We are in The Globe and Mail!

Unfortunately for those of us in Montreal we can’t read the article in the newspaper! Strange.

But its there on line, and here is the article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/mile-end-mais-oui/article1518482/

And here is our little mention:

Montréalité Let your T-shirt say Montrealer even if you aren’t one. These tees feature Montreal icons like the Jacques Cartier Bridge, the Orange Julep and a representation of poutine. They’re 100-per-cent cotton. 51 Bernard St. W.; 514-510-9907; www.montrealite-tshirts.com

Don’t just walk the neighbourhood, wear it with T-shirts from the Montrealite boutique.

We are in the New York Times!

And here is the article:

Almost seven years ago, Montreal’s city government began widening the sidewalks and installing new benches and planters on a section of Rue Bernard west of Boulevard St.-Laurent that had been lined with musty convenience stores (“dépanneurs” in the Quebec vernacular), greasy spoons and vacant storefronts. The surrounding neighborhood of Mile-End had become a prominent spot for local music, with bands like Arcade Fire and Godspeed You! Black Emperor having come up through its clubs and practice rooms. But the area’s cachet had somehow eluded Rue Bernard — until construction on the sidewalks was completed in 2006.

“The street was dug up for two or three summers, and after that the street started to change,” recalled Daniel Sanger, a writer who’s lived in the neighborhood on and off for 25 years.

Rue Bernard’s improved pedestrian friendliness brought with it a new generation of hangouts and shops, and cost a few of the old standbys. One of the longtime tenants that survived the face-lift is D’Un Sport à L’Autre (173, rue Bernard Ouest; 514-278-1909), a sporting goods store that sells a chaotic jumble of used and new equipment. After more than 15 years in business, it feels like an overstuffed garage, and the chaos is much more playful and encouraging than your average Nike store.

Arterie (No. 176; 514-273-3933; arterieboutique.blogspot.com), a nearby boutique, sells the work of Montreal designers alongside a collection of used clothing. Highlights include endearingly odd jewelry, vegan shoes and dresses by Valerie Dumaine from 130 Canadian dollars, about the same in U.S. dollars.

The work of Montreal designers is also the focus at Montréalité (No. 51; 877-254-8676; montrealite.com) farther down the block. Most of the screen-printed apparel here contains references to the bilingual life, including one T-shirt that says simply “Ouash,” a distinctly Québécois expression for “yuck” (15 Canadian dollars).

For design of the nonwearable sort, graphic novel enthusiasts from around the world make pilgrimages to Librairie Drawn & Quarterly (No. 211; 514-279-2224; drawnandquarterly.com); the headquarters of the successful publishing house that spawned it are nearby. The shop sells a delightful variety of graphic novels, art books and fiction — like “Hot Potatoe,” a new anthology by the Canadian graphic artist Marc Bell (44.95 Canadian) — and hosts book launches and workshops.

On a recent evening, the front room of the HELM Brasseur Gourmande (No. 273; 514-276-0473; helm-mtl.ca), a gastropub that brews six varieties of its own beer in the back, was full of young people trying to converse over a loud soundtrack. HELM’s name is an acronym for the ingredients of beer: houblon (hops), eau (water), levure (yeast) and malt. The menu offers tapas-size pub food with an emphasis on local ingredients, like the wild boar shepherd’s pie (13 Canadian dollars). Although the spot’s varnished-wood design is slicker than the homespun aesthetic you’ll find elsewhere in Mile-End, the food is homey and an excellent foil for the beer.

Ville de Montréal

You might have noticed that there is an upcoming municipal election about to be sprung on our hard working citizens. Given the extremely difficult task of persuading voters to indulge their right of participating in their civic duty, the powers that be decided to place the vote on Sunday November 1st, the day after party day of the year, Halloween, which happens to fall on the perfect party night, the only Saturday of the year where you can stay up an hour later and not suffer the consequences. I wonder what the turnout will be this time around?
Hangover or not – get out and vote. Check out Projet Montréal if you are interested in the future of our children living in our beautiful city – we gotta do something about the automobile and these are the only guys who talk any sense when it comes to the pollution-spewing beast. Have you seen the wee electric car running around in the Plateau and Mile End? Why can’t we all have one – Hydro Quebec says they can provide the fuel. What then is stopping the future being now? I’ll tell you what – politicians wearing blinkers, politicians devoured by the car gods, politicians only interested in the status quo and fat municipal contracts.
Its time for a change, its time for municipal citizens to wean themselves from their dependence on gas-guzzling and look for other solutions to City transport. They do exist. Demand the change.

Sunny days

So if you were out and about on the weekend, you may have noticed the inclement weather.Not a good weekend for a street fair but then it has been one of those years for the St. Laurent street fair. Two days of sun but two days of rain. Gotta take the rough with the smooth but wouldn’t it be nice to have the sun on the weekend. Thank you to the intrepid who made it out on Saturday only to discover that most of us had not even turned out altho’ I have to tell you that we tried.

Find our shirts in Montreal

So a wee bit of help if you are looking for stores that stock our shirts in Montreal. If you are on Bernard street, head to the corner of Clark, where you will find the home of Montréalité at Jenx & Cie, 51 Bernard .O. If you are out and about on the main streets, you can find our shirts at Boutique Onze at 4151 boulevard St-Laurent, 1853 rue Sainte-Catherine O.,and 4146 rue Saint-Denis. Down at the Old Port, the designs are available at Mortimer Snodgrass, 209 St-Paul West. On yer bike then……