our corporate ones), that felt very much like what you describe with the exception that women were always welcome. I still like these places when I visit, they feel very down to earth. Once I arrived during a hockey riot and had to take cover. I don't care squat about pro-sports, so I had no idea it was a Montreal-Toronto thing and Toronto had just lost. When word got out that I was from Toronto, several strangers bought me beers.

I had friends take me to brasseries claiming that these places usually had better food than the taverns. I found the food so bad at the brasseries that I was always afraid to try it in the taverns!

BTW, the 'table fulls' or 'table rounds' were common in many Toronto taverns too. Especially before happy hours were banned. I remember a couple Queen St. dives where it was a nickel a glass.

[old faithful]

Thanks for these comments, I appreciate them.

I thought I'd add that Dow Ale was big too in the Montreal tavern until around 1970 when a scandal involving an additive occurred. Some big drinkers of Dow in Quebec City died and it was alleged that the foam enhancer may have had something to do with it although it was never proven.

About tavern architecture: there is not much to say! The tavern was bare bones really, many looked like rec rooms. The round tables were solid though and the wooden chairs comfortable - I saw them almost unchanged not long ago in Montreal in that place I mentioned south of Ste. Catherine on Peel Street.

I do not recall hearing music in the tavern. There was a tv usually, near the ceiling in the corner, but no music, recorded or other.

But like the Ontario beverage room there was lots of smoke from cigarets! I smoked my share, the brands were the same probably as in Ontario: Player's, Export "A", Craven "A", Rothmans, etc.

Gary