12 of Montreal’s best neighborhoods

Montreal (CNN)Montreal is home to more than 200 ethnic groups that have all stitched their own patches into the urban quilt, and the city is full of distinct neighborhoods — some created hundreds of years ago and others born of the 21st century.

Many of them are hosting special events this year as the city celebrates its 375th birthday. But in any year, the city’s diverse districts provide visitors with much to explore.

“It’s definitely a city of boroughs and neighborhoods,” said Danny Pavlopoulos, who guides Montreal foodie tours for Spade & Palacio. “There are so many. And they’re so close together. And they’re all so different.”

To prove his point, Pavlopoulos took me on a tasting tour that included Salvadoran pupusas and horchata in La Petite-Patrie, gourmet cheeses, mushrooms and gelato in Little Italy and hipster coffee and craft beer joints in Mile-Ex — three dramatically different areas within a 20-minute walk of one another.

Even lifelong locals are amazed by the surprising variety one encounters while moving from one area of Montreal to another. “It is a pleasure to be able to calculate, to subdue, to rub shoulders with the mystery that was taking place in the neighborhoods, villages and alleys of Montreal,” wrote Monique LaRue in her award-winning 2009 novel “L’Oeil de Marquise.” And that continues to hold true.

“Just the other day, I was exploring a neighborhood I thought I knew well, and in turning a corner I ran into a Buddhist temple smack dab in the middle of Little Italy!” said Tyler Wood of the Montreal History Center.

“Montreal is special in that it has managed to preserve a great number of inner-city neighborhoods from the ravages of urban renewal,” Wood added. “Not to say the city hasn’t seen its share of expropriations, demolitions and car-centric projects. However, you can still find parts of town very much on the human scale. The street grid, reliable public transit and a growing number of bike paths make them easy to explore.”

Cycling is how I discovered half a dozen other neighborhoods, on a tour with Michel Thriault of Ca Roule Montreal that took us from Old Montreal to the Gay Village, through Le Plateau-Mont-Royal and the historic Jewish quarter before circling back to the St. Lawrence River waterfront.

On foot, by bike or via public transportation, the city is ripe for exploration. Here are a dozen neighborhoods to get you started:

Old Montreal

Today, the city’s oldest district, founded as a fur trading post in 1605 by Samuel de Champlain, is a mlange of shops, bars and sidewalk cafes that attracts visitors and locals in equal measure.

It’s also become the hip place to crash on a Montreal sojourn, with hotels like Le Petit Htel and the new Hotel William Gray creatively adapting old buildings into cool places to stay.

Thirty years ago, this wasn’t the case. Many of the Vieux-Montral structures were vacant, and most of the residents had fled to other areas, draining the neighborhood of life. But since listed historical buildings cannot be torn down, in recent years people began renovating them into modern business, entertainment and residential spaces.

Among the neighborhood landmarks are the Notre-Dame Basilica, the Pointe–Callire museum of history and archeology and the Old Port (Vieux-Port) where bygone docks, warehouses and grain silos have morphed into venues for summer swimming, winter ice skating, food festivals and IMAX films.

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal

Life in the hip Plateau neighborhood revolves around the area’s bars and cafes and the leafy Parc la Fontaine, with its serpentine lakes and albino squirrels. The neighborhood flanks the north side of Mont Royal and McGill University.

Gentrification has transformed the Plateau into an artsy, upscale neighborhood where residents bike to work and school, “renaturalize” their alleyways with murals and gardens and restore the wrought iron stairs and colorful facades of their Victorian townhouses.

A sort of east coast version of Berkeley, the Plateau is also renowned for the militant attitude of its mayor and many residents, especially when it comes to motor vehicles. Copious bike lanes, expanded sidewalks and more park land have greatly reduced traffic in the neighborhood and created one of Canada’s most livable urban environments.

“Rents have doubled in recent years,” Thriault explained as we cruised down one of the Plateau’s many bike lanes. “But cafe life and the number of patisseries has increased. And you can get food from different regions of France. Finding an apartment in Le Plateau is much harder now, but your chance of finding a good croissant has greatly improved.”

