Districts of Montreal
Encyclopedia
This is the list of the neighbourhoods in the city of Montreal
. They are sorted by the borough they are located in.
Ahuntsic-Cartierville
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Montreal's trendy and colourful Plateau Mont Royal neighbourhood is located on the twin North-South axes of Saint Laurent Boulevard and Saint Denis Street
, and East-West axes of Mount Royal Avenue
and Sherbrooke Street. The granite-paved, pedestrian-only Prince Arthur Street is also located in this neighbourhood. In the summer, nightlife often seems as active as in the day in this area.
The Plateau boasts the highest population density of all Montreal and the greatest number of creative people in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. The same source also states that it is the urban place where the most people travel mainly by foot, bicycle or public transport. The Plateau Mont-Royal has been dubbed the "coolest neighbourhood in North America" by Wallpaper* magazine. The exterior staircase is a distinctive feature of the city's architecture.
The tiny "Mile End" district, officially part of the Plateau borough but generally considered distinct, is home to many Montreal artists and filmmakers. The city's two famous bagel
emporia, the Fairmount and St-Viateur bakeries, are located on the streets of the same names. Fairmount Street is also home to Wilensky's
(right), immortalized in the Mordecai Richler
novel and film of the same name The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Saint-Viateur is the site of several cafés of note. The area has become noticeably more cash-rich in recent years, due in part to the presence of the Ubisoft
studios in the district, on Saint Laurent Boulevard. As well, as of late it has been the home of many art galleries, designers, and boutiques. Mile End is also where William Shatner
spent some time growing up in addition to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
.
population, some of which is concentrated in Little Portugal, which is at the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Rachel street. Portuguese businesses can be found along several blocks of Saint-Laurent between Pine and Marie-Anne. The Portuguese area has largely absorbed what used to be the traditional Jewish neighbourhood.
neighbourhood in the Le Sud-Ouest
district of the city. In the 19th century Griffintown and adjacent Goose Village were home to thousands of Irish immigrants (mostly of the Catholic faith), many of whom worked for the railway and on massive local projects such as the Victoria Bridge, or the Northern Telecom building. Griffintown was the initial stop-off point for many Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century.
It became a multi-ethnic neighbourhood by the turn of the twentieth century, consisting of French, Anglo-Protestants (and later, Italians and others), but majority Irish Catholics. The Irish community claims the neighbourhood as a lieu du memoire because of its significance as one of the original sites of Irish immigration in North America.
Many of the immigrants who arrived on "fever ships" or "coffin ships" during the Irish Catholic diaspora resulting from potato famine and British colonialism, suffered from typhoid or other diseases and were quarantined in hastily constructed wooden "fever sheds" at Grosse-Île outside Quebec City and in Griffintown and Goose Village. Roughly six thousand Irish immigrants died in fever sheds at nearby Windmill Point. They are commemorated by a black rock near the Victoria Bridge.
The post-war collapse of heavy industry and closure of the Lachine Canal
created poor economic conditions, and since then it has been a low-income neighbourhood that is now undergoing some gentrification and renewal. However, in order to purchase property today, you must first pay to clean up the soil, an expensive environmental regulation which has so far limited the renewal of the neighborhood to large development projects along its periphery, mostly condos.
and the St. Lawrence River. Often referred to as 'The Point', it was originally a mainly English-speaking Irish
working-class neighbourhood developed around factories and other Victorian-era industry. Changes in economic fortune in the mid-20th century led Point St. Charles into a decline that has only recently begun to change as a wave of gentrification
has given the area new life. The neighbourhood has a documented reputation as one of the poorest in Montreal, and one of the roughest in Canada. Its inhabitants have been the subject of several National Film Board of Canada
documentaries. Playwright David Fennario
hails from the district.
L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles
Montreal has the second largest Italian
population in Canada after Toronto
. There are around 250,000 Montrealers of Italian ancestry living within its Metropolitan Area. Montreal's Little Italy, located on St. Lawrence Boulevard between Jean-Talon and St. Zotique, is home to Montreal's original Italian Canadian community. Although many Italians in Montreal have since moved to other parts of town, Montreal's Little Italy has not lost its heritage, as it is home to a large collection of Italian restaurants, bars, and shops.
