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The Main Media Inc. 2026

✦ Built By Field Office
    The Main

    Montreal's Cultural Directory

    Help us improve! Share your thoughts on how we can make your experience better.

    Leave feedback

    For partnerships and collaborations:

    partnerships@themain.com

    Content

    • Articles
    • Food & Drink
    • Arts & Culture
    • History Lesson
    • Bulletin
    • Events

    Guides

    • All Guides
    • Best Restaurants
    • Best Cafés
    • Best Bars
    • Best Brunch
    • Best Bakeries

    Explore Montreal

    • Browse Directory
    • Restaurants
    • Bars
    • Cafés
    • Bookstores
    • Leaderboard
    • Editor's Picks
    • New Places

    About

    • About us
    • Subscribe
    • Shop
    • Advertise
    • Pitch us
    • RSS Feed

    Legal

    • Terms of service
    • Membership Terms
    • Privacy Policy
    Follow us
    InstagramTwitterTiktokLinkedin

    The Main Media Inc. 2026

    ✦ Built By Field Office
      --°C|Saturday, April 25, 2026|
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      --°C|Saturday, April 25, 2026|
      Subscribe today to get 3 free articles per month.Get 50% off your first 5 rides with Lyft
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      Magazine
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      • Food & Drink
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      • Best new Restaurants
      • Best Cafés
      • Unique Boutiques
      • Romantic Restaurants
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      • See all Guides
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      • Boutique / Store
      • Bar
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      Near the Metro
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      • Place-d'Armes
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      More History Lesson

      The Day a Downtown Campus Burned and What Came After
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Day a Downtown Campus Burned and What Came After

      What began as a complaint about grading bias escalated into a two-week occupation, a fire, and one of the most consequential reckonings with institutional racism in Canadian higher education.

      The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind
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      J.P. Karwacki

      The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind

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      The Montreal Punch That May Have Killed Houdini
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      The Little Store That Runs Montreal: A Complete History of the Dep
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      The Little Store That Runs Montreal: A Complete History of the Dep

      How a 1970 law, a Rosemont grocer, and generations of immigrant families created Montreal's most essential institution.

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture
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      J.P. Karwacki

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture

      The shamrock has been on Montreal's coat of arms since 1832, and the pub culture that followed has been here just as long.

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?
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      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?

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      The century-long smoked meat legacy of Schwartz's Deli
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      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano
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      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano

      In so many ways, Montreal jazz exists because Daisy Peterson Sweeney both masters and generations of kids in Little Burgundy.

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club
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      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club

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      The Gothic Mansion Where the CIA Broke Minds with LSD and Electroshock

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      How the Atwater Market fed Montreal through depression and renewal
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      J.P. Karwacki

      How the Atwater Market Fed Montreal Through Depression and Renewal

      A civic monument, a neighbourhood anchor, and a living archive of what Montreal eats since 1933.

      Operation Fish: When Montreal hid Britain's fortune during WWII
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      Operation Fish: When Montreal Hid Britain's Fortune During WWII

      Billions in gold and securities sat three storeys beneath Sun Life while 5,000 employees worked overhead, completely oblivious.

      History Lesson

      When Beatlemania Conquered Montreal for One Day

      🎵 It was 60 years ago today / The Beatles came to Montreal to play 🎵

      ByStuart Nulman

      September 9, 2024 · 7 min read

      When Beatlemania conquered Montreal for one day
      The Beatles at the Montreal Forum for their only show in the city on September 8, 1964. | Photograph: Gunther/MPTV

      On September 8, 1964, Montreal experienced the Beatlemania phenomenon, as John, Paul, George, and Ringo performed two shows at the Montreal Forum as part of their first North American tour, and one of its three Canadian stops; the other two were Vancouver and Toronto.

      1964 was a landmark year for the Beatles: In February, they kicked off the "British Invasion" with two landmark appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, in which the February 9 telecast attracted over 73 million viewers; they did their first American concerts in Washington, DC and New York City; they released their first motion picture A Hard Day's Night, which became a major success at the box office; and in April, they achieved the unheard of feat of dominating the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (in order of appearance from 1-5, they were Can't Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand and Please Please Me).

