Saint Catherine Street

Saint Catherine Street (now officially rue Sainte-Catherine) is the primary commercial artery of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and De Maisonneuve Boulevard in the city of Westmount, traversing the borough of Ville-Marie, and ending on Notre Dame Street East just east of Viau St in the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

The street runs parallel to the largest segments of Montreal's underground city. The series of interconnected office tower basements and shopping complexes that make up this main thoroughfare lie immediately north of the street.

Educational institutions located on or near the street include Concordia University, McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal, Dawson College and LaSalle College.

Retailers

Sainte-Catherine Street has been home to many of Montreal's prominent department stores, including such former retailers as Eaton's, Morgan's, Simpson's and Dupuis Freres. Today, the Morgan's building is home to Hudson's Bay Company, which acquired Morgan's in 1960. The Simpson's building is now shared by the La Maison Simons department store and a multiplex cinema, while Eaton's was converted to the Complexe Les Ailes. Dupuis Freres, located further east at Saint Catherine and Saint Hubert, is now a shopping mall and office complex.

The Ogilvy's department store remains a fixture on Saint Catherine, although it is now a collection of boutiques rather than a single store.

Other major retailers along the street including an Apple Store, Indigo Books and Music, Chapters, HMV Group, Archambault, La Senza, Future Shop, Roots and H&M flagship store at the corner of Peel and Saint Catherine. Additionally, many of Montreal's most prominent shopping complexes, including the Centre Eaton, Complexe Les Ailes, Place Montreal Trust, Promenades Cathédrale, les Cours Mont-Royal (a high fashion shopping mall), the Complexe Desjardins, Place Dupuis, Place Alexis-Nihon, the Faubourg Sainte-Catherine and Westmount Square all make their home along this street.

The Montreal Forum, once home to the Montreal Canadiens, is also located on rue Sainte-Catherine at Atwater. It has since been turned into a shopping and movie theatre complex called the Pepsi Forum. Due to the Forum's presence on this street, rue Sainte-Catherine was used as the parade route whenever the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. This was once referred to as "the usual route" by Mayor Jean Drapeau, during the Canadiens dynasties of the mid-century, when a win would occur yearly or other year.

The segment in the district of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is also an important commercial area in that neighbourhood.

treet closures

For one weekend in July every year, Sainte-Catherine Street hosts Canada's largest open-air sidewalk sale. 2 km of the street between Jeanne-Mance and St-Marc streets is closed to traffic, and vendors from nearby shopping centres bring out their sale merchandise. There is also live entertainment along the street. It is estimated that over 300 000 people visit the downtown during this event. [ [http://www.destinationcentreville.com/yellow/grande.html La grande braderie estivale (in French)] ]

Transit

The Green line of the Montreal Metro was built to serve Saint Catherine Street; however, to avoid disrupting traffic on the street, it was built one block to the north, under what would later become De Maisonneuve Boulevard.

Culture

Montreal's Place-des-Arts, the city's primary concert venue, is located on Sainte-Catherine Jeanne-Mance and Saint-Urbain streets, in the city's Quartier des Spectacles entertainment district. The street was once home to many now-abandoned cinemas such as the Loews, Palace, Capitol, Cinema de Paris, York, Ouimetoscope and the Seville Theatre as well as the demolished Montreal Spectrum music venue.

Places of worship

The street is also home to Christ Church Cathedral, the only church in Canada that sits atop a shopping mall, Promenades Cathédrale; another important church, Saint James United Church, has recently had its concealing façade of commercial buildings removed. Other churches on the street include St. James the Apostle Anglican Church.

Gay Village

A Gay Village extends along rue Sainte-Catherine in the east end of downtown, between Saint-Hubert and Papineau. Beaudry metro station, on the Green Line, provides the most convenient access to the Village and sports a permanent rainbow decoration on its façade. For most of the summer (June 17th until September 2nd in 2008, but to be extended even longer in 2009), St. Catherine Street is completely closed to traffic through the Gay Village, making it one large pedestrian area, allowing all the stores to sell outside and all the restaurants and bars to serve on large, open-air terrasses.

Night life

The strip clubs which made their home on Sainte-Catherine Street have now declined in number, though a few prominent clubs, such as Supersexe, Le vieux four and La calèche du sexe, do remain.

References