There is also a very prominent Italian Canadian community in the Montreal borough of Saint Leonard, nicknamed Città Italiana. This borough is located further east on Jean-Talon Boulevard. Città Italiana can be considered Montreal's second Little Italy
. Many Italian cultural centres, such as The Leonardo Da Vinci Centre, are located in Saint Leonard. Its services are offered in English, French and Italian. This cultural building contains theaters, gyms, bocce
playing areas, and a cafe.
, and extends toward the St. Lawrence River. It is located entirely within the Ville Marie
borough. The Downtown area contains dozens of notable skyscraper
s — which bylaws restrict to the height of Mount Royal — including the aforementioned 1000 de La Gauchetière
and 1250 René-Lévesque
. The Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) is also another significant building in Montreal, and is home to the Montreal Exchange
, which trades in derivatives such as futures contracts and options. The Montreal Exchange was the first stock exchange
in Canada. In 1999 all stock trades were transferred to Toronto in exchange for exclusivity in derivatives trading.
Place Ville-Marie
, an I. M. Pei
-designed cruciform
office tower built in 1962, sits atop an underground shopping mall that forms the nexus of Montreal's underground city
the world's largest at 32 kilometres (19.9 mi) in length. The underground city gives its 500,000 daily visitors indoor access to 2,000 stores, 200 restaurants, 1,200 offices, 1,600 housing units, 10 metro stations, train stations, bus terminals, and tunnels extending all over downtown. The central axis for downtown is Saint Catherine Street
, the city's busiest commercial artery. Other major streets include Sherbrooke
, René Lévesque Boulevard
, Peel
, Mountain Street
, De Maisonneuve Boulevard
and Crescent Street
.
Old Montreal
(French: Vieux-Montréal) is a historic area located southeast of downtown containing many different attractions such as the Old Port of Montreal
, Place Jacques-Cartier
, Montreal City Hall
, the Bonsecours Market
, Place d'Armes, Pointe-à-Callière Museum
, the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, and the Montreal Science Centre
.
Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored and are frequented by horse-drawn calèches carrying tourists. Old Montreal is accessible from the downtown core via the underground city
and is served by several STM
bus routes and metro stations, ferries to the South Shore and a network of bicycle paths.
The riverside area adjacent to Old Montreal is known as the Old Port. The Old Port was the former site of the worldwide Port of Montreal
, but its shipping operations have been moved further east to its current larger site, leaving the former location as a recreational and historical area maintained by Parks Canada
. The new Port of Montreal
is now Canada's largest container port and the largest inland port on Earth
.
Montreal has a small but active Chinatown just south of downtown, featuring many Chinese shops and restaurants, as well as a number of Vietnam
ese establishments. Several of these restaurants offer dim sum from as early as 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and can be quite crowded, especially on Sundays. The principal axis of Chinatown are Saint Laurent Boulevard and La Gauchetière Street.
or gay
-friendly city. Its pride festival, Divers/Cité
, is claimed to be one of the largest in North America; organizers estimate that it drew 1.4 million people in 2002. It benefits from financial support from all three levels of government. Montreal is home to one of the largest gay villages
in the world. Gay Village (known in French as le Village gai) is centred around the downtown Beaudry metro station. Montreal is a centre of Queer life and culture in Canada and hosts several circuit parties
every year. As the local gay publication is in French, an alternative for English visitors is GAYroute with details about Montreal's gay community in English. The 2006 World Outgames
were held in Montreal. The 2001 census recorded that 6.3% of couples in the city were same-sex, the fourth highest percentage for cities in Canada.
restaurants and shops. The same can be said for Parc Avenue. Thousands of Greek Canadians
took to the streets and celebrated in Greektown after Greece defeated Portugal in the 2004 European Football Championship.