Mile End/Mile-Ex

Montreal’s creative cauldron, Mile End is home to artists and writers, musicians and filmmakers, as well as galleries, bookstores and entertainment venues packed into an area that barely covers one square mile.

Anchoring the neighborhood, the neo-baroque Thtre Rialto is a wonderfully restored 1920s moving-picture palace that now presents a year-round slate of cabaret, comedy, burlesque, dance, music and drama.

As Mile End moves up the food chain, many of the younger, edgier artists have migrated to adjacent Mile-Ex, a former industrial zone now filled with ateliers and hipster hangouts.

The world of sci-fi owes a debt of gratitude to Mile End, for this is the neighborhood that shaped the young Captain Kirk — it’s the place where William Shatner was born and raised.

La Petite-Patrie

Rather than having one distinct personality, this trendy neighborhood just north of Le Plateau cultivates two totally different vibes.

Chic shopping is the main event along the Rue Saint-Hubert, home to more than 400 boutiques, many of them one-off shops with unusual or offbeat items.

But the neighborhood also has a Latin flair, a delicious array of Hispanic eateries like the Salvadoran Resto Los Planes (their pupusas are to die for) or the Peruvian El Jibaro.

Gay Village

Simply called “The Village” by locals, this compact neighborhood sprawls along Rue Sainte-Catherine between the Plateau and the St. Lawrence River.

Once down and out, the area has morphed into a lively dining, drinking and entertainment hub where more than 80 bars and restaurants serve the city’s large LGBT community and anyone else looking for an alternative night out.

“Gay Village is a great example of Montreal’s neighborhoods continuing to evolve,” Thriault said. “A couple of decades ago, this was the city’s roughest area, the only place there was street crime. People shooting up, prostitutes on the street corners, people getting mugged.”

The gay residents who started moving in transformed the area, he said.

The area is synonymous with the Boules Roses — a canopy of pink balls by landscape architect Claude Cormier that hovers above a one-kilometer stretch of the Sainte-Catherine pedestrian zone.

The Village also hosts an annual summer event called Aires Libres that brings new, original and often startling public art to the neighborhood.

Little Italy

Italians have been in Montreal for nearly as long as the French, thanks to a 16th-century regiment recruited from northern Italy and sent to reinforce the king’s army in New France.

By the 1950s, the area around Jean-Talon Market was predominantly Italian and soon gained the moniker of Little Italy.

While the community revolves around the red brick Church of the Madonna della Difesa (a national historic site), visitors flock to the vibrant market to sample all sorts of gourmet foods and drinks.

Italian eateries also abound. But Little Italy’s most unique culinary attraction is arguably Southern fried chicken at Dinette Triple Crown, which offers fully-stocked baskets for those who want to picnic across the street in Parc de la Petite-Italie.

Historic Jewish Quarter

Although it was never a ghetto in the eastern European sense of the term, the area along Boulevard St. Laurent between McGill University and Mile End has long had a strong Jewish flavor.

The Museum of Jewish Montreal preserves the area’s heritage as well as the memory of celebrated residents like author Mordecai Richler, who set “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” and other bestselling books in the neighborhood.

That heritage also endures in food — historic eateries like Schwartz’s Deli and top-notch bakeries like St. Viateur Bagel Shop where the real-life Richler (and the fictional Duddy Kravitz) dined.

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve

One of the few neighborhoods named for the First Nations people who once lived there, Hochelega was the name of an Iroquoian village that Jacques Cartier visited in the 1530s on his first trip up the St. Lawrence River.

Now it’s renowned as the home of Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and of Parc Maisonneuve with its botanical garden, insectarium and planetarium.

But perhaps its most beloved institution is the sprawling, chaotic and aromatic March Maisonneuve, a public market lodged inside a historic early 20th-century stone pavilion. Dozens of stalls dispense Quebec fruits, vegetables, meats and fish, as well as artisanal cheeses and breads.

