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The Main Media Inc. 2026

✦ Built By Field Office
    The Main

    Montreal's Cultural Directory

    Help us improve! Share your thoughts on how we can make your experience better.

    Leave feedback

    For partnerships and collaborations:

    partnerships@themain.com

    Content

    • Articles
    • Food & Drink
    • Arts & Culture
    • History Lesson
    • Bulletin
    • Events

    Guides

    • All Guides
    • Best Restaurants
    • Best Cafés
    • Best Bars
    • Best Brunch
    • Best Bakeries

    Explore Montreal

    • Browse Directory
    • Restaurants
    • Bars
    • Cafés
    • Bookstores

    About

    • About us
    • Subscribe
    • Shop
    • Advertise
    • Pitch us
    • RSS Feed

    Legal

    • Terms of service
    • Membership Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    Follow us
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    The Main Media Inc. 2026

    ✦ Built By Field Office
      --°C|Monday, March 23, 2026|
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      --°C|Monday, March 23, 2026|
      Subscribe today to get 3 free articles per month.ROYALMOUNT Wants to Be Your Dining Destination for a Whole MonthGet 50% off your first 5 rides with Lyft
      InstagramTwitterTiktokLinkedin
      |
      Advertise
      The Main Logo
      Magazine
      Categories
      • Arts & Culture

        Creativity, heritage, and expression.

      • Beyond Montreal

        Travel, adventure, and global perspectives.

      • Design

        The best of Montreal design.

      • Food & Drink

        La bonne bouffe.

      • History

        Stories, lessons, and context.

      • Newsletter

        Our weekly newsletter.

      • See all original stories
      Explore Montreal
      Popular Guides
      • The Best Restaurants in Montreal
      • Best new Restaurants
      • Best Cafés
      • Unique Boutiques
      • Romantic Restaurants
      • Best Bookstores
      • See all Guides
      Neighbourhood
      • Downtown
      • Le Plateau-Mont-Royal
      • Mile End
      • Mile-Ex
      • Saint-Henri
      • See All
      Business Type
      • Restaurant
      • Café
      • Boutique / Store
      • Bar
      • Bakery
      • See All
      Near the Metro
      • Peel
      • Mont-Royal
      • Place-Saint-Henri
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      More History Lesson

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture

      The shamrock has been on Montreal's coat of arms since 1832, and the pub culture that followed has been here just as long.

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?

      Jazz legends, burlesque queens, and organized crime made it one of the most alive corners in North America. Then Montreal decided it had a reputation to protect.

      The House That Haitian Montreal Built
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      The Main

      The House That Haitian Montreal Built

      The story of La Maison d'Haïti: Its welcome and advocacy for Montreal's growing Haitian community since 1972.

      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano

      In so many ways, Montreal jazz exists because Daisy Peterson Sweeney both masters and generations of kids in Little Burgundy.

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club

      The story of Rufus Rockhead, the Jamaican-born railway porter who built Montreal's most legendary jazz club—and spent decades defending it.

      The hidden politics of Montreal's 19th-century ice palaces
      History Lesson
      Kaitlyn DiBartolo

      The Hidden Politics of Montreal's 19th-century Ice Palaces

      Built from 500-pound blocks of ice pulled from the St. Lawrence, the Neo-Gothic castles dazzled international crowds while reinforcing who really held power.

      Get to the heart of Montreal's Latino communities through a single grocery store
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      J.P. Karwacki

      Get to the Heart of Montreal's Latino Communities Through a Single Grocery Store

      For decades, Sabor Latino's been the gravitational centre for Montreal's Latino communities.

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      A Butcher's Gamble, a Forgotten Tavern, and How the Mile End Earned Its Name

      From a Durham County butcher shop and Massachusetts tavern keepers to a global creative district, the real story's one historians got wrong for decades.

      The dining theatrics and dark history of Montreal's infamous restaurant Au Lutin qui Bouffe
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Dining Theatrics and Dark History of Montreal's Infamous Restaurant Au Lutin Qui Bouffe

      Fine French cuisine, tableside photo sessions with piglets, and a botched robbery that marked the beginning of an end.

      Montreal's decades-long Polynesian fantasy and volcano cocktail experiment
      History Lesson
      Phylida Tuff-West

      Montreal's Decades-long Polynesian Fantasy and Volcano Cocktail Experiment

      When Kon Tiki brought post-war escapism and Hollywood's idea of the South Pacific to Peel Street, it created an exotic escape unlike any other.

      Canada’s most prolific killer is the hitman Montreal created
      History Lesson
      Daniel Bromberg

      Canada’s Most Prolific Killer is the Hitman Montreal Created

      Authors Julian Sher and Lisa Fitterman discuss their book that chronicles the creation of a man who killed 43 people at the height of the biker wars in Quebec.

      From opera house to haunted relic to hot ticket, Montreal's Rialto Theatre refuses to die
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      From Opera House to Haunted Relic to Hot Ticket, Montreal's Rialto Theatre Refuses to Die

      A near-forgotten movie palace that's outlasted demolition plans, disco dreams, and decades of decline to become one of Montreal’s most resilient cultural landmarks.

      More History Lesson

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture

      The shamrock has been on Montreal's coat of arms since 1832, and the pub culture that followed has been here just as long.