Saint-Michel is the home of Le Boulevard shopping centre(recently renovated) and also is home to the headquarters of the world renowned Cirque Du Soleil as well as the Tohu, la Cité des Arts du Cirque and the Complexe environmental Saint-Michel. The former Miron and Francon quarries are also located here. Autoroute 40 runs through the area and adds a distinctive feel to the neighborhood. Saint-Michel is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Montreal and in the province of Quebec. Italians, Haitians, Arabs, Asians, Hispanics as well as people of French descent (Québécois) represent the major ethnic groups of this inner city area. Thus, the area has a very distinctive cultural feel. In the early 1990s, this part of Montreal was mostly known for street gang problems. Although, these problems persists somewhat to this day, the situation is better controlled and opinion of the area has improved.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. They are sorted by the borough they are located in.
Ahuntsic-CartiervilleAhuntsic-CartiervilleAhuntsic-Cartierville is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:The borough is located in the northern part of Montreal along the banks of the Rivière des Prairies, and includes some islands in the river such as Île aux Chats, Île Perry, and Île de la Visitation...
- AhuntsicAhuntsicAhuntsic is a district in the northern part of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Originally an independent village, Ahuntsic was annexed by Montreal in 1910. It is now part of the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville....
- Nouveau-BordeauxBordeaux-CartiervilleBordeaux-Cartierville is a district of Montreal, Canada in the administrative borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. It is bordered to the north by the Rivière des Prairies, to the east by the district of Ahuntsic., to the south by Villeray, Park-Extension, Mount Royal and Saint-Laurent and to the west...
- CartiervilleCartiervilleCartierville is a former city amalgamated into the City of Montreal. It was named after Sir George-Étienne Cartier.* Cartierville is part of the City of Montreal district of Bordeaux-Cartierville...
- Île de la VisitationÎle de la VisitationÎle de la Visitation is a small island in the Rivière des Prairies, part of the Hochelaga Archipelago, linked to the Island of Montreal in Quebec, Canada....
- Sault-au-RécolletSault-au-RécolletSault-au-Récollet is a neighbourhood in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough, in the city of Montreal. It is located at the eastern edge of the borough...
Anjou
- Bas-Anjou: The Southeastern older portion, where the main services are located (town Hall, main library, fire station, high school)
- Haut-Anjou: The L-shaped part consisting of every street North of Autoroute 40 and every street West of Autoroute 25
Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-GrâceCôte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-GrâceCôte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce is a borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada-Geography:Located to the north and west of Mount Royal, it was part of the City of Montreal prior to the 2002 municipal mergers...
- Côte-des-NeigesCôte-des-NeigesCôte-des-Neiges is a working class neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, situated at the geographic center of the Island of Montreal on the western slope of Mount Royal. The neighbourhood is part of the borough Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
- Notre-Dame-de-GraceNotre-Dame-de-GrâceNotre-Dame-de-Grâce , also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal located in the city's west-end. It is one of five districts of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
- SnowdonSnowdon, MontrealSnowdon is the name of a neighbourhood located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. The area is centred around the intersection of the Décarie Autoroute and Queen Mary Road...
The Plateau
Saint Denis Street
Saint Denis Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Montreal, Quebec.The street itself extends from the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel on Saint Paul Street in Old Montreal to the bank of the Rivière des Prairies at the north end of the island...
, and East-West axes of Mount Royal Avenue
Mount Royal Avenue
Mount Royal Avenue is a street in Montreal. The main part of the street transects the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, from Park Avenue at the foot of Mount Royal, for which the road is named, to rue Frontenac. Another section in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie runs from rue Molson to Pie-IX Boulevard...
and Sherbrooke Street. The granite-paved, pedestrian-only Prince Arthur Street is also located in this neighbourhood. In the summer, nightlife often seems as active as in the day in this area.
The Plateau boasts the highest population density of all Montreal and the greatest number of creative people in Canada, according to Statistics Canada. The same source also states that it is the urban place where the most people travel mainly by foot, bicycle or public transport. The Plateau Mont-Royal has been dubbed the "coolest neighbourhood in North America" by Wallpaper* magazine. The exterior staircase is a distinctive feature of the city's architecture.
Mile End
Bagel
A bagel is a bread product, traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, which is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior...
emporia, the Fairmount and St-Viateur bakeries, are located on the streets of the same names. Fairmount Street is also home to Wilensky's
Wilensky's
Wilensky's, officially known as Wilensky's Light Lunch, is a lunch counter and soda fountain in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded by Moe Wilensky in 1932, the restaurant was immortalized in Mordecai Richler's novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz...
