HappyHappyDonut

La Presse had an article today about my neighborhood, Rosemont-Petite Patrie. Apparently, it's the new cool place to be in Montreal. With the ultra-hip Plateau district overflowing, with apartments near impossible to find, and parking almost impossible, there has been a shift in people towards my part of town. Highlighted were the laundry mat I go to (Mousse Café, described by The Gazette as the coolest laundromat in the city), the movie theatre a couple of doors down from us (Cinéma Beaubien - the last walk-up cinema on the Island ... the kind where you buy your ticket from the sidewalk), and the De Froment et De Sève, the great bakery where we buy croissants and baguettes. They also make wonderful fougasses, made with dried tomatoes or olives. There is also a great breakfast restaurant across Iberville Street?it's called La mère poule and my Mom likes it alot. Last but not least, is the wonderful Molson Park, just across the street.

When we moved here five years ago, the area was down but on the way up. Our rent was a mere $465, incredibly cheap for a city the size of Montreal. Even today, it's just under $500. It's getting harder to get in here though, and rents are going up by a chunk as soon as people move out. As any economist worth his salt can tell you, once you put rent control in place, nobody wants to build new apartments. Consequently, the vacancy rate for the Island is less than 2%... and places like ours, grubby and old as the may be, are in high demand.

We will be hard pressed to match the neighborhood, no matter where we move. It's a nice mixing of families and working people. But most of all, it's being able to cross the street and get a Fresh sandwich, or pick-up a newspaper and sit in the park and read...

PS; Some great old pictures of MOntreal are available here. Look in Collections then the Notman Photographic Archives.