when montreal was king

[kool maudit]

for our older forumers,

 

what was montreal like when it was still the largest city in canada? did it have a different feeling than it does now? did it feel central to the national goings-on in a way it no longer does?

[Loc']

Montréal était la plus grande ville du Canada jusqu'en 1976. Je ne pense pas qu'il y ait beaucoup de forumeurs qui ont bien connu cette période...

[Habsfan]

for our older forumers,

 

what was montreal like when it was still the largest city in canada? did it have a different feeling than it does now? did it feel central to the national goings-on in a way it no longer does?[/QUOTE]

 

 

I doubt it cause the media wasn't as present as it is today (24H news networks) T.V., Satellite T.V). etc...

Modifié 4 novembre 2009 par Habsfan

[MartinMtl]

I came to live in Montreal in 1981. Back then, the city was not as beautiful as it is now. Surface parking lots everywhere (including on McGill College, which looked like a war zone back then); no Old port; Old Montreal looked terrible (especially the western part), etc. Since then, there has been MANY improvements (to parks, public spaces, historic buildings, street furnitures...). Back then, the city looked more empty because of all those surface parkings lots and historic buildings left to rot. Take a walk today on René-Lévesque east of Guy Street: that is what Montreal looked like back then almost everywhere: depressing.

Modifié 4 novembre 2009 par MartinMtl

[Malek]

R-L is depressing east of Guy???? Are you talking about the whole length, or the blocks up to Lucien lallier?

[MTLskyline]

I'm sure that as late as the mid-1960s the city was still quite beautiful. My guess is that something drastic happened between Expo 67 and the Olympics in 1976 (Drapeau attempting to modernize the city and rid it of its "outdated" architecture). I guess some major demolition work happened in the nearly 30 years Jean Drapeau was mayor. Drapeau certainly put Montreal on the map, but perhaps he took away a bit of its soul at the same time.

 

However, it was because of these major mistakes, in my opinion, that the city has become paranoid of new development, even on empty lots. People rightfully don't want to go back to the 1970s/80s, but they really overreact, preventing any kind of progress whatsoever (meaning that previously demolished buildings would take a long time to be replaced).

 

That said, I know looking at those "Then and now" photos on spacing Montreal that we have improved considerably since the 1980s.

 

I was born after Drapeau left office. Although I do remember even in the 1990s that Montreal was a lot more run down and empty feeling than it is today. There seemed to be a lot more crime then as well. I think that Pierre Bourque was a good mayor who largely fixed a lot of things up (and gets zero credit for it - all people remember him for is the megacity). Since Tremblay has been in, things continue to improve for the most part.

[MartinMtl]

R-L is depressing east of Guy???? Are you talking about the whole length, or the blocks up to Lucien lallier?

 

The block up to Lucien Lallier.

[MartinMtl]

I'm sure that as late as the mid-1960s the city was still quite beautiful. My guess is that something drastic happened between Expo 67 and the Olympics in 1976 (Drapeau attempting to modernize the city and rid it of its "outdated" architecture). I guess some major demolition work happened in the nearly 30 years Jean Drapeau was mayor. Drapeau certainly put Montreal on the map, but perhaps he took away a bit of its soul at the same time.

 

However, it was because of these major mistakes, in my opinion, that the city has become paranoid of new development, even on empty lots. People rightfully don't want to go back to the 1970s/80s, but they really overreact, preventing any kind of progress whatsoever (meaning that previously demolished buildings would take a long time to be replaced).

 

That said, I know looking at those "Then and now" photos on spacing Montreal that we have improved considerably since the 1980s.

 

I was born after Drapeau left office. Although I do remember even in the 1990s that Montreal was a lot more run down and empty feeling than it is today. There seemed to be a lot more crime then as well. I think that Pierre Bourque was a good mayor who largely fixed a lot of things up (and gets zero credit for it - all people remember him for is the megacity). Since Tremblay has been in, things continue to improve for the most part.

 

This is all very true. But the slaughter began earlier, in the late fifties, with the demolition of thousand of greystones downtown, to be replaced by concrete towers and surface parking lots.

 

Il n'y a pas si longtemps, un parking de deux étages trônait en face de l'Hôtel de ville sur la place Jacques-Cartier... On a fait du chemin depuis!

[francely57]

Montréal était la plus grande ville du Canada jusqu'en 1976. Je ne pense pas qu'il y ait beaucoup de forumeurs qui ont bien connu cette période...

 

Oui mais (à part pour les finances) ça restait toujours débattable jusqu'à presque ~1990. (quelqu'un de plus âgé peut me corriger si je me trompe?)

 

Il doit y en avoir plusieurs ici qui se rappellent l'époque où Montréal avait beaucoup plus d'influence sur le reste du pays.

[marco]

En fait le saccage a commencé au milieu des années 50 avec l'élargissement du boulevard René-Lévesque, la construction du métro a causé aussi beaucoup de dommages car certains tunnels ont été construits en tranchée, donc ce qui était au dessus à été démoli, les promoteurs qui ont construits des immeubles insignifiants à la place de belles maisons anciennes dans les années 60 et 70, comme le complexe la Cité sur Milton, et je pourrais en énumérer d'autres, mais ça serais trop long...

 

Mcgill college début des années 60, avant la place Montréal Trust (1988), le Centre Eaton,(1990) beaucoup de stationnements.

 

René-Lévesque vers l'ouest, début des années 60

 

Vers le sud début les années 60, avant le Marriott (1967), le 1000 (1992)

 

1977 construction de l'hôtel Sheraton

 

Donc, j'aime mieux Montréal d'aujourd'hui, que celui des années 60-70, car certaines erreurs ont été réparées, avec le développement Montréal va s'améliorer.