A guide to businesses in Village du Carré Saint-Louis

This anonymous map shows the heart of the Village du Carré Saint-Louis. It was printed and made available in some local businesses in the early 1970s. It served as a guide to essential businesses and places for disciples of Montreal’s counterculture.

The New Penelope is not mentioned on this map, since it shut down a couple of years before it was printed. If it were included, it would have been on Sherbrooke Street, between Park Avenue and Hutchison Street. The area from the Latin Quarter, east of Carré Saint-Louis to the edge of the “McGill ghetto” (or Milton-Parc district) was popular with students and hip young people. They would hang out, shop for posters, records, drugs and paraphernalia, and health food in the area. Historically, the Carré Saint-Louis Square (shown on the map) was already associated with bohemian Montreal from at least the mid 20th century.

A large number of poets, writers and artists lived or strolled there. It’s no wonder that the counterculture and hippie movement were concentrated around here. On the map, we can identify several names associated with the Montreal counter-culture milieu. Namely, underground newspaper Logos, Haré Krishna, Élysée repertoire cinema, Purple Unknown store, Phantasmagoria, La “Casa” [española] (also known as Association espagnole), La “Hutte” Suisse, Ho Chi Minh Bookstore, etc.