Cte-des-Neiges

A microcosm of modern Montreal, Cte-des-Neiges harbors residents from more than a hundred different ethnic groups from just about every corner of the planet.

A brief stroll down the Chemin de la Cte-des-Neiges, the neighborhood’s main drag, reveals a wealth of ethnic eateries — Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian and Japanese, Middle Eastern, American, British, Italian, French and Haitian.

Hovering above the area is the massive St. Joseph’s Oratory, the largest church in Canada. Cte-des-Neiges is also a gateway to the warren of trails that meander through the thick woods and cemeteries on the north side of Mont Royal.

Little Burgundy

Located near the Lachine Canal on the south side of downtown, Little Burgundy is one of Canada’s most celebrated black neighborhoods, as well as the cradle of Canadian jazz.

Although gentrification has changed the demographics of the district in recent years, the population was originally comprised of a blend of Caribbean immigrants and black people drawn from other parts of Canada by railway jobs, including the descendants of former slaves who escaped from the United States into Canada via the Underground Railroad.

Rockhead’s Paradise jazz club is long gone. But other Little Burgundy landmarks are still going strong, like Atwater Market and Union United Church, the nation’s oldest black congregation.

Rue Notre-Dame, the main drag through Little Burgundy, has become a haven for trendy little cafes and antique shops.

The Islands/Cit du Havre

Some might dispute that islands in the St. Lawrence River and an adjacent finger-shaped peninsula are actually neighborhoods, since they aren’t typical business or residential areas. But people do live there, in the famed Habitat 67 housing complex designed by architect Moshe Safdie for the Expo 67 world’s fair.

This urban archipelago is made up of two main islands: le Sainte-Hlne, a natural island that French explorer Samuel de Champlain named after his wife, and le Notre-Dame, an artificial island created in the 1960s from all the dirt and rock excavated during the creation of the Montreal Metro.

Both were obscure and under-utilized until Expo 67, when 50 million visitors passed through the islands. Many of the futuristic fair buildings were later adapted for other uses: the former US Pavilion is now the Biosphere environmental museum, while the French and Quebecois pavilions became the Montreal Casino.

FYI: The average purchase price of a Habitat 67 “cube” unit is around C $600,000.

Quartier des Spectacles

As the name suggests, “spectacles” of one sort or another are the raison d’tre of this flashy district between the Old Town and McGill University.

Though the district was conceived in the early 2000s as part of a concerted effort to boost Montreal’s cultural life, it’s now a bona fide inner city neighborhood that draws locals and visitors alike.

The quarter revolves around the Place des Arts cultural complex, home to the Montreal Opera and Symphony Orchestra as well as the Grands Ballets Canadiens. It’s also home to the Montreal Jazz Festival and Just For Laughs comedy fest.

Among its many other cultural institutions are Montreal’s central library, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Theatre School of Canada, the historic Club Soda music club and the Cinmathque Qubcoise.

source http://allofbeer.com/2017/08/31/12-of-montreals-best-neighborhoods/

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New Colorado bill would create guidelines for organic marijuana

The bill, scheduled for its first hearing Friday, would prompt Colorados department of agriculture to make certification rules for pesticide-free cannabis

Colorado marijuana consumers will be able to buy pesticide-free, certified organic weed if lawmakers pass a new bill aimed at creating special labels for the states legal cannabis industry.

This is going to be the Whole Foods version of cannabis, said Jonathan Singer, a Democratic state representative sponsoring legislation to establish state-approved organic pot. This is just the next natural step in making sure marijuana is treated similar to alcohol. Weve got organic beer and organic wine.

The bill, scheduled for its first hearing on Friday, would prompt Colorados department of agriculture to create specific guidelines for a pesticide-free cannabis certification program.

The legislation could help resolve some of the disputes and confusion surrounding pesticide use that have plagued the industry since voters approved recreational marijuana in 2012.

City officials in Denver last year ordered a hold on some marijuana plants at multiple facilities after discovering that the growers may have improperly used pesticides. Denver health authorities also recently seized thousands of marijuana plants from growers suspected of using off-limits chemicals.

