Mile End, Montreal

Description[edit]

Since the 1980s Mile End has been known for its culture as an artistic neighbourhood, home to artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers such as Arcade Fire, Bran Van 3000, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Ariane Moffatt, Grimes, Plants and Animals, Wolf Parade and Mac Demarco. Many art galleries, designers' workshops, boutiques and cafés are found in the neighbourhood, which have played a large role in Mile End being included on numerous lists outlining the world's most cool and unique neighbourhoods.^[1]


The comic book company Drawn & Quarterly was founded in Mile End in 1989, and in 2007 opened up a flagship store on Bernard that is now regarded as the literary hub of the neighbourhood. In 1993 a former Anglican church (south of St. Viateur on Park Ave.) was transformed into Mile End Library, renamed Mordecai Richler Library in 2015. This opened the door for a community artistic movement that first hosted exhibitions from Images de Femmes in 1994, and later a variety of other exhibits. In 1998 Mile End art gallery and co-op Ame Art were formed with the assistance of the Park YMCA. The computer graphics software house Discreet Logic made a mark on the area by renovating part of an old clothing factory in 1993. In 1997, this space became the new Montreal studios of computer game developer Ubisoft, which has since expanded to take over the remainder of the building.


Mile End became noticeably gentrified during the 1980s and 90s, and rents continue to increase while shops become more upscale – notably the Laurier West strip. Many small businesses have been closing because of the rent spikes, notably on Bernard Street, and Saint Viateur avenue. Citizens have been protesting against these rent spikes, such as in an event in March 2021 when hundreds of people showed up at an old bookstore on Saint Viateur Avenue with their favorite books to support this cornerstone of the community, which was in danger of closing. These factors have subsequently moved much of the artist community and poorer residents of Mile End further away from Downtown Montreal to Park Extension and other adjacent neighbourhoods.


The writer Mordecai Richler grew up on Saint Urbain Street in the 1930s and 40s, and wrote about the neighbourhood in several of his novels. Wilensky's Light Lunch, which is still open on Fairmount at Clark, features memorably in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and the film based on it.


The independent comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly maintains its head office and flagship store in Mile End. Imago Theatre, a feminist theatre company and one of the oldest Anglophone theatres in Montreal, is located in the neighbourhood. William Shatner grew up in Mile End until he moved to Notre-Dame-de-Grâce during his high school years.


In 2005, Mile End was described in several music magazines, notably Spin and Pitchfork Media, as the heart of the city's independent music scene. The neighbourhood continues to be a thriving centre for many artists & musicians. Several venues on Saint Laurent Boulevard and Park Avenue have contributed to the development of the local scene, including popular medium-sized venues Casa del Popolo, La Sala Rossa, and Mile End Cabaret (now Théâtre Fairmount); jazz club Résonance Café (closed due to pandemic-related strains), El Salon (now closed), and The Green Room (Le Salon Vert, closed after a fire in 2010). In the 1980s there were Checkers and Club Soda on Park Avenue. Many indie labels such as Arbutus Records, Dare to Care Records / Grosse Boîte, Bonsound, Indica Records, Mindique, Constellation Records, The Treatment Room Studios, and the famous hotel2tango recording studio are also located in Mile End, as is the headquarters for Pop Montreal. Independent record label Mile End Records is also named after the neighbourhood as one of the founders once lived there. The area is home to the city's two most famous bagel bakeries, Fairmount Bagel and St. Viateur Bagel.^[2] A branch of the popular vegetarian restaurant Lola Rosa is located in the area, as is the first branch of the Montreal supermarket chain PA Supermarché.


Various local entrepreneurs immortalized the area with their products. Well-known examples are the famous brewpub Dieu du Ciel!^[3] offering an English-style mild ale called "Mild End" and a Belgian-style saison called "Saison St-Louis", named after the former village of Saint Louis du Mile End, and brewpub HELM that named all of its beers after the neighbourhood and its streets.^[4]


The district has become so popular as a stand-in for New York City on such American productions as Quantico and Brooklyn that in November 2016, the borough announced restrictions on new film and TV shoots, in an area described as "heart" of Mile End, between Parc Avenue, Bernard Street, Saint-Urbain Street and Fairmount Street.^[5]