(right), immortalized in the Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
novel and film of the same name The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Saint-Viateur is the site of several cafés of note. The area has become noticeably more cash-rich in recent years, due in part to the presence of the Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
studios in the district, on Saint Laurent Boulevard. As well, as of late it has been the home of many art galleries, designers, and boutiques. Mile End is also where William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
spent some time growing up in addition to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce , also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal located in the city's west-end. It is one of five districts of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
.
Little Portugal
Montreal has a modest PortuguesePortuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
population, some of which is concentrated in Little Portugal, which is at the corner of Saint-Laurent Boulevard and Rachel street. Portuguese businesses can be found along several blocks of Saint-Laurent between Pine and Marie-Anne. The Portuguese area has largely absorbed what used to be the traditional Jewish neighbourhood.
Griffintown and Goose Village
District directly southwest of Downtown Montreal and just west of Old Port, today it is considered part of the larger Pointe-Saint-CharlesPointe-Saint-Charles
Pointe-Saint-Charles is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:...
neighbourhood in the Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest
Le Sud-Ouest is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:Le Sud-Ouest is an amalgam of several neighbourhoods with highly distinct histories and identities, mainly with working-class and industrial origins, grouped around the Lachine Canal...
district of the city. In the 19th century Griffintown and adjacent Goose Village were home to thousands of Irish immigrants (mostly of the Catholic faith), many of whom worked for the railway and on massive local projects such as the Victoria Bridge, or the Northern Telecom building. Griffintown was the initial stop-off point for many Irish immigrants in the nineteenth century.
It became a multi-ethnic neighbourhood by the turn of the twentieth century, consisting of French, Anglo-Protestants (and later, Italians and others), but majority Irish Catholics. The Irish community claims the neighbourhood as a lieu du memoire because of its significance as one of the original sites of Irish immigration in North America.
Many of the immigrants who arrived on "fever ships" or "coffin ships" during the Irish Catholic diaspora resulting from potato famine and British colonialism, suffered from typhoid or other diseases and were quarantined in hastily constructed wooden "fever sheds" at Grosse-Île outside Quebec City and in Griffintown and Goose Village. Roughly six thousand Irish immigrants died in fever sheds at nearby Windmill Point. They are commemorated by a black rock near the Victoria Bridge.
The post-war collapse of heavy industry and closure of the Lachine Canal
Lachine Canal
The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...
created poor economic conditions, and since then it has been a low-income neighbourhood that is now undergoing some gentrification and renewal. However, in order to purchase property today, you must first pay to clean up the soil, an expensive environmental regulation which has so far limited the renewal of the neighborhood to large development projects along its periphery, mostly condos.
Pointe-Saint-Charles
An area located in the South-West borough, south of downtown between the Lachine CanalLachine Canal
The Lachine Canal is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroughs of Lachine, Lasalle and Sud-Ouest.The canal gets its name from the French word for China...
and the St. Lawrence River. Often referred to as 'The Point', it was originally a mainly English-speaking Irish
Irish Canadian
Irish Canadian are immigrants and descendants of immigrants who originated in Ireland. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived, 1825 to 1970, at least half of those in the period from 1831-1850. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group , and comprised 24% of Canada's population...
working-class neighbourhood developed around factories and other Victorian-era industry. Changes in economic fortune in the mid-20th century led Point St. Charles into a decline that has only recently begun to change as a wave of gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
has given the area new life. The neighbourhood has a documented reputation as one of the poorest in Montreal, and one of the roughest in Canada. Its inhabitants have been the subject of several National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
documentaries. Playwright David Fennario
David Fennario
David William Fennario, né David Wiper is a Canadian playwright best known for Balconville , his bilingual dramatization of life in working-class Montreal, for which he won the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award. A committed socialist, Fennario has been a candidate for the Union des forces...
hails from the district.
Other neighbourhoods
- Saint-HenriSaint-HenriSaint-Henri is a neighbourhood in southwestern Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest.Saint-Henri is usually considered to be bounded to the east by avenue Atwater, to the west by Autoroute 15, to the north by Autoroute 720, and to the south by the Lachine Canal.- Description...
