Montreal was once the wildest city in North America. Forget Vegas. Forget New Orleans. During the Prohibition era in the United States, Americans streamed across the border to find what they couldn't get at home: booze, betting, and the infamous Montreal red light district. It wasn't just a couple of blocks; it was an entire ecosystem of vice that defined the city’s identity for decades.
If you walk down Saint-Laurent Boulevard today, you'll see trendy boutiques and expensive avocado toast. It’s clean. It’s polished. But the ghosts of the old "Open City" era are still there if you know where to look. Honestly, the transition from a hub of organized crime and illicit brothels to a sanitized cultural corridor is one of the weirdest pieces of urban history in Canada.
The Corner of Main and Catherine
For a long time, the heart of the action was centered around the intersection of Saint-Laurent Boulevard (The Main) and Sainte-Catherine Street. This was the ground zero for the Montreal red light district.
Back in the 1920s and 30s, the city operated under what historians call the "tax on vice." Basically, the police and city hall knew exactly what was going on. They didn’t want to stop it; they just wanted their cut. Brothels were "raided" on a schedule, fines were paid like monthly rent, and everybody kept moving. It was a symbiotic relationship between the underworld and the legal world.
It’s wild to think about now, but Montreal had hundreds of documented "disorderly houses." Famous spots like the Beaujolais or the Café de l'Est weren't just bars—they were institutions where the line between legal entertainment and illegal trade was basically non-existent.
Why it was called the "Open City"
The term "Open City" didn't mean it was welcoming to tourists in a friendly way. It meant the cops were looking the other way. Under the unofficial reign of figures like Harry Davis and later the Cotroni family, the city became a playground. While the rest of the continent was tightening up, Montreal was letting loose.
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This wasn't just small-time gambling. We’re talking about massive international operations. The port of Montreal made it a perfect gateway for smuggling. This created a layer of wealth that funded the neon-soaked nightlife that people still romanticize today.
The Pax Plante Revolution
Everything started to break in the late 1940s and early 50s. People were getting tired of the corruption. Enter Pacifique "Pax" Plante. He was a lawyer and a crusader who decided to blow the whistle on the systemic links between the Montreal Police and the mob.
Plante teamed up with a young journalist named Gérard Pelletier and published a series of bombshell articles in Le Devoir. They listed addresses. They named names. They basically handed the public a map of the Montreal red light district and showed exactly which police officers were protecting which brothels.
This led to the Caron Commission. It was a massive public inquiry that eventually saw the conviction of dozens of police officers and the rise of Jean Drapeau, the mayor who would eventually try to "clean up" the city for Expo 67.
The Slow Fade of the Neon Lights
You can't just delete a red light district overnight. It takes decades of "urban renewal"—which is often just a fancy word for tearing down old buildings and putting up parking lots. By the 1960s, the city was moving toward a more modern, international image. They wanted the World's Fair. They wanted the Olympics.
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The old brothels were replaced by strip clubs, and the strip clubs were eventually squeezed out by the Quartier des Spectacles.
Today, the "Red Light" is mostly a branding exercise. The city actually installed red light fixtures in the sidewalk and red street lamps around the corner of Saint-Laurent and Sainte-Catherine to honor the history. It’s ironic. The very things the city spent fifty years trying to destroy are now used as a "cool" historical footnote to attract tourists to jazz festivals.
What’s left to see?
Not much of the original grit remains. The Cleopatra (Cafe Cleopatra) is one of the few survivors. It’s a legendary venue that fought the city tooth and nail to avoid being demolished for the new office towers. It stands as a lonely sentinel of the old era, a two-story building dwarfed by modern glass and steel.
- The Monument-National: Right in the heart of the old district, this theater used to host everything from high-brow plays to vaudeville and burlesque.
- The Main: Just walking up Saint-Laurent gives you a sense of the scale. The narrow side streets like Clark and Saint-Dominique were where the real "houses" were tucked away.
- The Satosphere: This giant dome is part of the SAT (Société des arts technologiques). It sits right where some of the most notorious clubs used to be.
Cultural Impact and Misconceptions
People often think the Montreal red light district was just about crime. That’s a mistake. It was the birthplace of Montreal’s world-class jazz scene. Because the city was "open," Black musicians from the United States who were facing Jim Crow laws found a haven here.
Legends like Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones grew up in the orbit of this nightlife. The clubs in the Red Light and the nearby Little Burgundy neighborhood provided work for musicians that didn't exist elsewhere. The "sinful" part of the city actually funded the "cultural" part of the city.
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It’s also important to realize that for the women working there, it wasn't a glamorous noir movie. It was tough, often dangerous work in a system that exploited them from both the legal and illegal sides. When we talk about the "glory days" of the Red Light, we’re usually talking about it from the perspective of the people buying the fun, not the ones selling it.
The Modern Reality: Is there still a Red Light?
If you're looking for a traditional, Amsterdam-style red light district in Montreal today, you won't find it. Prostitution laws in Canada changed significantly with the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) in 2014, which moved the focus toward criminalizing the purchase of services.
The scene has mostly moved online or into private spaces. The street-level "hustle" that defined the corner of Saint-Laurent for a century is largely gone, replaced by festival stages and outdoor art installations.
The city is safer now. No doubt. But some old-timers will tell you it’s lost its soul. There’s a tension there—between wanting a safe, livable city and missing the edge that made Montreal famous in the first place.
Practical Steps for History Buffs
If you want to actually feel the history of the Montreal red light district without just staring at a Starbucks, here is how to do it:
- Visit the Center d'histoire de Montréal: They often have exhibits specifically focused on the "Open City" era and the Caron Commission.
- Take a Walking Tour: There are several local guides who specialize in "Criminology" or "Vice" tours. Don't go with a generic big-bus tour; find the ones that focus on the Montreal Underworld.
- Look Up: When walking down Saint-Laurent, ignore the storefronts. Look at the second and third stories of the buildings. You’ll see the original brickwork and the small windows of the former "rooming houses."
- Read "City of Sin": Pick up a copy of D'Arcy Jenish's book on the era. It’s the gold standard for understanding how the politics and the parties overlapped.
- Check out the Cinema du Parc: They sometimes screen documentaries about the city's mid-century transformation.
The transition of the Montreal red light district from a den of iniquity to a cultural hub is a classic story of urban evolution. It shows how a city deals with its "shameful" past—by first trying to bury it, then eventually realizing it’s the most interesting thing about the place.
Keep your eyes open when you’re in the Quartier des Spectacles. The red lights in the pavement aren't just for show; they’re a nod to a time when Montreal was the most wide-open town on the continent. Use the history as a lens to see the current city. You’ll realize that the energy of the festivals and the nightlife today is just a modern version of the same spirit that drove people to the Main a hundred years ago. It’s less dangerous now, sure, but the ghost of the Red Light is still very much in the DNA of the streets.