April Montreal Musings

[Paul Revere]

I just returned from my frist trip to Montreal since last November. I used to go to Montreal 8 or 9 times a year, and I am a big fan of the city and of the strip clubs and the dancers. But....

 

Maybe I'm getting old and cranky, and maybe I've just been too many times, but that magic seems to be gone, or maybe its just fading.

 

I don't bother to walk all the way down to Adonis or Taboo, as they never interested me. Campus has continued its decline. The place is dirty and unkept. The afternoon dancers are mostly skanky street boys (with a few exceptions), and the smoke level is intolerable for any normal air-breathing human. Thh night dancers have a few stars, but not many. There is some real solid big muscle, if you like that kind of thing. Many Campus dancers also now pull that $20 per dance crap. Don't fall for it. The dancer should either do the $10 dance as has been the custom, or peddle their wares elsewhere. Many of the night dancers have been around so long they look eligible for Social Security (or whatever the Canadian equivalant is).

 

Stock is still fun, and now clearly has the best quality dancers. The room has a higher cieling than Stock, so the smoke isn't as oppressive, and there is less of a "hustling" vibe than at Campus. Stock still has some great dancers who do great privates. Among the most classy are Danny, Christopher and Jay. You certainly get your money's worth with them. One of the new hot dancers, Mikael is from France. He is hot, but stay out of the back room with him. He can't count in any language, and is a rip off.

 

I usually stay at the Gouv, and I have not had the problems there that many on this board complain of, but it really isn't a great value either. I always stayed there because of the convenience. It was easy to walk to the clubs, and convenient for private shows. However, there now seems to be no reason to stay ther anymore, because:

 

Ste. CATHERINE STREET IN THE GAY VILLAGE IS A SHITHOLE! Literally. Ste. Catherine has always been a bit funky, and store fronts come and go, but it has now declined to slum level. I was under the impression that the city was going to spend money to upgrade that end of Ste. Catherine in preparation for the OutGames. But it is worse than I have ever seen it. The street is full of those homeless/drug addict kids, who all have dogs. They camp in the doorways of empty or closed stores. They piss on the sidewalk, and Ste. Catherine street is literally filled with dog shit. It was quite an obstacle course trying to return to the hotel from the clubs at night. I really had a hard time avoiding all of the dog shit on the sidewalks. In the future, I will stay at a better hotel in Montreal and cab or Metro to the clubs and back. The Village used to be fun and funky and had energy and vibe. Now it is just creepy and dirty and lierally full of shit.

 

I am not giving up on Montreal, and when they go smoke-free on May 31st, life will be better. I still Advocate visiting Montreal, its a great place, but there is really no reason to spend any more time than you need to in the Gay Village. It should be called the Gay Slum.

[twinkboylover28]

2 more months until Montreal is smoke-free!!

 

I would give it a week after June 1st to "air out" and then enjoy. LOL

 

Outside of owning your own detached house, I think the Hyatt is a decent choice for a hotel while visiting Montreal.

 

The skanky street kids dancing at campus sound hot, hehe.

[Guest Gringo]

So what do you think has caused this sudden decline? Two years ago it looked like the area was going up?

[MTLover]

I wonder if the city tends to put all its winter

resources into snow/ice removal and therefore, the

increased appearance of trash (on St. Catherine) will

improve once bad weather is gone? I agree that

some sort of renovation must occur before the OutGames

this summer.

 

I'm reading more frequently about the price changing

going on at Campus these days with the dancers. Does

the same hold true for Stock or have they abandoned the

$10 song completely for the $20 price tag? The last time

at Stock, I was also told the dancers had more restrictive

guidelines to follow, even during the 'closed curtain'

dances. What's the best way to negotiate a good experience

in that club?

[+ newatthis]

PR --

 

I also noted the seediness of the Village a couple of weeks ago. Mostly the physical setting -- the panhandlers didn't seem more prevalent than on prior trips. When the weather turns warm and people are out in the street more, I expect things will improve; the summer street scene on Ste. Catherine has never disappointed (although the number of boarded up stores is worrying).

 

Our differing impressions of the clubs could stem from our different tastes (I hang out at afternoon Campus and Taboo 90% of the time and don't bother much with evening Campus or Stock) or might reflect how unstable things can be in the winter. A friend who visited a couple of weeks before I did reported the clubs to be dead; I found just the opposite.

 

As I've gotten to know people in Montreal (both locals and visitors), I've been somewhat buffered against slow times -- there's someone to have dinner with, or to chat with in a club on a slow day.

 

I've never stayed in the Village. I enjoy the better and cheaper (priceline!) hotels downtown. I also love the feeling of moving from one world to another: the thrill of anticipation as the metro pulls into Beaudry station, a different kind of anticipatory thrill traveling back by cab or metro with a dancer in tow.

 

Hope to see you there someday!

 

-new

[LustinGuy]

Thanks for the great post PR. I'm also in Montreal this month after being away for several months and share most of your observations and opinions... particularly about wonderful Jay and Danny at Stock. Both have been a delight for my first few days here. I'm excited to see Danny again tomorrow.

 

While I've often complained here and elsewhere about the decline of the Campus over the last year, I've been pleasantly surprised by a couple of the new daytime dancers (Joel and Helmut from Taboo) who have been able to get me past the smoke, noise, blatant drug use, dirt and drunks with awesome performances (at $10 per song!)

 

Also, even though the walk to Adonis often isn't worth the time, I have been rewarded by finding a few new hotties (particularly JP) down there.

