MONTREAL RESOURCES
SLEEP
Hotel Gault, 449 Sainte-Hélène Street. Tel: 514-904-1616. Commanding a corner in Old Montreal, this handsome conversion of an 1871 textile headquarters is Montreal’s sole Preferred Hotel Group property. Offering 30 spacious studios and apartments, the Gault is also a buzzing social hub, with inviting space in its stylish lobby, lounge and library and superb breakfast and lunch from its public restaurant. www.hotelgault.com
Hôtel Nelligan, 106, rue Saint-Paul Ouest. Tel: 514-788-2040. Prolific, romantic, rumored to be gay and ultimately tragic, Montreal-born Émile Nelligan (1879-1941) remains one of French-Canada’s most beloved poets. His lyricism is honored in this Old Port gem, featuring 44 rooms, 59 suites and two penthouses in three meticulously restored 19th-century stone-walled buildings. www.hotelnelligan.com
LHotel, 262 Saint-Jacques Street West. Tel: 514-985-0019. Originally one of the Victorian-era banks on the former “Canadian Wall Street,” this unique boutique is one big art gallery. Including the Robert Indiana LOVE sculpture outside, the owner’s private Pop Art and contemporary collection, featuring original works from the likes of Warhol, Lichtenstein and Hirst, decorates the lobby and each of the 55 individually designed rooms and suites. www.lhotelmontreal.com
SEE
Centaur Theater Company, 453 St. François-Xavier. Tel: 514-288-3161. Housed in Montreal’s Old Stock Exchange Building, the Centaur has been Quebec’s leading English-speaking theatre since 1969. Among the six main stage productions for the 2015-2016 season is “Last Night at the Gayety,” a musical satire about Montreal’s Sin City heyday running from April 19 to May 15, 2016. www.centaurtheatre.com
IMAGE+NATION. Taking place from November 19-29, 2015, the 28th edition of the Montréal International LGBT Film Festival is aiming for more “verite” in depicting positive, real-life LGBT stories from diverse perspectives. Offering more than 70 programs at venues including Cinéma Impérial and Cinéma Beaubien, plus online, this global showcase is Canada’s longest running such event. www.image-nation.org
MURAL. 3527a Boulevard Saint-Laurent. Running for 11 days each June, this multi-programmatic public art event on Saint-Laurent Boulevard celebrates the talents of local and international artists who add to the growing collection of mind-bending murals on and around the Main during the event. Also look for the side-street murals off Sainte-Catherine, just shy of the Village. www.muralfestival.com
PHI Centre, 407 Saint-Pierre Street. Tel: 514-225-0525. In 2012, leading Montreal patron d’arts Phoebe Greenberg opened this revolutionary facility as “an intelligent building that could perfectly meet the evolution of new media and the contemporary vision of artists in a variety of mediums.” Housed in an 1861 heirloom, the always-evolving PHI offers exhibition spaces, screening rooms, production facilities and performance venues on four levels, plus dramatic rooftop terrace. www.phi-centre.com
Palais des Congres
Society for Arts and Technology, 1201 Saint-Laurent Boulevard. Tel: 514-844-2033. Founded in 1996, SAT is internationally recognized for “developing immersive technologies and augmented realties by the creative use of high-speed networks.” Featuring programming ranging from symposia to full-surround multimedia show in the rooftop Satosphere dome, this striking facility also features the dynamic Foodlab and outdoor deck. www.sat.qc.ca
EAT
EVOO, 3426 Notre-Dame Ouest. Tel: 514.846.3886. Veterans of now closed nose-to-tail sensation DNA, Dublin native Peter Saunders and his Quebec-born partners Sophie Ouellet and Claudie Harvey marry classical French and southern Mediterranean ideas at their compelling “Extra Virgin Olive Oil” in southwest Montreal’s rising Saint-Henri neighborhood. With Saunders supplying the Irish wit, including his take on the traditional fry-up breakfast, every bite is charmed. www.restaurantevoo.com
Saloon, 1333 Ste-Catherine Est, Tel: 514-522-1333. Described as “the Neil Patrick Harris of Montreal restaurants—terribly attractive with a healthy dose of campiness,” this Village hotspot boasts a killer martini menu, savory bistro fare and one of the neighborhood’s most popular outdoor terraces, complete with DJ. www.lesaloon.ca
L’Express, 3927 rue Saint-Denis. Tel: 514-845-5333. Save the jet lag and follow the checkered tile entrance into this utterly perfect Parisian bistro. Animated by the spirit of its founders, a young couple in the theatre who wanted a place accessible to all, it’s the gift that been giving since 1980. Amid the bustle and palm trees, this is comfort food at its best. www.restaurantlexpress.com
Le Serpent. 257, rue Prince Montréal Tel: 514-316-4666. As the restaurant of the Darling Foundry Art Centre (www.fonderiedarling.org), this stark space echoes the building’s industrial past with high ceilings, large windows and minimalist décor enlivened by contemporary art on the walls. With seating for around 80, with room for more at the long marble-topped bar, the eclectic Italian-accented menu includes raw fish and a strong wine list. www.leserpent.ca
Mile-Ex, 6631 rue Jeanne-Mance. Tel: 514-272-7919. Hey, m***fer, want a burger? How about a double or triple Mofo burger? French-born chef-owner Grégory Paul has fun with his menu at this cozy cabin in tucked-away Mile-Ex, where the signature squid roll—a spicy merguez sausage wrapped in a knife-scored squid filet and topped with zesty sweet-sour relish—is a must. www.mileex.ca
PARTY
Black & Blue Festival. Running from October 7-13, 2015, the 25th anniversary of this landmark event includes the signature Black & Blue party (October 11). Being held for the first time ever in the Olympic Park’s spectacular Pierre-Charbonneau Amphitheatre, the all-night gathering will feature top DJs, multiple show stages and dazzling sound and light effects, plus a showing of Fritz Lang’s haunting silent film classic Metropolis. www.bbcm.org
Cabaret Mado, 1115 Ste-Catherine Est. Tel: 514-525-7566. Starting out as a cigarette girl and member of the “Vulva Queens” drag trio in 1987, Luc Provost became Mado Lamotte—and Montreal’s reigning drag queen was born. The beauty and brains behind Montreal’s ever-fabulous Mascara Drag Ball, Mado, who served as spokesperson and made her first-ever stage appearance at legendary Café Cléopatra for this year’s 25th St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival, has kept the torch lit at her namesake Village cabaret since 2002. www.mado.qc.ca
Mademoiselle Butterfly, 1726 Notre-Dame Ouest. Tel: 438-496-1272. Exemplifying the expanding borders of LGBT-friendly nightlife in Montreal, this newly opened restaurant/lounge in fast-developing Griffintown, just west of Old Montreal at the gateway to the Lachine Canal, celebrates diversity with an “ongoing happy hour party” that includes DJ’d dance parties, outdoor seating and more. www.facebook.com/mllebutterflymtl
