The Bilingual Pleasures of Montreal

If montreal were located in Europe instead of in North America, it would probably be as popular with Americans as London and Paris, for Canada's biggest city is also one of the Western world's most beautiful and stylish metropolises. For some reason, however, proximity has bred relative indifference and neglect and, with the exception of the Northeastern states, America knows and cares little about Montreal. But that's changing fast, thanks to such disparate developments as Expo 67, the Quebec separatist movement, last fall's police strike and resulting mass riot, baseball's National League expansion and John and Yoko's Bed-in for peace.

Montreal has evolved radically in the past decade. A nation whose favorite Sixties politician was John F. Kennedy, Canada now has its own cool head of state, Pierre Trudeau, who probably wishes that Sergeant Preston could come in from the cold to occasionally deal with Montreal's rambunctious and revolutionary new generation--unisexers, English and Australian modsters, U. S. hippies and straights dodging the draft, leftist college students and a huge influx of Canadian kids from the farms of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. Long the New World's bastion of Gallic grace, quiet and contemplative joys, Montreal has become a citadel of and for youth.

If the city begins the Seventies not quite certain what to make of its young people--or of itself, for that matter--perhaps it's because Montreal's transformations have occurred in so short a time. As recently as 1966, less than a third of Montreal's 2,500,000 population was under the age of 34; the percentage has shot up considerably since then, as the next census will undoubtedly show. Montreal during the (text continued on page 130) past decade also underwent an almost total civic face lifting; high-rise hotels, luxury apartment buildings and ultramodern office complexes altered its skyline from stately to futuristic, while the world's most ingenious network of underground shopping plazas and a spectacularly designed subway system were built beneath the sidewalks. The result is that Montreal--located on a 32-mile-long, 10-mile-wide island in the St. Lawrence--has become a show place of modern urban living. And because of its compactness (it covers less than half of the island), the city's myriad divertissements are almost all within walking distance or a ten-minute cab ride.

But before you begin pursuing the city's pleasures, you'll need a base of operations; and since Montreal's best hotels are constantly crowded, make certain your travel agent confirms a booking well in advance of your departure. Three of Montreal's finest hotels are centrally located architectural eye stoppers, each unique in its own way. Le Château Champlain, built and run by Canadian Pacific Railways (which merits its reputation for hotel excellence), is a 35-story edifice with Moorish-looking bay windows that lend it an external elegance more than matched once you step inside. The rooms (20 to a floor) come equipped with a wealth of push-button amenities and decor that is tastefully lavish. Even the baths are distinctive--Portuguese marble is used instead of tile. The Hotel Bonaventure, two blocks east of Le Château Champlain, is an example of inspired planning and execution. Perched atop the world's largest convention mart, the Bonaventure is a penthouse hotel, with guest rooms tucked away on levels leading from the main floor. It often seems as if the Bonaventure holds no more than 50 guests--even though its 400 rooms nearly always play to capacity. The standard double rooms are the largest of any Montreal hotel and the staff (costumed Chinese bellhops, doormen dressed in Napoleonic outfits) is energetic, if a bit bizarrely attired. The year-round outdoor pool is something to remember, especially if you swim during the wintertime: Hot air keeps the water temperature up and you can enter and exit through a heated swimway without catching a chill.

The other space-age caravansary is the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, occupying half a city block in downtown Montreal and less like a hotel than a stationary luxury liner. As noted in our chart on page 128, the Queen E. contains 1216 rooms and, in spite of its size, offers such uniformly excellent services that it could never be accused of impersonality. Even the fact that it always houses conventioneers doesn't prove noisome. Hilton manages it and seems to do a better job there than in most of the hotels bearing the chain's own name. A few other choices, all of which can prove as pleasant as the three above: the Ritz Carlton Hotel (where Liz and Dick spent their wedding night), a gracious if a bit too formal Celebrityville; Le Martinique Motor Inn, which lacks cachet in its name but not in its accommodations; the Windsor, a charming and pleasant inn with splendid high-ceilinged guest rooms and Victorian-furnished public rooms; and the Sheraton-Mount Royal, a solid choice if you're in on business and want the company of other executives on the road. If we prefer Le Château Champlain and the Hotel Bonaventure, it's because their architecture and their sense of singularity are so much in character with Montreal's shift into high-powered urbanity.

