The Mile End Tale of El Greco

This story originally appeared in URBANIA, an online magazine based in Quebec focused on pop culture and society.

Over the past century, the social landscape of Mile End has been shaped by waves of immigration. Eastern European Jews, Greeks, the Portuguese, and hipsters have each, in turn, unpacked their suitcases in this transitional neighbourhood tucked between Mont-Royal and Van Horne. Immortalized by writer Mordecai Richler, the Jewish Parc Avenue of the 1930s to 1950s was later embraced by the Greek diaspora throughout the 1960s and 70s. The massive influx following the military coup in Greece turned the artery into the economic nerve centre of the community.

Among those new arrivals was Yiánnis Constantakopoulos. A committed communist, he worked in his family’s furniture manufacturing business in Athens before deciding to leave, following the path of many fellow citizens in search of a better future in America. He landed in Montreal in 1975 with his wife Paraskévi. They would have two sons. Years later, I would come to know the younger one—but more on that later.