[Luv2play]

>Campus has continued its decline.

 

>Ste. CATHERINE STREET IN THE GAY VILLAGE IS A SHITHOLE!

 

>I am not giving up on Montreal, and when they go smoke-free on

>May 31st, life will be better.

 

I'm glad you're not giving up on Montreal despite your criticisms of some aspects of the gay scene, particularly in the Gay Village. In particular, you and several other recent posters have referred to the dirt and boarded-up storefronts. I think you need to bear in mind that you probably were here at the worst time of the year, when the snow has disappeared and before the street cleaning has gotten underway. That being said, many Montrealers are also upset with the state of the city and this is partly due to the poor services done by the blue-collar workers who have been coddled by ultra-strong unions for decades.

 

The boarded up store-fronts are actually a good sign because most of these are about to be renovated. The city has offered subsidies to businesses along that stretch of Ste Catherine in the Gay Village and many have already taken advantage (the sauna opposite Stock for example). There is the obvious problem with the building right outside the Beaudry metro station (which had the Presse Cafe and Subway restaurant)which is in danger of collapsing and was closed during the winter. The owner of that building is fighting with the city, claiming that the recent work done by it on the station site had further weakened the walls.

 

One thing you have overlooked is the number of new businesses that have sprouted up along the Ste Catherine strip in the last several years, including a very nice Starbucks with fireplace and cosy seating, several new restaurants offering better-than-average cuisine, a Ben and Jerrys (sp?) ice-cream parlour, several new gourmet food shops and the newly renovated Metro supermarket on the east-end of the Village, along with some new clothing, tourist travel and specialty shops all geared to the gay market.

 

The street kids with their dogs seem to have gotten worse and stems from what I understand is a campaign by the police to kick them out of the downtown core. Unfortunately they have migrated east along Ste Catherine, since any westward trek would bring them up against upper-class Westmount, a separate city like Beverly Hills in LA, which tolerates no nonsense from street riff-raff!

 

As for Campus, it still remains my favorite stripper club despite its flaws which you and others have enumerated. I happen to enjoy the afternoon dancers (well some of them) and avoid the night-time steroid gay-for-pay types, some of whom should have been superannuated a few years ago.

 

I hope and expect that the Village will be tarted up for the Outgames. At least the basics were done last year with the complete repaving of Ste Catherine (probably the smoothest street in Montreal now LOL!!).

[+ newatthis]

>One thing you have overlooked is the number of new businesses

>that have sprouted up along the Ste Catherine strip in the

>last several years, including a very nice Starbucks with

>fireplace and cosy seating, several new restaurants offering

>better-than-average cuisine, a Ben and Jerrys (sp?) ice-cream

>parlour, several new gourmet food shops and the newly

>renovated Metro supermarket on the east-end of the Village,

>along with some new clothing, tourist travel and specialty

>shops all geared to the gay market.

 

luv --

 

Thanks for reminding me about those things, which had slipped my mind. The restaurant scene, in particular, seems to get better and better, and I have the impression that the Village has become a restaurant destination for the whole city, not just the gay community.

[Luv2play]

Your latest remarks reminded me that another problem facing the Gay Village is that it has become an entertainment destination for the entire city and on weekends there are many young people (and older ones as well) all of whom are not just gay people who come down to the Village to eat and dance in the various clubs.

 

The problem is that all these people leave an incredible amount of garbage behind on Saturday and Sunday mornings lying around the streets. Unfortunately, the city workers seem to have a 9 to 5 Monday to Friday mentality and so the Village looks terrible all weekend until Monday morning. I recall the city tried to bring in private contractors to do the cleanup and the unions went ballistic. This is the sort of shit we have to put up with the all-powerful unions!

 

The city has launched a clean-up campaign this spring but I don't see that much which has changed. People still drop their take-out food wrappers and nightclub flyers on the sidewalks with never a thought about the litter they are creating. What the city needs to do is to start fining these people for littering and to charge the business owners a surcharge for all the junk they are creating that ends up on the streets.

 

Wel, that's my rant for the day!

[bradhw]

Thanks for all the info. I'm making plans to go to Montreal in June and would love to see Danny again. Does anyone know what his schedule is like? Thanks.

[LustinGuy]

>Thanks for all the info. I'm making plans to go to Montreal

>in June and would love to see Danny again. Does anyone know

>what his schedule is like? Thanks.

 

Unfortunately, Danny has a job in western Canada fo the summer. I don't think he'll be around in June.

[baltimore observer]

Danny

 

Danny will be back at Stock Bar at early September or late August. Please make plans to see him performing at Stock then! He'll be anxious to see all his fans again at Stock after the summer!

[Samai139]

RE: Danny

 

In the most recent issue of Instinct, I was looking at the ads and I thought I recognized Danny in an ad for underwear on a website---anyone else see it??

[Guest Rendie]

Gregg underwear

 

http://wyzman.com/en/product.asp?UniqueID=4J5558XGY0

http://wyzman.com/en/product.asp?UniqueID=F5UDWXX4R2

http://wyzman.com/en/product.asp?UniqueID=408CL6D6FN

 

An underwear web site. :9

 

Rendie

[Samai139]

RE: Gregg underwear

 

Rendie~~

Thanks for the links---that is Danny from Stock Bar, isn't it???

[+ Hoover42]

RE: Gregg underwear

 

Oh yes, that's Danny.

 

...Hoover

[LustinGuy]

RE: Gregg underwear

 

>Oh yes, that's Danny.

>

>...Hoover

 

... and he looks even better now!