But all is hardly la vie en rose in this second-largest French-speaking city in the world. During the Sixties, while all the new buildings were going up, Montreal's sense of Frenchness was also rising--and causing major problems. Nearly 80 percent of the city's residents are French; and in the past several years, Montreal has been the guiding force of La Révolution Québéçoise--the separatist movement that hopes to translate the province of Quebec's Gallic heritage into law. At the very least, the separatists want to make French both the province's official language and the first tongue taught to school children. But language and pride in France are only surface reasons for the controversy; the conflict really rests in the fact that the English colony controls most of the city's big commercial enterprises. The English haven't exactly helped the situation; Montreal's Britons, less than 20 percent of the population, tend to be generally contemptuous of French Canadians and rather heavily into the same kind of snob scene as England's own establishment. As a result of the friction, many of the impressive homes in the English preserve of West-mount are now up for sale; their owners have chosen to live in Toronto. And the rate of departure accelerates every time separatists set off another explosion. In the past two years, there have been more than 100 bomb incidents involving separatists, who usually warn authorities in advance, so that no deaths will result.

The city's French population makes a show of deploring radical separatists but silently wishes them success. Says a former police inspector (who didn't want to be named, because of his position in the city bureaucracy), "Most of the separatists are college students who, if they're not crazy kids, are Communist troublemakers from east European socialist countries--going to school here by government invitation. If there are more than 400 people committed to the separatist cause, I'd be surprised." Yet, like most Montrealers, the speaker himself is a moderate Anglophobe not unduly upset when English economic interests take a tumble.

Planting bombs, however, can hardly be considered the style of Montreal's youth. If the city's collegiate population were polled for its top hero, Ché Guevara would undoubtedly come in a distant second to John Lennon. At the end of last spring, Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, staged a weeklong Bed-in for peace. Ensconced in a posh $100-a-day suite at the Queen Elizabeth, Lennon granted hundreds of interviews during his stay. While there, he also wrote what is coming to be known as the pacifist anthem, Give Peace a Chance, which he recorded in his room with the "Plastic Ono Band"--himself and Tom Smothers on guitar, Yoko walloping a clothes closet door and a Canadian rabbi as part of the chorus. By the end of November, Give Peace a Chance had sold close to 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone, which was precisely what Lennon was aiming for. Said the Beatle, "I hope to make peace into a product that will be big business for everybody. If war can be sold, so can peace." Such gentle revolutionary rhetoric is extremely appealing to the majority of Montreal's young generation, whose single most emphatic manifestation of independence seems to be the clothes it wears.

Strolling down Sherbrooke Street or St. Catherine Street, the city's leading commercial arteries, the visitor quickly becomes aware of what seems to be an endless parade of bright, tight-fitting blouses and tighter-fitting slacks. Avant-garde casualwear is the rule, and that still-radical clothing trend--unisex--has found a home away from home in Montreal. In the U.S., unisex is generally considered to be sexless or swishy; but in Montreal, it simply describes styles that can be worn by either sex, allowing each to be as masculine or as feminine as desired. Thus, a leading unisex garment --such as the stretch-cloth, one-piece jump suit--looks as good on a man as it does on a woman and quite different, as you might expect, on either. But be advised that Montreal's men tend to have European dimensions; recently, at Le Château, a well-recommended boutique on St. Catherine Street, a 6'2" American ripped up two extra-large jump suits just trying to get fitted; the average Montreal man is 5'7". Our chart lists several preferred men's establishments for those of average size.

Shopping is a passionate pastime of (continued overleaf) Montrealers. In addition to the specialty and department stores on St. Catherine and Sherbrooke, smaller thoroughfares--particularly Crescent and Mountain streets in midtown--are dotted with expensive designer boutiques, good antique shops and art galleries whose exhibitions run from Eskimo art to post-pop hyperrealism. One kick you can't possibly enjoy anywhere else--simply because no other city has it--is browsing through Montreal's connecting network of underground shopping plazas. In fact, it's possible to stay in many of the city's top central hotels, visit more than 300 shops, see films in a dozen theaters, dine in any of more than 50 restaurants--and never once step outside. The most convenient, central underground plazas to visit are the Place Ville Marie (below the Queen Elizabeth Hotel), the Place Bonaventure (below the Hotel Bonaventure) and the Place du Canada (below Le Chäteau Champlain). These three are connected by walkways; other underground shopping arcades are reached by Metro, Montreal's 15 1/2-mile-long super-subway. All 26 stations were designed by different teams of architects, and when the rubber-wheeled, noiseless trains whisk you to each immaculately maintained stop, you'll probably credit Montrealers with being clever enough to make even a subway ride a delight to the eye--and no strain on the ear.