- Little BurgundyLittle BurgundyLittle Burgundy is the informal name of a neighbourhood in the Sud-Ouest borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Geography:...
- Ville-Saint-Paul
- Ville-ÉmardVille-ÉmardVille-Émard is a neighbourhood located in the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is the home of Angrignon Park.-Geography:This neighbourhood is bordered by the Aqueduct Canal, the borough of Verdun and the neighbourhood of Côte-Saint-Paul to the east, the borough of LaSalle to the...
L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-GenevièveL'Île-Bizard–Sainte-GenevièveL'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève is a borough of the city of Montreal.-Geography:The borough is composed of the former municipalities of L'Île-Bizard and Sainte-Geneviève. The first is a separate island, the largest of the City of Montreal besides the Island of Montreal itself, and the second is a...
- Jacques-BizardÎle BizardÎle Bizard is an island near the Island of Montreal in the Hochelaga Archipelago region.It was formerly a separate municipality named Ville de L'Île-Bizard, but is now part of the city of Montreal, in the borough of L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève....
- Sainte-GenevièveSainte-Geneviève, Quebecthumb|upright|left|Église Sainte-GenevièveSainte-Geneviève is a former municipality located on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada...
Mercier–Hochelaga-MaisonneuveMercier–Hochelaga-MaisonneuveMercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is a borough of Montreal, Quebec.-History:In 1860, Hochelaga developed as a village counting a little more than 1000 inhabitants. In 1874, Hudon — a cotton factory- moved in...
- Hochelaga-MaisonneuveHochelaga-MaisonneuveHochelaga-Maisonneuve is a district of Montreal, Quebec, situated on the eastern half of the island, generally to the south and south-west of the city's Olympic Stadium. A part of the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, its borders are roughly rue Moreau to the west, rue Sherbrooke to the...
- Mercier, MontrealMercier, MontrealMercier denotes the Eastern portion of the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough of the city of Montreal. It is a former district of Montreal. It consists of two neighbourhoods Mercier-Ouest and Mercier-Est ....
- Mercier-OuestMercier-OuestMercier-Ouest is a neighbourhood in Montreal, in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough.-Geography:Mercier-Ouest an inner-city neighborhood located in the east end of the Island of Montreal. It is one of three districts in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough...
(Longue-PointeLongue-PointeLongue-Pointe was a Montreal neighbourhood now located in the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The neighborhood was permanently divided by the construction of the Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Tunnel...
) - Mercier-EstMercier-EstMercier-Est is a neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec.-Geography:Mercier-Est is an inner-city neighborhood located in the east end of the Island of Montreal. It is one of four districts in the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve burough. It is more commonly referred to as 'Tétreaultville', although this...
(Tétreaultville)
- Mercier-Ouest
Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-TremblesRivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-TremblesRivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles is a suburban borough on the eastern tip of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the farthest borough in the eastern end of the island of Montreal.-Geography:...
- Pointe-aux-TremblesPointe-aux-TremblesPointe-aux-Trembles was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization of districts and municipalities as boroughs....
- Rivière-des-Prairies
Little Italy
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
population in Canada after Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. There are around 250,000 Montrealers of Italian ancestry living within its Metropolitan Area. Montreal's Little Italy, located on St. Lawrence Boulevard between Jean-Talon and St. Zotique, is home to Montreal's original Italian Canadian community. Although many Italians in Montreal have since moved to other parts of town, Montreal's Little Italy has not lost its heritage, as it is home to a large collection of Italian restaurants, bars, and shops.
Città Italiana
There is also a very prominent Italian Canadian community in the Montreal borough of Saint Leonard, nicknamed Città Italiana. This borough is located further east on Jean-Talon Boulevard. Città Italiana can be considered Montreal's second Little Italy
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
. Many Italian cultural centres, such as The Leonardo Da Vinci Centre, are located in Saint Leonard. Its services are offered in English, French and Italian. This cultural building contains theaters, gyms, bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
playing areas, and a cafe.
