It’s tough not to love Montreal. The latest city to dot the MLS landscape instantly becomes one of the best markets in the league for both work and play, thanks to its thriving arts and culture scene, a rabid soccer following and enough nightlife to rival its American brethren.
MLSsoccer.com offers up 10 reasons why we love Montreal, and why you will too.
1. Because The Arcade Fire call the city home — Montreal’s music scene is loaded and well documented, but no band has been bigger since 2004 than Win Butler’s orchestral pop ensemble. Recorded at Hotel2Tango in Montreal’s Mile End district, the group’s 2004 breakthrough album, Funeral, was ranked one of the 10 best albums of the last decade by nearly every glossy ‘zine. Their fourth album is expected this summer.
2. Because you can rent a bicycle for a day for $5… that’s $5 Canadian! – Montreal has long been considered one of the premier cycling cities in North America, and the 2009 launch of the public bike-sharing program Bixi certainly pads the city’s credentials. Re-activated earlier this week after being in winter hibernation, the program boasts more than 5,000 bikes located at 4000 stations, with more than 10,000 members pressing the pedals.
3. Because laughing is taken very seriously – Founded in 1983, Juste pour Rire/Just for Laughs is the largest comedy festival in the world. It has branched out to editions in Chicago and Toronto, but its roots lie in Montreal, where comedy greats like Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson have performed through the years. The event, which spans nearly three weeks ever July, draws more than two million people to the city and even has its own museum dedicated to stand-up comedy located on Boulevard Saint Laurent.
4. Because bootlegging was taken very seriously – Nobody, but nobody, bootlegged like the Bronfman family. One of the most powerful and richest families in North America, the Bronfmans made their mark after buying Seagram’s in 1931. But before they went legit, the family specialized in cheap whiskey and bootlegged it to U.S. cities from Montreal during Prohibition. Coincidentally, Charles Bronfman is the father-in-law of Chicago Fire owner Andrew Hauptman.
5. Because Elisha Cuthbert was born there – Remember that scene in Old School when Luke Wilson wakes up in a haze next to the teenage daughter of his boss? Behold, the commercial breakout for Cuthbert, a Montreal-area native who has also moonlighted as the daughter of Kiefer Sutherland’s super-agent Jack Bauer on 24. She hasn’t had much else to crow about since, other than a collection of top-10 finishes in various “Sexiest Women Alive” lists and a 2006 appearance in a Paris Hilton music video.
6. Because French fries and cheese curds is a delicacy – What do you call a heaping plate of French fries covered with cheese curds and chicken gravy? The unofficial national food of Canada. Accidentally born in the 1950s in Montreal by a hungry truck driver and a game restaurateur named Fernand Lachance, poutine is pronounced “peu-tin,” and is Acadian slang for “a mushy mess.” And it’s also breaking down social class barriers: you can order poutine both at a Burger King in Montreal and at some of the finest restaurants in town.
7. Because the “Rocket” received a state funeral – Perhaps the greatest player for the greatest franchise in hockey, Maurice “Rocket” Richard was the game’s most prolific scorer decades before Gretzky ever uttered his first “eh?” Winner of eight Stanley Cup titles with the Montreal Canadiens, he died in 2000 and, yes, was given a state funeral in Montreal that was broadcast live throughout Canada.
8. Because Jackie Robinson broke through here – A year before the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman broke the color barrier in the Major Leagues, he cut his teeth with the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate, the Montreal Royals. He hit .349 in one season with the Royals and was the MVP of the Class AAA International League in 1946. Within a year, he was an American sports icon.
9. Because the best beer in town is called “mortal sin” – In a city adored for its microbreweries, Brasserie Dieu Du Ciel might be the best of the bunch. Of the 61 beers on the menu, including ones infused with hemp seeds, hibiscus flowers, mustard seeds or coffee, the cream of the crop is the Péché Mortel, or “mortal sin,” an imperial stout that clocks in at a beefy 9.5 percent alcohol by volume and should fuel more than one MLS tailgater come 2012.
10. Because who doesn’t love some good smoked meat? – Montreal cafes are already becoming the latest trend in urban-chic delis in the U.S., and viande fumée is why. Smoked meat sandwiches date back to the 19th century in Montreal, and perhaps no place has more cachet in the city than Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen on Boulevard Saint Laurent. They offer mail-orders to the outposts of Canada, but you’re out of luck south of the border.