You'll hardly have to dream up an excuse to ride the Metro, for it's the fastest way to get out to "Man and His World," Montreal's spectacular summer attraction that reopens this year on June 12. Mayor Jean Drapeau, in office since 1960, sold Canada on the idea of Expo 67 and, after the successful, exposition officially came to an end, he threatened to resign if it weren't continued as an annual event. Since Drapeau is credited with finding the financing for the Metro, as well as with being the key man in getting the National League to grant its first foreign franchise, Montrealers supported his plan for an annual exposition. So far, his magic touch is still intact; "Man and His World" has been, by all accounts, a striking success. Trying to capsulate the best of the exposition's more than 70 pavilions would be presumptuous, but a few recommendations, nevertheless: the U. S. pavilion--to see America the Beautiful, a 360-degree cinema odyssey across the nation; Sports, which features films of athletes such as former Montreal Canadian hockey star Maurice Richard and former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, and of great sporting events (e.g., the Indianapolis 500, the World Cup soccer match, the Stanley Cup pro-hockey play-off); and Strange, Strange World, which covers such mysterious phenomena as unidentified flying objects--and which so thoroughly shakes up visitors that it has become perhaps the most popular pavilion.

Adjoining "Man and His World" is La Ronde, a kind of urbane Disneyland spread over 135 acres. Of the many rides, the most exciting are the Gyrotron, a $3,000,000 simulation of a jaunt through outer space, and the Flume, a 1400-foot mock-up of a waterfall in which boats shaped like logs are sped down enough 50-foot drops to keep you out of breath. La Ronde also includes a 1500-seat discothèque, an aquarium and a Canadian wild-West show.

If the government seems to have invested heavily in projects that have the look of tomorrow, it hasn't ignored the city's yesterdays. Over the past seven years, more than $6,000,000 has been spent restoring the old quarter, Le Vieux Montréal. Although there are no structures left that go back to the years immediately postdating 1642, when 24 French settlers founded Montreal, dozens of 18th and 19th Century buildings have been restored. The result is that Le Vieux Montréal, a section of narrow, meandering streets, has the look and feel of old Europe. There are a number of local landmarks for rubbernecking, shops stocked with tourist art and entirely too many people with cameras. When it's not crowded, Le Vieux Montréal can be fascinating, so see it on a Sunday morning; even though the historic buildings will be closed, Old Montreal is fun to stroll through and there's a nifty little Sunday-A.M. flea market on the Rue St. Paul.

If Montreal provides nonstop diversions during the day, the evening action is even better. To begin with, this is among the finest cities in North America for dining, and it's difficult, indeed, to find a bad meal in any of the top 100 of the city's 5000 restaurants. Generally, you'll discover that lunches are just a bit on the expensive side and dinners frequently inexpensive, since most of the restaurants--including many of the better-known--apparently stick to one menu and don't vary their prices. There are as many subtleties in mood and food as can be conjured up, and the level of service is uniformly superior. Restaurants are most crowded from 7:30 to 9:30, and reservations are necessary for the city's better eating establishments. If you want classic French food, prepared impeccably and served royally amid surroundings that are elegant yet restrained, Chez Bardet is the place to get it. André Bardet, whose six culinary awards are listed on the menu, has made his restaurant an imperative for gourmets. A recent dinner for two, consisting of two cocktails each, Escargots à la Chablisienne (snails simmered in white wine), Tournedos Rossini (small filets mignons topped with pâté de foie gras). Steak à la Clermont (served in a cream-and-wine sauce), a bottle of medium-priced wine, desserts and coffee for two cost just under $50 with tip.

If you want to do it up without the formality of Chez Bardet, Le Castillion, an intimately lit, wood-paneled room in the Hotel Bonaventure, can be romantically rewarding. Strolling lady violinists provide soft music, and there's a wide choice of international dishes--from shish kabob to fondue Bourguignonne and Australian carpetbagger steak (stuffed with oysters). The Café Martin, one of the city's most respected restaurants, boasts a huge selection of fine French food and a knowledgeable clientele that appreciates it; try the Minced Chicken 21 (served in a white sauce over wild rice and topped with cheese). The Château Madrid dishes up seven different versions of paella and a flamenco show in its often-overcrowded quarters. Zum Schnautzer offers Alsatian specialties and decor to match; Osteria dei Panzoni, informal and Italian, has delicious cannelloni; the Bluenose Inn prepares such memorable gifts from the sea as doré, crab and scallops; and, for formal dining in Old Montreal, visit Le St. Amable and sample its Châteaubriand with truffles, topped with pâté de foie gras and a delicious Bordeaux-wine sauce. If you're at "Man and His World," you might want to stop in at Hélène-de-Champlain; it's formal and French, and the highest priced entrees on the menu--such as frogs' legs and filet mignon--cost only $4.50. For a treat, visit either of the two versions of A La Crêpe Bretonne, famous for huge paper-thin crepes and your choice of nearly 80 fillings. There are dozens of other worthy Montreal restaurants that could be recommended here as well, so don't merely stick to our list--go out and start your own.