Downtown Montreal
Downtown Montreal lies at the foot of Mount Royal, most of which is a major urban parkPark
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
, and extends toward the St. Lawrence River. It is located entirely within the Ville Marie
Ville-Marie (borough)
Ville-Marie is the name of a borough in the centre of the city of Montreal, Quebec.-Location:The borough comprises all of downtown Montreal, Old Montreal and the Old Port, the Centre-Sud area, most of Mount Royal Park, Saint Helen's Island, and Île Notre-Dame.It is bordered by the city of...
borough. The Downtown area contains dozens of notable skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s — which bylaws restrict to the height of Mount Royal — including the aforementioned 1000 de La Gauchetière
1000 de La Gauchetière
1000 de la Gauchetière is a skyscraper in the Canadian city of Montreal and is the tallest building in Montreal. It is named for its address at 1000 De la Gauchetière Street West in the city's downtown. It rises to the maximum height approved by the city at 205 m and 51 floors...
and 1250 René-Lévesque
1250 René-Lévesque
1250 Boulevard René-Lévesque, also known as La Tour IBM-Marathon, is a , 47-story skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.The building was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates for IBM Canada and Marathon Realty, hence the former name "IBM-Marathon." It is now named for its address at 1250 René...
. The Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) is also another significant building in Montreal, and is home to the Montreal Exchange
Montreal Exchange
The Montreal Exchange or MX is a derivatives exchange, located in Montreal, that trades futures contracts and options on equities, indices, currencies, ETFs, energy and interest rates. Since 1965, it has been located in the Tour de la Bourse , Montreal's third-tallest building...
, which trades in derivatives such as futures contracts and options. The Montreal Exchange was the first stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
in Canada. In 1999 all stock trades were transferred to Toronto in exchange for exclusivity in derivatives trading.
Place Ville-Marie
Place Ville-Marie
1 Place Ville-Marie , formerly Royal Bank Tower taken from its anchor tenant, is a with 47-storey, cruciform office tower built in the International style in 1962, arguably the most distinctive building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in the 1960s as the headquarters of the Royal Bank of...
, an I. M. Pei
I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei , commonly known as I. M. Pei, is a Chinese American architect, often called a master of modern architecture. Born in Canton, China and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the gardens at Suzhou...
-designed cruciform
Cruciform
Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...
office tower built in 1962, sits atop an underground shopping mall that forms the nexus of Montreal's underground city
Underground City, Montreal
Montreal's Underground City is the set of interconnected complexes in and around Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
the world's largest at 32 kilometres (19.9 mi) in length. The underground city gives its 500,000 daily visitors indoor access to 2,000 stores, 200 restaurants, 1,200 offices, 1,600 housing units, 10 metro stations, train stations, bus terminals, and tunnels extending all over downtown. The central axis for downtown is Saint Catherine Street
Saint Catherine Street
This article is about the street in Montreal called the rue Sainte-Catherine in French. For other streets of this name, see Rue Sainte-Catherine ....
, the city's busiest commercial artery. Other major streets include Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke Street
Sherbrooke Street is a major east-west artery and at in length, is the second longest street on the Island of Montreal. The street begins in the town of Montreal West and ends on the extreme tip of the island in Pointe-aux-Trembles, intersecting Gouin Boulevard and joining up with Notre-Dame...
, René Lévesque Boulevard
René Lévesque Boulevard
René Lévesque Boulevard is one of the main streets in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.It is a main east-west thoroughfare passing through the downtown core in the borough of Ville-Marie. The street begins on the west at Atwater Avenue and continues until it merges with Notre Dame Street East just east...
, Peel
Peel Street, Montreal
Peel Street is a major north-south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Street links Pine Avenue, near Mount Royal, in the north and Smith Street, in the Southwest borough, in the south. The street's southern end is at the Peel Basin of the Lachine Canal...
, Mountain Street
Mountain Street
Mountain Street is a north-south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It links Doctor Penfield Avenue in the north and Wellington Street in the south. Notable businesses on Rue de la Montagne, include Ogilvy's and Hôtel de la Montagne.-Name:According to the Commission de toponymie...
