Provost Street, in the working-class borough of Lachine, is not one of Montreal’s much-vaunted main streets. It has no sidewalk cafés, no cool bars and no reason to linger. But it does have a vintage Poulet Frit à la Kentucky.
I took these photos in the spring of 2007. I hope Provost and its fried-chicken joint haven’t undergone any sort of rebranding since then.
Patterns of light, shadow and reflections underneath the Charlevoix Street Bridge, over the Lachine Canal in Montreal, during rush hour. Music is “Wildlife Analysis” by Boards of Canada.
This is a video and still photo slideshow I created of the Lachine Canal and some of the former industrial buildings near the Côte-St-Paul Locks. The Lachine Canal was opened in 1825, allowing boats to bypass the Lachine Rapids for the first time and sail directly to the Great Lakes. It sparked an industrial boom in this part of Montreal, but in 1959, it was made obsolete by the St. Lawrence Seaway. It closed in 1969. Since then, its banks have been redeveloped with parks and bike paths. In recent years, many new condos have been built here and many of the nearby industrial buildings have been converted into office and living space. Nonetheless, abandoned industry remains, especially towards the west.