After dinner, the city's night clubs and discothèques begin to fill up. Montreal has an inordinate number of spectacularly designed dance spots, and since unescorted young ladies are often in attendance, the discos should be your destination if you're flying solo at the outset of the evening. The highest-rated are Le Cercle, with a comparatively large dance floor bordered by a wall of pulsating lights; Le Vieux Rafiot (called Alfie's by the English clientele), very amiable and usually packed solid; the Whisky A Go Go, too filled with plastic for our taste, but host to a sybaritic clientele; La Licorne, the first disco in Montreal; and Plexi, whose dance floor is lit from underneath. Chez Zou Zou is our preference as an intimate spot for a nightcap; you won't be able to find room for (concluded on page 192)Pleasures of Montreal (continued from page 132) doing the popcorn or funky chicken, however; the dance floor appears to be slightly bigger than a waiter's tray. Another attractive disco is Epoca, but it has not as yet become a haunt of disco regulars. George's offers live rock music and, often enough, attractive female vocalists. Occasionally, owner George Durst brings his pet cheetah and lion cub to the establishment. Almost directly across from George's on Aylmer Street sits the $1,000,000 Montreal Playboy Club, one of the newest of our chain. The live, American-oriented entertainment featured in the Penthouse makes for a welcome change of pace, and there's topflight buffet dining in the Living Room.

Montreal's crowd of disco addicts decree what places are in or out and when, but the prerequisites for membership usually consist of nothing more than a tip to the doorman and striking up a conversation at the bar. In Plexi one evening, Rusty Staub, all-star first baseman for the Montreal Expos, told us, "It's really hard to stop in at two or three discothèques during a night and not meet a pretty girl." Redheaded Staub, known to Montrealers as le grand orange, has some practical advice for visiting Americans. "One thing I've found out: If a girl likes the way you look and you ask her to dance, no problem. But if she doesn't want to, she'll answer in French and try to make you feel like a dunce for not knowing her language." Says Paul Tietolman, whose family owns two Montreal radio stations, "The easiest way for a guy to score is just to make the rounds of the discothèques for a few nights. If he can't make it with a chick here, he can't make it anywhere."

If you've landed a feminine escort early in the evening, there are several late-evening alternatives at your disposal. Should you opt for midnight dinner and a show, La Salle Bonaventure at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel is one of the city's most elegant spots to visit. In Le Château Champlain, the Caf Conc, a glittering replica of a 19th Century Parisian music hall, presents a Follies-type revue; although the girls are rather overdressed, the vaudeville entertainment (recently, we watched a comedian-pickpocket-magician) is fun. And if you're in the vicinity of Old Montreal (many of the discos are located there), take her to Le Black Bottom, an informal haunt for soul sounds that regularly imports such talent as Muddy Waters.

By the end of several fast-paced nights and days, you'll begin believing you know the city and its people quite well. You will. And you won't. Case in point: Montreal's own conflict between youth and its elders--almost as abrasive as our own, but the city refuses to let it escalate, even under stress. We were in Montreal on the rainy October night the city's police force went out on strike and, cabbing back to our hotel, we ran into an enormous traffic jam at the busy intersection of St. Catherine and Peel streets. Our cab driver, who had been delivering a nonstop polemic about how students at McGill University and Sir George Williams University were probably responsible for the looting that had taken place earlier, was getting progressively angrier as we sat in the intersection. Suddenly, a young man appeared in the very center of the tied-up street and began directing traffic. "Well, maybe those college kids aren't so bad," said the driver. Instead of helping to clear the congested corner, however, it became apparent that the young man was deliberately fouling matters up further, much to his own amusement--and ours. We expected a string of obscenities from the driver, but instead he began chuckling. "One thing about the kids here," he said. "They're crazy, but they're all right." It was an amiable and rather sophisticated way of spanning the generation gap; and when the driver pulled up to our hotel, we asked him what he thought the average Montrealer feels about his city. "It's a great place to live," he said, "and I hope it stays that way. As long as the big factories don't give us air pollution, and as long as traffic doesn't get too bad, we'll be all right."