, De Maisonneuve Boulevard
De Maisonneuve Boulevard
De Maisonneuve Boulevard is a major westbound boulevard located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is named after the founder of Montreal, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve. De Maisonneuve Boulevard is about 11 kilometres long and begins on Havre Street in the east end, and ends in the...
and Crescent Street
Crescent Street
Crescent Street is a southbound street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Running perpendicular to Saint Catherine Street, Crescent Street descends from Sherbrooke Street south to René-Lévesque Boulevard....
.
Old Montreal
Old Montreal
Old Montreal is the oldest area in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dating back to New France. Located in the borough of Ville-Marie, the area is bordered on the west by McGill St., on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by Berri St. and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River...
(French: Vieux-Montréal) is a historic area located southeast of downtown containing many different attractions such as the Old Port of Montreal
Old Port of Montreal
Stretching for over two kilometres along the St-Lawrence River in Old Montreal, the Old Port Of Montreal has been the social, economic and cultural soul of Montreal ever since early French fur traders used it as a trading post in 1611...
, Place Jacques-Cartier
Place Jacques-Cartier
Place Jacques-Cartier is a square located in Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and an entrance to the Old Port of Montreal.- Overview :...
, Montreal City Hall
Montreal City Hall
The five-storey Montreal City Hall is the work of architects Henri-Maurice Perrault and Alexander Cowper Hutchison, and was built between 1872 and 1878 in the Second Empire style. It is located in Old Montreal, between Place Jacques-Cartier and the Champ de Mars, at 275 Notre-Dame Street East...
, the Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market , at 350 rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal, is a two-story domed public market. For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of United Canada for one session in 1849....
, Place d'Armes, Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Pointe-à-Callière Museum is the Montreal museum of archaeology and history located in Old Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1992 as part of celebrations to mark Montreal's 350th birthday...
, the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica, and the Montreal Science Centre
Montreal Science Centre
The Montreal Science Centre is a science museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the King Edward Pier in the Old Port of Montreal. Established in 2000 and originally known as the iSci Centre, the museum changed its name to the Montreal Science Centre in 2002. The museum is managed by...
.
Architecture and cobbled streets in Old Montreal have been maintained or restored and are frequented by horse-drawn calèches carrying tourists. Old Montreal is accessible from the downtown core via the underground city
Underground city, Montreal
Montreal's Underground City is the set of interconnected complexes in and around Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
and is served by several STM
Société de transport de Montréal
The Société de transport de Montréal is a public transport agency that operates transit bus, and rapid transit services in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
bus routes and metro stations, ferries to the South Shore and a network of bicycle paths.
The riverside area adjacent to Old Montreal is known as the Old Port. The Old Port was the former site of the worldwide Port of Montreal
Port of Montréal
The Port of Montreal, is a port located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the St Lawrence river. It one of the largest inland ports in the world, it is the second busiest port in Canada , and it is one of the busiest ports in North America....
, but its shipping operations have been moved further east to its current larger site, leaving the former location as a recreational and historical area maintained by Parks Canada
Parks Canada
Parks Canada , also known as the Parks Canada Agency , is an agency of the Government of Canada mandated to protect and present nationally significant natural and cultural heritage, and foster public understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment in ways that ensure their ecological and commemorative...
. The new Port of Montreal
Port of Montréal
The Port of Montreal, is a port located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the St Lawrence river. It one of the largest inland ports in the world, it is the second busiest port in Canada , and it is one of the busiest ports in North America....
is now Canada's largest container port and the largest inland port on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Chinatown
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
ese establishments. Several of these restaurants offer dim sum from as early as 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and can be quite crowded, especially on Sundays. The principal axis of Chinatown are Saint Laurent Boulevard and La Gauchetière Street.
Gay Village
Montreal is known as a queerQueer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
or gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
-friendly city. Its pride festival, Divers/Cité
Divers/Cité
Divers/Cité is an LGBT multidisciplinary arts and music festival taking place each year in the heart of Montreal, since 1993. An avant-garde event in the heart of downtown Montreal and in Montreal's Gay Village area held usually on the end of July and beginning of August every year and extending...