This would create an incentive for businesses to create better practices and focus on growing cannabis in a more organic manner, said Larisa Bolivar, executive director of the Cannabis Consumers Coalition. She said it would also help support more high-end craft cannabis growers comparable to microbreweries and craft beer manufacturers.

It gives consumers more options, Bolivar said.

There are, however, a number of logistical challenges in creating a government labeling system for organic weed in Colorado. Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, which means Colorado cannot use US department of agriculture labels or rely on national certification rules for cannabis.

Instead, the state will have to implement its own guidelines and process to determine what constitutes organic marijuana. Thats the Colorado way, Singer said. Were blazing our own trail.

Without formal regulations governing organic cannabis, legal growers and even those still illegally selling weed on the black market in Colorado have been free to call their products organic even if they arent actually pesticide-free, supporters of the bill note.

The fact remains that anybody can print a label out. Black marketers are already operating illegally whats going to keep them from falsifying labels? Bolivar said. Having the certification creates more consumer confidence.

Singers bill directs the state to come up with the specific standards for certification and annual reporting and would allow officials to establish fees for this process. In its current draft, the bill does not apply to medical marijuana, though Singer said he is considering whether to expand the labels to medicine.

Since there arent any existing specific rules about organic weed and pesticide use in the industry, there isnt reliable data on how frequently growers are using chemicals and what pesticides are common.

If the bill passes, the labeling likely would not begin until 2018, Singer said. And once organic pot hits the market, the strains will likely be pricey. Its going to be considerably more expensive, just like buying your organic peaches, he said.

The legislation is already attracting a diverse mix of critics. Anti-marijuana groups, which have opposed legalization from the start, have already expressed concerns about the bill, according to Singer and Bolivar. Those opponents are arguing that an organic tag could imply that the weed is healthy and encourage more use.

They dont want anything that makes it seem like marijuana is good for you, Singer said, adding that theres no evidence to suggest that selling organic beer and wine has led to increased consumption.

There are lawmakers who did not want marijuana legal and they are going to make it harder for us, added Bolivar.

Bolivar said she expects that Colorado will lead the way nationally in creating organic labels as more states move forward with legalization. Im speaking to people across the country looking to standardize the industry as a whole so we do have quality control and quality assurance.

source http://allofbeer.com/2017/08/29/new-colorado-bill-would-create-guidelines-for-organic-marijuana/

Can Kim fix North Korea’s economy?

(CNN)His grandfather had “Juche” — a policy of self reliance. His father “Songun” — military first.

And since taking over from Kim Jong Il in 2011, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pursued twin ambitions — his “Byongjin” policy of nuclear and economic development.

The policy is coming into sharp relief this week as the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea’s will hold its 7th Congress, a rare and potentially significant gathering, on Friday.

How will sanctions affect North Korea’s economy?

Questions remain over the regime’s ability to grow economically in the face of tightened international sanctions in response to the year’s nuclear developments — even for a hermit nation like North Korea, outside trade is an important part of the equation.

Sanctions make it more unlikely that Kim can succeed in economic development while he has tangible success on the nuclear front, says Scott Snyder, senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

“He needs both, but if economic development objectives are blocked he may have only his nuclear accomplishments to stand on.”

But a question mark hangs over exactly how effective the tougher sanctions will be.

“The full measure of that impact will depend, in the long run, on how all countries choose to implement the sanctions,” says Town, adding that even with China adding its weight behind the sanctions, Pyongyang does have other trade partners which it can turn to to supplement trade losses.

It depends on how much and how consistently countries implement the new measures.

“If implementation is sporadic, the impact to North Korea could be minimal,” she says.

However, Town’s colleague at 38 North, Joel Wit, says sanctions have been a fact of life for North Korea for years and little has changed in over a decade.

While “new sanctions are stronger… we’re not going to see anything soon, (and) might not see much of anything.”

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source http://allofbeer.com/2017/08/29/can-kim-fix-north-koreas-economy/