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?

      Jazz legends, burlesque queens, and organized crime made it one of the most alive corners in North America. Then Montreal decided it had a reputation to protect.

      The House That Haitian Montreal Built
      History Lesson
      The Main

      The House That Haitian Montreal Built

      The story of La Maison d'Haïti: Its welcome and advocacy for Montreal's growing Haitian community since 1972.

      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano

      In so many ways, Montreal jazz exists because Daisy Peterson Sweeney both masters and generations of kids in Little Burgundy.

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club

      The story of Rufus Rockhead, the Jamaican-born railway porter who built Montreal's most legendary jazz club—and spent decades defending it.

      The hidden politics of Montreal's 19th-century ice palaces
      History Lesson
      Kaitlyn DiBartolo

      The Hidden Politics of Montreal's 19th-century Ice Palaces

      Built from 500-pound blocks of ice pulled from the St. Lawrence, the Neo-Gothic castles dazzled international crowds while reinforcing who really held power.

      Get to the heart of Montreal's Latino communities through a single grocery store
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      Get to the Heart of Montreal's Latino Communities Through a Single Grocery Store

      For decades, Sabor Latino's been the gravitational centre for Montreal's Latino communities.

      A butcher's gamble, a forgotten tavern, and how the Mile End earned its name
      History Lesson
      The Main

      A Butcher's Gamble, a Forgotten Tavern, and How the Mile End Earned Its Name

      From a Durham County butcher shop and Massachusetts tavern keepers to a global creative district, the real story's one historians got wrong for decades.

      The dining theatrics and dark history of Montreal's infamous restaurant Au Lutin qui Bouffe
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Dining Theatrics and Dark History of Montreal's Infamous Restaurant Au Lutin Qui Bouffe

      Fine French cuisine, tableside photo sessions with piglets, and a botched robbery that marked the beginning of an end.

      Montreal's decades-long Polynesian fantasy and volcano cocktail experiment
      History Lesson
      Phylida Tuff-West

      Montreal's Decades-long Polynesian Fantasy and Volcano Cocktail Experiment

      When Kon Tiki brought post-war escapism and Hollywood's idea of the South Pacific to Peel Street, it created an exotic escape unlike any other.

      Canada’s most prolific killer is the hitman Montreal created
      History Lesson
      Daniel Bromberg

      Canada’s Most Prolific Killer is the Hitman Montreal Created

      Authors Julian Sher and Lisa Fitterman discuss their book that chronicles the creation of a man who killed 43 people at the height of the biker wars in Quebec.

      From opera house to haunted relic to hot ticket, Montreal's Rialto Theatre refuses to die
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      From Opera House to Haunted Relic to Hot Ticket, Montreal's Rialto Theatre Refuses to Die

      A near-forgotten movie palace that's outlasted demolition plans, disco dreams, and decades of decline to become one of Montreal’s most resilient cultural landmarks.

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      History Lesson

      What Montreal's 1976 Olympics Left Behind, 50 Years Later

      Were the Summer Games a triumph, a total failure, or somewhere in between?

      By J.P. Karwacki

      February 6, 2026 · 6 min read

      What Montreal's 1976 Olympics left behind, 50 years later
      From the closing ceremony of the Montreal Olympic Games on August 1, 1976. | Photograph: Archives de la ville de Montréal / VM94-Ad173-002

      Discover the places mentioned in this story

      Olympic Stadium

      As today marks the beginning of the 2026 Winter Olympics (officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games and more commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026), we wanted to take a look back on the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal—a highly notable and controversial time for the multi-sport event—50 years later.

      In the summer of 1976, Montreal found itself at the centre of the world. Nine years after Expo 67 rebranded the city as confident, modern, and outward-looking, the Olympics promised a second act for the city as host to an event of global scale and symbolic weight.

      What followed was messier, louder, and far more complicated turning point both for the city and how the Olympic Games themselves would be staged, secured, and remembered in the decades to come.

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      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

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      History Lesson

      What Montreal's 1976 Olympics Left Behind, 50 Years Later

      Were the Summer Games a triumph, a total failure, or somewhere in between?

      By J.P. Karwacki

      February 6, 2026 · 6 min read

      What Montreal's 1976 Olympics left behind, 50 years later
      From the closing ceremony of the Montreal Olympic Games on August 1, 1976. | Photograph: Archives de la ville de Montréal / VM94-Ad173-002

      Discover the places mentioned in this story

      Olympic Stadium

      As today marks the beginning of the 2026 Winter Olympics (officially the XXV Winter Olympic Games and more commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026), we wanted to take a look back on the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal—a highly notable and controversial time for the multi-sport event—50 years later.

      In the summer of 1976, Montreal found itself at the centre of the world. Nine years after Expo 67 rebranded the city as confident, modern, and outward-looking, the Olympics promised a second act for the city as host to an event of global scale and symbolic weight.

      What followed was messier, louder, and far more complicated turning point both for the city and how the Olympic Games themselves would be staged, secured, and remembered in the decades to come.

      Free account required

      For readers who care about Montreal

      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

      Independent. Local. Reader-supported.

      or

      Already a member? Sign in

      Advertisement

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