Earlier that day, we had asked the same question of an attractive Canadian girl who lives in an urban commune and attends Sir George Williams University. "Drapeau's administration," she said, "wants Montreal to be the first big North American city to solve urban problems such as air pollution and mass housing. The people know that their government is really behind them." We tried to think of an American metropolis where a 45-year-old cabdriver and a 20-year-old activist share similar (and equally optimistic) views about the place they live in. We couldn't.

canada's stylish cosmopolis celebrates youth, entertainment and the arts with urbane joie de vivre

Playboy's Capsule Guide to Montreal

Where to Stay

Hotel Bonaventure: a beautifully planned, excellently administered 400-room hostelry. You'll like the all-weather outdoor pool.

Le Chateau Champlain: a $35,000,000 edifice of apulence. Suites on 34th and 35th floors are experiences not to be missed.

Le Martinique Motor Inn: 211 rooms of elegance in the ultra-modern mode. Select a suite with open fireplace and wet bar.

Queen Elizabeth Hotel: a well-run city within a city--1216 comfortable rooms and every conceivable hotel service.

Ritz Carlton Hotel: its authentic Old World ambiance and outstanding management attract a steady celebrity clientele.

Sheraton-Mount Royal: a bustling haven for businessmen. Windsor: dignified Victorian atmosphere; graceful public rooms.

Where to Dine

A La Crepe Bretonne: about 80 choices of crepes; Brittany motif. Bluenose Inn: central spot for local seafood delicacies.

Cafe Martin: located in a converted brownstone. Menu features traditional French favorites; extensive wine list.

Le Castillion: Hotel Bonaventure's omate room for gourmets.

Chateau Madrid: flamenco dancers--and memorable paellas.

Chez Bardet: perhaps Montreal's finest French food; out of the way but well worth the trip. Try Le Steak à la Clermont.

Helene-De-Champlaln: located in a mansion on St. Helen's Island; formal atmosphere, fine Continental dining, surprisingly low tariff.

Le St. Amable: Old Montreal's handsomest; traditional French food. Osteria Dei Panzoni: mid-town mecca for Italian cuisine.

Zum Schnautzer: for Alsatian specialties such as quiche lorraine.

Where to Play

Caf' Conc: Le Château Champlain's version of a Vegas revue.

George's: informal and popular; live rock music and lively crowd.

Le Vieux Rafiot: "Alfie's" lures the city's prettiest girls.

La Salle Bonaventure: the Queen Elizabeth's fine supper club.

Le Black Bottom: Old Montreal's low-key setting for soulful jazz.

Playboy Club: one of our newest, biggest and busiest boites.

Plexi, Le Cercle, Whisky A Go Go, Epoca, La Licorne, Chez Zou Zou: beautiful discos for Montreal's Beautiful People.

What to Buy

Contemporary Canadian art--at Dominion, Galerie Godard Lefort, Galerie de Montreal, Galerie Libre and Jason Teff.

Custom-designed men's and women's jewelry--at Birks, Hans Gehrig, Hemsley's, Lucas, Maurice Brault and Walter Schlup.

Contemporary men's attire--at Le Château, Bessie's, Pierre Cardin, Brisson and Brisson, Hugh Scott, and Eaton's Marco Polo and Adam boutiques.

Eskimo (wood, leather and bone) handicrafts--at Canadian Guild of Crafts, Tournesol Métiers d'Art and Centrale D'Artisanat du Quebec. Sheepskin coats--at Sheepskin International, Eaton's, Ogilvy's.

Don't Leave Until You

spend as much time as you can touring "Man and His World"--the best of Expo 67, plus added attractions--now a permanent fair.

vist Old Montreal and its flea market on a Sunday morning.

browse through the city's network of underground shopping plazas.

make the boutiques, antique and gallery scenes along Crescent Street.

ride Montreal's pride, the Metro; all 26 underground stations were individually and imaginatively designed by master architects.

take her for a trip to the top of Mount Royal in a calèche.

enjoy La Ronde, the amusement park next to "Man and His World."

watch Montreal Expo fans root for un puissant frappeur (a home run).