Walk # 12

Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. ~Søren Kierkegaard

Started at Frontenac Metro.

It’s getting to where I almost expect to see pianos everywhere.

Headed south on Frontenac. Large STM garage at the corner of La Fontaine.

Strange corner to that building so I am going to guess it was once either a depanneur or a tavern.

Interesting house on Lafontaine.

Front yard on Frontenac.

It struck me that this place looked improvised despite having such a rigid cube structure.

Project on de Maisonneuve.

View of the STM garage from the south end.

Found this painted wall on du Havre that runs along the Gaz Metro property.

Lots of iconic imagery.

Info.

Sainte Catherine street. You can see parts of the rides at La Ronde down here.

Moving west on Sainte Catherine. I was really struck by this outside staircase and was half tempted to hang out and see how people come and go from the building. It looks like it has a traditional entrance that implies an interior stairwell.

Parc Jos Montferrand.

Looking south at Sainte Catherine and Frontenac.

Not the Sainte Catherine street most Montrealers know from downtown.

Turned north on Poupart and came across this building.

The sign reads, “Association Missionaire Internationale des Adventistes du Spetieme Jour Mouvement de Reforme du Quebec.”

South side of Champagne.

It’s all about the entrance.

Love the big old tree.

Up ahead is the Centre d’hebergement Emilie GamelinCentre d’hebergement Emilie Gamelin.

It’s a big place.

Back on Sainte Catherine, probably a former bank.

Fountain on the side of the Chantier de l’economie sociale.

Across the street, Eglise Universelle & Iglesia Universal.

Turning up Fullum, the front of the Chantier de l’economie sociale.

Wide staircase.

Parc Olivier Robert.

Surete du Quebec (the old Parthenais holding prison).

Going east on Logan.

Awesome front yard.

Looks very ordinary except the first floor is boarded up and the rest of the building seems active.

Small local business.

Took a look down Coupal, a street that curves.

At Ontario, MacDonald Tobacco. Wonder how many cigarettes were processed there?

Looking west on Ontario.

Continuing north on Dufresne.

Place Dufresne is a cul de sac.

Going west on Place Lariviere.

For a minute there I thought I was walking in this painting, Melancholy of a Street, by Giorgio de Chirico.

Strange little space, hard to say whether it is private property or a mini park.

My thing for stairs.

This church looks familiar and, yea, I went by the other side of it on Walk # 10. It is Pastorale Sociale Centre Sud.

Tobacco plant parking lot with park.

Parc Walter Stewart getting a makeover.

Look back at the church.

1.3 million to redo a small park.

Carrefour Saint Eusebe on de Rouen. My friend, Jack Ruttan, lives along here somewhere but I cant remember which place, next time I will give him a call.

Turned north on Sheppard, big balcony.

Ivy on the staircase, you sure don’t see that too often.

Not your typical set up.

Sculpture in Parc Baldwin.

Dog run in this part of the park.

Looking north.

The pool isn’t that packed considering it is a very warm day.

Dolphins.

Church with for sale sign on it on Rachel.

Moving west on Rachel, even school yards are getting a facelift.

Turned north on des Erables and found these kitties.

I guess I would call these a single and a double staircase.

Turned west on Marie Anne where the mail is always on time.

A different take on your basic Montreal triplex.

Moving west on Marie Anne, I came upon this and decided to explore.

View through the fence of lane approaching park.

Park Compagnons de Saint Laurent. It runs from Mont Royal to Marie Ann.  Electric car with Ontario plates charging.

 

Went up to Mont Royal street.

Hard to get a good picture of that mural.

Setting up for a film screening.

The ivy covered building I walked around was the Arena Mont Royal, not to be confused with this one.

Took this lane, officially rue Letreille, off the park to check out these pieces.

Now going south on Papineau and Elvis Lives!

Paroisse Immaculee Conception at the corners of Papineau and Rachel.

Once again, I enter La Fontaine Park.

I seem to be instinctively wanting to document all these wading pools that are apparently no longer functioning, but they are hard to get in the frame sometimes.

Felix Leclerc.

Talk about attractive real estate, right across from the park!

Moving west on Roy.

Saint Dominique and Roy, this was Waldman’s fish market not too long ago.

And what do you see when you turn north on Saint Laurent?

Corner of Saint Cuthbert.

Going south on Clark.

Place de la Roumanie. Statue of Mihai Eminescu, biography here.

Bike rack at Sewell and des Pins.

Hotel Dieu Hospital, the first hospital established in North America.

Musee des Hospitalieres.

View south moving along des Pins.

Looking ahead, Molson Stadium, as we called it in my day, sticking out. My dad took me to a few games there as a kid and my pee wee team once attended a game there, got to meet George Dixon, a true superstar,  which was totally awesome at the time!

South on Saint Famille.

These apartment entrances are set way back from the street, almost NDGish, except these were probably the actual inspiration 🙂

You always find some interesting  contrasts in the “McGill Ghetto.”

Turning west on Prince Arthur.

One of the La Cite towers. This was the site of one of the greatest housing battles in the history of Canada – excellent page on this here.

Saint John’s Lutheran, corner  Prince Arthur and Jeanne Mance.

Going south on Park Avenue.

Park and Sherbrooke. That was an empty lot for many years, project built in 2002. I worked at Open City Productions 2002 and we were located across from that then empty lot from about 1999- 2003. Was an an amazing, truly wonderful, but horribly mismanaged community art organization. Most of us who are still in touch have mainly fantastic memories of all the things we got to do back in those days.

Maybe not the way so many people have shot buildings in New York City. Pic by Berenice Abbot.

Mayor street, big city.

South on Bleury, The Black Watch.

From the corner of Bleury and President Kennedy.

And the Place des Arts Metro is calling my name.

This was interesting walk in that there were twists and turns that were unplanned, like overlapping previous walks on de Rouen, or going through an unknown park to a major street. I love this city more each time I walk through it, astounded by its diversity and the apparent willingness of its architecture and local cultures to engage with the outsider pedestrian, the wanton flanneur, or the urban explorer just passing through, in a manner one does not expect in a more familiar place,  and there is always an absolutely open invitation to just be yourself wherever you walk in Montreal! Until the next time, be good, love, and, well, love, it will get you there sooner than later, says the ‘ol photoflanneur!