The Bulletin: A Bookstore Revived, a Nightclub's Last Dance, and Pink Floyd Under the Stars [Issue #166]

Anyway, on with the weekend. Lots of ground to cover. Enjoy.

Activities, parties, points of interest, art exhibitions, you name it: These are the weekend events you don't want to miss.

Thursday

📚 Réveiller L'Androgyne opens at Centre Skol with nine queer artists revisiting Quebec's first gay, lesbian, and feminist bookstore—active from 1973 to 2002—through works that revive erased narratives and intergenerational memory.

🤠 Bring your own bra, ride a mechanical bull and line dance at Spaghetti Western’s Ladies Night.

🇯🇵 Argo Bookshop hosts a Japan Book Club, centered on The Night of Baba Yaga by Otani Akira where you can discuss a genre-bending queer novel among snacks and company. 

❄️ Weekend 3 of Igloofest presents a lineup of local talent with Belgium beatmaker Hamza as headliner.

Friday

🌱 The Montreal Seed Festival returns, featuring local organic seed sellers, talks, community organizations, and a seed swap.

🔊 Napoli based DJ and producer brings experimental electronica to Datchas for an alternative club experience. 

🪩 The Heated Rivalry craze continues at Club DD’s for a free indie sleeze dance party.

Saturday

📖 Désert Désir launches at N'était-ce pas l'été with a reading from Clara Dupuis-Morency, whose new book traces a vertiginous path through depression and desire—wine, bites, and good company included.

⛸️ Lace up your skates and glide at the city's next disco ice skating event, featuring non-alcoholic mulled wine and hot chocolate. 

🎧 Party under the dome at the SAT, with a lineup consisting of techno beats hailing all the way from Amsterdam.

🎪 From giant luminous characters and puppets, Lumino transforms the Place des Festivales into an enchanted scene for their carnival.

🌑 Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon returns to the Planetarium, pairing the iconic 1973 album with spectacular visuals of the solar system under the starry dome.

Sunday 

🎤 Accent Open Mic Vol. 130 brings the city's literary community to Bar Le Record for a video game–themed night of readings—sign up at the door.

🌲 The Man Who Planted Trees brings the Oscar-winning animated film to life through interactive spaces and captivating scenography.

🛼 Too cold to ice skate? No problem– Roller Avenue, the recently opened indoor roller rink, awaits you. 

🎤 Join the city’s literary community at the next Accent open mic night, where writers take the mic with a video game–themed twist.

WHAT TO EAT & DRINK IN AND AROUND MONTREAL

Scope the latest restaurant openings, recommendations on where to eat, plus new menus, old classics, and everything in between.

More European fare and cocktails make it to Plaza Wünderbar’s updated menu on Jan 29. 

Gratiné transforms the SAT into an après-ski urban chalet with molten raclette, indulgent comfort dishes, flambéed desserts, cocktails, and a DJ set on Jan 29. 

Live jazz suffuses Café Nocturne on Jan 30, for a night of appetizers, wine, and coffee.

Le Rouge is closing with a big goodbye bash on Jan 31.

Doboy opens in Chinatown with hot dogs to keep everyone warm and cozy on Jan 31- Feb 1. 

A three course menu featuring world famous chicken is coming to La Franquette on Feb 1. 

Warm up with a bowl of Akayu-style spicy miso ramen and a game of bowling on Feb 1 at Notre-Dame des Quilles newly launching Sunday series.

The world’s largest poutine festival brings the most creative interpretations of Quebec’s national dish to participating restaurants on Feb 1-7. 

Compete at Star Bar’s next trivia night on Feb 4, with pirates, beer, and slices you can’t get anywhere else. 

For 30$, enjoy a French-inspired entree, main dish and dessert at Elenore’s on Feb 4.  

Gia celebrates their 4th anniversary in collaboration with Pichai for a special à la carte menu on Feb 4.

Here, you'll find a weekly round-up of our stories from the past week, plus the latest local news.

Heated Rivalry's leads quit restaurant jobs to play characters earning millions—a disparity that says everything about how Canada funds its stories. Read more.

Gen Z found a socially acceptable way to blur their pores while convincing everyone it's counter-cultural. The digital camera revival isn't about opting out—it's about perfecting self-presentation through the forgiving glow of fewer pixels and blown-out flash. Read more.

Au Coin opened mid-December with a simple pitch: neighbourhood café by day, wine bar by night, seven days a week. The Mile End's been packed in ever since. Read more.

Researchers at the ÉTS are building a $3-million climate chamber to simulate Quebec's freeze-thaw cycles and test new asphalt compositions—an attempt to slow the explosion of potholes across Montreal. Read more.

The Jacques-Cartier Bridge's distinctive curve exists because a soap maker refused to move. When fire gutted the Familex building last week, it threatened a landmark that shaped the city's infrastructure. Read more.

Also, the Familex building had been inspected twelve times since 2024, most recently a month before the fire that closed the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. The blaze has renewed questions about Montreal's vacant building problem. Read more.

Quebec's housing tribunal is proposing a 3.1% rent increase this year—on top of last year's 5.9 percent hike and a six-year period that saw Montreal rents jump 71 percent. The crisis is pushing hundreds onto the street. Read more.

Less is more: Montreal hosted fewer conventions but generated more money in 2025. The strategy of prioritizing higher-impact gatherings over sheer volume is paying off. Read more.

Ten workers have already left or will soon leave two Old Montreal hotels—not for lack of clients, but because their permits are expiring with no path to renewal. The end of Quebec's PEQ immigration program is hitting the hospitality industry hard. Read more.

Despite Montreal's unemployment rate falling below the federal threshold that would allow temporary foreign workers, the CAQ has extended its moratorium on low-wage permits through 2026. Read more.

A journalist hid GPS trackers in donated clothing across Montreal. Within days, most ended up in Tunisia—the gateway for secondhand clothes heading to Ghana, where 40 percent are unsellable and end up in landfills or the ocean. Read more.

Quebec is removing the British crown from its coat of arms for the first time in almost 90 years. The change follows moves to make the oath to the King optional for elected officials and plans to rename the lieutenant-governor the "officer of Quebec." Read more.

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And that wraps yet another weekly bulletin. We’ll be back with more curiosities, local stories, and events to discover next week.

If ever you catch something we should know, don't hesitate to reach out to us on Instagram.

👋 Masthead: Philip Tabah, Founder & Head of Creative / Daniel Bromberg, Co-Founder & Head of Operations / Jean-Philippe Lauzon, Co-Founder & Head of Tech / JP Karwacki, Managing Editor / Amber Spector, Social Media Manager / Samuel Vadnais, Head of Partnerships / Anahi Pellathy, Editorial & Production Coordinator / Kaitlyn DiBartolo, Editorial Intern / AnnaClare Sung, Editorial Intern