Why does everyone love Montreal?

RWin · #1 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:27 PM**

I've never been there so I really don't know. For my entire life it's been some city out east somewhere. A one time largest in Canada. Thats pretty much all I know about it.

So tell me about Montreal. As in what makes it a great place.

NOTE: The thread title isn't sarcasm.

kool maudit · #2 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:31 PM**

because it's fun and pretty, and it's the only place in the world where english and french share space in this manner. it has a well-defined sense of place, and a lot of things that are peculiar to it. it's a 400-year-old eastern city with a millions of people, and it's canada's only example of the type.

vanatox · #3 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:32 PM**

Can we just stop those kind of thread? Just look at what is happening in the other thread on the city we shall not name...

Martin Mtl · #4 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:34 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWin

I've never been there so I really don't know. For my entire life it's been some city out east somewhere. A one time largest in Canada. Thats pretty much all I know about it.

Can't you read a map of your own country ? The way you put it, you seem genuinely proud of your own ignorance.

I've never been to Vancouver, or Calgary, or Edmonton, or Winnipeg. Yet I know a lot about all those cities, because I'm interested in urbanity and geography and history.

Martin Mtl · #5 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanatox

can we just stop those kind of thread? Just look at what is happening in the other thread on the city we shall not name...

+1

Coldrsx · #6 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:39 PM**

Never been to Montreal? Go and you can answer your own question.

Quite possibly my favourite city in Canada.

See you June 6-10 for Formula Un

SignalHillHiker · #7 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:43 PM**

I think what I love most about visiting Montreal is how disconnected it is from the Canada that I know. It's something I relate to very much.

And it also has an added layer: there isn't a large and visible Newfoundland community. We tend to behave like immigrants from overseas when we move to mainland Canada. We congregate in the same neighbourhoods of the same cities, the local grocery stores add Newfoundland Foods sections beside their Kosher and Asian aisles, we tend to still associate, date, marry other Newfoundlanders.

When I visit Toronto, Calgary, etc... I experience the city through this lens. Even in Boston - I was invited to a Great Big Sea concert. People from Newfoundland took me out for dinner.

Montreal strips all of this away for me. It's one of the few cities where I feel completely foreign and isolated, which is very liberating.

And that's before we even get to the city itself... which has a spectacular setting, a gorgeous old town, an impressive downtown, a lovely mix of beautiful and utilitarian buildings, leaning mostly toward the former.

The people have a style. You can always tell at the airport which seating area is for a flight to Montreal.

It just has a great presence. It's a cohesive whole from my outsider's perspective. It has its own strong and confident identity, and rhythm. Montreal isn't chasing anyone else. It just is. Comfortable in its own skin, like my own city.

And it's fascinating in a geopolitical sense as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the Montreal we see today is like the Sarajevo of the 1980s - a brief moment in time when history seemed not to matter and different people joined to build something great and share in it together.

There's just so much... interest. There are so many layers.

Acajack · #8 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

And it's fascinating in a geopolitical sense as well. I wouldn't be surprised if the Montreal we see today is like the Sarajevo of the 1980s - a brief moment in time when history seemed not to matter and different people joined to build something great and share in it together.

.

Not too much I hope...

SignalHillHiker · #9 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:57 PM**

Sorry, I didn't chase that comparison to its logical conclusion. I think I can say that the Canadian military won't lay siege to Montreal if Quebec declares independence. And, if it does, I'm coming to fight on your side. Promise.

EDIT: Unless you go for Labrador.

jigglysquishy · #10 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 2:59 PM**

I'll bring it up from an urban standpoint and why its always lauded as Canada's gem in urban planning circles.

We all know the benefits of density, but a key point is how that density is achieved. Miles of rowhouses, where you are always close to street level and have shops on every corner is far more desirable than a square mile of 150m tall glass condos. The key to effective city building is to have users engage with the street on a frequent level. Montreal achieves this in spades. Anything on the island is always active and the inner ring still achieves busy density. Contrast this to a Vancouver or Toronto, where highrise condos dominate the urban parts of the city. If you're on the 20th floor you don't engage with the street. You don't know the people in your building. You realistically live in a suburb in the sky. Go to a Toronto neighbourhood that has the short, 5-6 story rowhouses and you'll see a vibrancy that is unmatched in the actual downtown.

You'll hear a lot of arguments in this thread about streetlife or vibrancy, and that's certainly true, but it all stems from how the density is achieved.

Add to this a "uniqueness" to the language, more liberal alcohol laws, and history that is unmatched anywhere in the country.

Basically, if you buy into the Jane Jacobs style of urban planning, Montreal works because people engage with the street. Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, etc. have this as well, but not nearly at the volume that Montreal does.

One last thing, I think Toronto is viewed as more of a corporate centre, whereas Montreal is viewed as a cultural centre. I also think Montreal is defined out westby the island, where Toronto is defined by the suburbs.

Black Star · #11 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:03 PM**

Mmmmmm....Shoe stores! Odd tho...had a hard time finding one on St Cathrine St!!!

Montreal Smoked meat Sandwich...with extra sized pickle.

Tony · #12 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:07 PM**

It's got a certain je ne sais quoi about it. I do prefer it in many, many ways over Toronto.

Darkoshvilli · #13 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:10 PM**

Because you can touch strippers and buy alcohol at every street corner.

Acajack · #14 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:11 PM**

Looking at this from another angle (possibly from the dark side of the yang)...

I do think that most of the Montreal lovers in the ROC are sincere, but I have often wondered if some of the love from certain people isn't more because they don't want to appear anti-French or anti-la différence. People don't want to be judged as unsophisticated yokels who can't appreciate a really different city, and because of this, love for Montreal becomes de rigueur and the generalized view.

Sort of like Americans who say Michelle Obama is beautiful or gorgeous because they don't want to appear racist.

SignalHillHiker · #15 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:14 PM**

I think it's because Vaillant is so cute.

Seriously, though, I think you're over-estimating the extent to which anglophones want not to appear anti-francophone. It doesn't come into my thought process at all. I know some of my views could be classified as pro-francophone, and some the other way.

Ramako · #16 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:16 PM**

I know that it's pretty much a tourist trap, but my favourite thing about Montreal is probably the Old Port. I also love the pedestrian-only spaces like La Gauchetière through Chinatown.

The downtown core feels a little small to me though.

Drybrain · #17 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:19 PM**

Because, despite everything that's wrong with it (crazy language politics, xenophobia, rampant corruption, sky-high unemployment, low incomes, and high taxes) it's just an objectively awesome city. Physically and culturally, it works. And you can get a sense of that from a one-day stopover or a month-long immersion.

Acajack · #18 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I think it's because Vaillant is so cute.

Seriously, though, I think you're over-estimating the extent to which anglophones want not to appear anti-francophone. It doesn't come into my thought process at all. I know some of my views could be classified as pro-francophone, and some the other way.

It's only a theory, and I don't think a majority of pro-Montreal anglos are like this.

kool maudit · #19 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:37 PM**

yeah, i can't say that it's really all that "my canada includes quebec"-ish. it's more pro-partying. montreal is seen as our new orleans, sort of.

mike474 · #20 Posted **Apr 26, 2013, 3:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

It's only a theory, and I don't think a majority of pro-Montreal anglos are like this.

Yea, I'm gonna have to agree with SignalHill on that one. I'm from Hicksville Sask and of the few people I know from back home who have visited Montreal they always genuinely love it.

Montreal is just the best, I could fill up pages explaining why. I've lived in Vancouver and will probably eventually be moving to Toronto, but Montreal will always be the best. I'm going to miss it, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to live here.