February 12th, 2007
I was explaining Montreal’s Wilensky’s Light Lunch to a friend in Quebec City last week. I think I used the phrase “wartime-food-shortage charm,” a charm that translates all the way down to the food itself. We all like the fact that Wilensky’s is there, but I’ve never met anyone who’s actually had one of their bologna sandwiches.
“I see,” she said, looking for some way to relate it to Quebec City, “so it’s a little like Pâtisserie Simon.”
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November 4th, 2006
In recent years, Saint Roch has seen more changes than any other neighbourhood in Quebec City. Once a bleak slum/parking lot, it is now home to the second-largest Hugo Boss store in North America (after New York). Needless to say, this has led to some friction between new and old residents.
Fifteen years ago, most of this was a parking lot.
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October 21st, 2006
The sad story of Église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in Quebec City reaches new levels of mediocrity with every passing year.
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October 18th, 2006
I was planning to make it to Montreal last weekend but my financial situation could only take me as far as Lévis, a short ride across the river. I fancied myself in faraway Hong Kong as I boarded our gros-village equivalent to the Star ferry only to face the brutal reminder that Lévis is nothing like Kowloon. Most of its 100,000 people live in sprawling suburbs. Still, there’s a nice central area that feels like a proper urban neighbourhood.
Rue Bégin, Lévis’ main street
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October 15th, 2006
All too often, layers of history are lost or obliterated when buildings are enlarged. These two vernacular apartment buildings in Quebec City’s Faubourg Saint-Sauveur are rare exceptions. You can clearly make out the extra storey added in the early 20th-century to these 19th-century mansardes. What’s your verdict: respectful evolution or architectural monstrosity?
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October 6th, 2006
I would have second thoughts about living in Quebec City if it wasn’t for my neighbourhood: Faubourg Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
Located directly outside the old city walls is this very dense area of rickety working-class homes. Most were built between the 1840s and the early 20th century. Saint-Jean-Baptiste has a grit lacking in other parts of the upper city. Power lines are tangled up like clotheslines across the streets, most of which are too narrow for trees. The neighbourhood is laid out in a grid patterrn on a steep hill, and has consequently been used on many occasions as a cheaper alternative to filming in San Francisco.
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Montreal Apartments