, is claimed to be one of the largest in North America; organizers estimate that it drew 1.4 million people in 2002. It benefits from financial support from all three levels of government. Montreal is home to one of the largest gay villages
Gay Village, Montreal
Montreal's Gay Village is located on Saint Catherine Street East, centred on Beaudry metro station, and on Amherst Street in the Ville-Marie borough of the city...
in the world. Gay Village (known in French as le Village gai) is centred around the downtown Beaudry metro station. Montreal is a centre of Queer life and culture in Canada and hosts several circuit parties
Circuit party
A circuit party is a large dance event, extending through a night and into the following day, almost always with a number of affiliated events in the days leading up to and following the main event...
every year. As the local gay publication is in French, an alternative for English visitors is GAYroute with details about Montreal's gay community in English. The 2006 World Outgames
World Outgames
The World Outgames are a sporting and cultural event hosted by the gay community. With over 12,000 participants, the 1st World Outgames, held in 2006, was the largest international event to be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since the 1976 Summer Olympiad. These first Outgames were not as...
were held in Montreal. The 2001 census recorded that 6.3% of couples in the city were same-sex, the fourth highest percentage for cities in Canada.
Other neighbourhoods
- Quartier international de MontréalQuartier international de MontréalThe Quartier international de Montréal or Montreal's International District is a district of the Ville-Marie borough of downtown Montreal that underwent a major urban renewal as a central business district in 2000–2003.-Purpose:...
- Quartier des SpectaclesQuartier des SpectaclesQuartier des Spectacles is an entertainment district located in the eastern section of Downtown Montreal. The area is currently undergoing gentrification and urban renewal that will turn it into the centre for Montreal's cultural events and festivals....
- Cité Multimédia
- Quartier Latin, Montreal
- Sainte-Marie, MontrealSainte-Marie, MontrealThe Sainte-Marie neighbourhood is located on the eastern end of Downtown Montreal in the borough of Ville-Marie. The Jacques-Cartier Bridge is located in this neighbourhood.-History:...
Park Extension
Parc Extension or 'Parc-Ex' as it is known by the locals, is a key location of the city. It is set in the middle of Montreal and has two metro stations along with three of the main bus routes crossing through it. Its name derives from the fact that it is the neighborhood that begins at the end of a main city street; Parc avenue, therefore extending the reach of the long avenue. Some of the most notable things about Parc Extension is that it is home to a little over 100 different ethnicities yet is mostly known for its Greek community which helped make the district what it is today. 'Parc-Ex' has also come under criticism for its increasing gang related violence in the past decade.Greektown
Montreal's Greektown has historically been located in the district of Parc Extension. Jean-Talon Boulevard, which runs through Parc Extension, is home to many GreekGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
restaurants and shops. The same can be said for Parc Avenue. Thousands of Greek Canadians
Greek Canadians
Greek Canadians are Canadian citizens of Greek origin, also known as Hellenic origin. According to the 2006 Canadian census, there were 242,685 Canadians who claimed Greek ethnicity.- Authors :...
took to the streets and celebrated in Greektown after Greece defeated Portugal in the 2004 European Football Championship.
Other neighbourhoods
- Saint-MichelSaint-Michel, MontrealSaint-Michel is a neighborhood in the Montreal borough ofVilleray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. Its boundaries corresponds to the former city of Ville Saint Michel, which was annexed to Montreal in 1968. This former independent city was known as Saint-Michel-de-Laval from its inception in 1912 to...
(former Ville Saint-Michel) - VillerayVilleray, QuebecVilleray is a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is part of the Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough and is situated in the north-central part of the Island of Montreal.-Origin of the name:...
Saint-Michel is the home of Le Boulevard shopping centre(recently renovated) and also is home to the headquarters of the world renowned Cirque Du Soleil as well as the Tohu, la Cité des Arts du Cirque and the Complexe environmental Saint-Michel. The former Miron and Francon quarries are also located here. Autoroute 40 runs through the area and adds a distinctive feel to the neighborhood. Saint-Michel is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Montreal and in the province of Quebec. Italians, Haitians, Arabs, Asians, Hispanics as well as people of French descent (Québécois) represent the major ethnic groups of this inner city area. Thus, the area has a very distinctive cultural feel. In the early 1990s, this part of Montreal was mostly known for street gang problems. Although, these problems persists somewhat to this day, the situation is better controlled and opinion of the area has improved.