      Free account required

      For readers who care about Montreal

      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

      Independent. Local. Reader-supported.

      or

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      More History Lesson

      The Day a Downtown Campus Burned and What Came After
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Day a Downtown Campus Burned and What Came After

      What began as a complaint about grading bias escalated into a two-week occupation, a fire, and one of the most consequential reckonings with institutional racism in Canadian higher education.

      The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Flying Cathedral That Made a City Lose Its Mind

      In the summer of 1930, a British airship the length of two and a half Boeing 747s locked onto a mooring mast on the South Shore. Nearly a million people came to watch.

      The Montreal Punch That May Have Killed Houdini
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Montreal Punch That May Have Killed Houdini

      A backstage encounter at a Montreal theatre, a few punches, a death six weeks later. The cause remains disputed.

      The Little Store That Runs Montreal: A Complete History of the Dep
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Little Store That Runs Montreal: A Complete History of the Dep

      How a 1970 law, a Rosemont grocer, and generations of immigrant families created Montreal's most essential institution.

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How Montreal Built Its Own Irish Pub Culture

      The shamrock has been on Montreal's coat of arms since 1832, and the pub culture that followed has been here just as long.

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      What Happened to Montreal's Red Light District?

      Jazz legends, burlesque queens, and organized crime made it one of the most alive corners in North America. Then Montreal decided it had a reputation to protect.

      The century-long smoked meat legacy of Schwartz's Deli
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Century-long Smoked Meat Legacy of Schwartz's Deli

      How a Romanian immigrant's recipe and stubborn refusal to change built Montreal's most iconic sandwich.

      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Woman Who Taught a City How to Play the Piano

      In so many ways, Montreal jazz exists because Daisy Peterson Sweeney both masters and generations of kids in Little Burgundy.

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How a Railway Porter Built Montreal's Most Storied Jazz Club

      The story of Rufus Rockhead, the Jamaican-born railway porter who built Montreal's most legendary jazz club—and spent decades defending it.

      The Gothic mansion where the CIA broke minds with LSD and electroshock
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      The Gothic Mansion Where the CIA Broke Minds with LSD and Electroshock

      The Ravenscrag manor housed the Allan Memorial Institute, where patients seeking help became victims of Cold War experiments.

      How the Atwater Market fed Montreal through depression and renewal
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      How the Atwater Market Fed Montreal Through Depression and Renewal

      A civic monument, a neighbourhood anchor, and a living archive of what Montreal eats since 1933.

      Operation Fish: When Montreal hid Britain's fortune during WWII
      History Lesson
      J.P. Karwacki

      Operation Fish: When Montreal Hid Britain's Fortune During WWII

      Billions in gold and securities sat three storeys beneath Sun Life while 5,000 employees worked overhead, completely oblivious.

      History Lesson

      When Beatlemania Conquered Montreal for One Day

      🎵 It was 60 years ago today / The Beatles came to Montreal to play 🎵

      ByStuart Nulman

      September 9, 2024 · 7 min read

      When Beatlemania conquered Montreal for one day
      The Beatles at the Montreal Forum for their only show in the city on September 8, 1964. | Photograph: Gunther/MPTV

      On September 8, 1964, Montreal experienced the Beatlemania phenomenon, as John, Paul, George, and Ringo performed two shows at the Montreal Forum as part of their first North American tour, and one of its three Canadian stops; the other two were Vancouver and Toronto.

      1964 was a landmark year for the Beatles: In February, they kicked off the "British Invasion" with two landmark appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, in which the February 9 telecast attracted over 73 million viewers; they did their first American concerts in Washington, DC and New York City; they released their first motion picture A Hard Day's Night, which became a major success at the box office; and in April, they achieved the unheard of feat of dominating the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (in order of appearance from 1-5, they were Can't Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand and Please Please Me).

      Free account required

      For readers who care about Montreal

      Create a free account to read this story and access 3 articles per month, plus our weekly Bulletin.

      Independent. Local. Reader-supported.

      or

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