History Lesson

The Day the Décarie Became a River

On July 14, 1987, two hours of rain drowned the Décarie, shut down the métro, and became the storm so many Montreal floods are still measured against.

History Lesson

Why “North” Doesn’t Mean North in Montreal

The St. Lawrence River, French colonial planning, and centuries of habit created a directional system where “north” has almost nothing to do with a compass.

History Lesson

The Century Club: Montreal's Oldest Businesses Still Standing Today

An eclectic collection of Montreal businesses approaching, reaching, and surpassing the 100-year mark.

History Lesson

Before Jazz Had Festival Stages, It Had Coffeehouses

Montreal’s jazz culture grew in the city’s espresso bars and coffeehouses. This summer, Le Café Lavazza pays tribute to that legacy at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

History Lesson

The Entire History of a City Told in Six Kilometres

From a country road out of a fortified colony to a corridor of immigrants, artists, labour organizers, gangsters, and entrepreneurs, Saint-Laurent Boulevard tells the story of Montreal better than any other street.

History Lesson

Everyone's Street, Nobody's Neighbourhood: The Story of Plaza St-Hubert

The 200-year story of a street that's always belonged to everyone and no one.

History Lesson

The Day the Décarie Became a River

On July 14, 1987, two hours of rain drowned the Décarie, shut down the métro, and became the storm so many Montreal floods are still measured against.

History Lesson

Why “North” Doesn’t Mean North in Montreal

The St. Lawrence River, French colonial planning, and centuries of habit created a directional system where “north” has almost nothing to do with a compass.

History Lesson

The Century Club: Montreal's Oldest Businesses Still Standing Today

An eclectic collection of Montreal businesses approaching, reaching, and surpassing the 100-year mark.

History Lesson

Before Jazz Had Festival Stages, It Had Coffeehouses

Montreal’s jazz culture grew in the city’s espresso bars and coffeehouses. This summer, Le Café Lavazza pays tribute to that legacy at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.

History Lesson

The Entire History of a City Told in Six Kilometres

From a country road out of a fortified colony to a corridor of immigrants, artists, labour organizers, gangsters, and entrepreneurs, Saint-Laurent Boulevard tells the story of Montreal better than any other street.

History Lesson

Everyone's Street, Nobody's Neighbourhood: The Story of Plaza St-Hubert

The 200-year story of a street that's always belonged to everyone and no one.

History Lesson

NDG's Empress Theatre survived a century of change. Can it survive neglect?

Montreal's last (and Canada's only) Egyptian Revival movie palace reinvented itself for decades. Now it's been empty for 33 years.

History Lesson

The Gothic mansion where the CIA broke minds with LSD and electroshock

The Ravenscrag manor housed the Allan Memorial Institute, where patients seeking help became victims of Cold War experiments.

History Lesson

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.

History Lesson

The soap maker who bent the Jacques-Cartier Bridge

On Tête de Cheval soap, stubborn French-Canadian industrialists, and the fire that just gutted a quiet landmark.

History Lesson

The rise and fall of Le Palais des Nains, the palace where tourists became giants

For over 60 years, the fully functional home of two circus veterans became a Montreal tourist attraction where everything was scaled down to their three-foot-tall size.

History Lesson

The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind

In the summer of 1930, a British airship the length of two and a half Boeing 747s locked onto a mooring mast on the South Shore. Nearly a million people came to watch.

History Lesson

NDG's Empress Theatre survived a century of change. Can it survive neglect?

Montreal's last (and Canada's only) Egyptian Revival movie palace reinvented itself for decades. Now it's been empty for 33 years.

History Lesson

The Gothic mansion where the CIA broke minds with LSD and electroshock

The Ravenscrag manor housed the Allan Memorial Institute, where patients seeking help became victims of Cold War experiments.

History Lesson

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.

History Lesson

The soap maker who bent the Jacques-Cartier Bridge

On Tête de Cheval soap, stubborn French-Canadian industrialists, and the fire that just gutted a quiet landmark.

History Lesson

The rise and fall of Le Palais des Nains, the palace where tourists became giants

For over 60 years, the fully functional home of two circus veterans became a Montreal tourist attraction where everything was scaled down to their three-foot-tall size.

History Lesson

The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind

In the summer of 1930, a British airship the length of two and a half Boeing 747s locked onto a mooring mast on the South Shore. Nearly a million people came to watch.