I would imagine that many of us have had a hotdog in here over the years ,all Montreal's recognizable places are slowly disappearing.......HF&RV montreal pool room is moving on wednesday
The Montreal Pool Room, a greasy Montreal institution, is moving.
Some feared that city expropriations to make way for a commercial complex that's part of the emerging Quartier des spectacles would force the closure of the hot-dog-and-fries joint. But, as this press release explained three weeks ago, the developer purchased the Montreal Pool Room building and announced the move.
I now have it on good authority – the lady who served me fries and a spruce beer on Friday afternoon – that the restaurant is moving across the street, as of Wednesday.
Work is almost complete on the new location, at 1217 St. Laurent Blvd. (where the Max Coast store used to be) That's on the east side, near Club Soda and closer to Ste. Catherine St., which will presumably generate more traffic once it is no longer a construction zone.
Are they taking any of the run-down furnishings, such as they are? "I can't tell you – that's a surprise," the cashier told me.
Though its current location is on the grimy side, the Montreal Pool Room still attracts tourists (or at least travel writers).
From a 2009 Gazette story about the lower Main:
One of the most popular night spots in the 1960s and '70s was the Montreal Pool Room, at 1200 St. Laurent, where you could score a hot dog steamé and rub shoulders with the likes of a young Leonard Cohen or Michel Tremblay.
"Reeking of patates, steamies and lost innocence, this cheap Red Light institution has hands down the best hot dogs and inhale-the-grease fries," is how one tourist guidebook writer described the Pool Room.
In spite of the date on the door that claims a Bulgarian immigrant, Filipoff Dakov, opened the Montreal Pool Room in 1912, city archives show Dakov obtained his first licence in 1921.
His was one of three billiards rooms on the block.
The Montreal Pool Room lost much of its legendary underground allure after it was gutted by fire in 1989. When it reopened, things weren't quite the same.
I'm not sure about that. It still has a je-ne-sais-quoi.
"Seedy goodness," is how one colleague describes it.
"It is a slice of our nightlife, where the world – rich or poor – meets," says another.
(Photo: 1974 Gazette file photo)
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-----the times they are a changing------Bob Dylan HF&RV
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