Saint Laurent Boulevard

Quartier des Spectacles is an arts and entertainment district located in the eastern section of Downtown Montreal, designed as a centre for Montreal's cultural events and festivals. The Quartier des spectacles is a member of the Global Cultural Districts Network. With a total area of almost one square kilometre, the Quartier is bounded by City Councillors Street to the West, Berri Street to the East, Sherbrooke Street to the North and René Lévesque Boulevard to the South, encompassing all of the district known as Montreal's Latin Quarter. First proposed in 2002, the area is intended to house 30 performance halls totalling almost 28,000 seats (including the Place des Arts cultural complex), international festivals, art galleries and various cultural exhibition and broadcast facilities. The Quartier des spectacles hosts nearly 8,500 jobs linked to cultural activities, from education and creation to production, exhibition and broadcasting. The area is now home to many of Montreal's major festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Francofolies and the Just for Laughs comedy fest. Urban design features of the district include concert spaces, tiered green space and stonework, illuminated fountains, various forms of street lighting, mist machines, bike paths and illuminated walkways.The central public space for the Quartier is the Place des Festivals, a new urban square located on the "Balmoral Block" on Jeanne-Mance Street, facing Place des Arts. The latter has become a focal point for outdoor events. Features of the square include a water fountain with 235 in-ground jets, four light towers, two glass-encased restaurants, a grassy slope and granite walkways.

The Red-Light District (French: Quartier du Red Light) of Montreal, Quebec, Canada was formerly centred on the intersection of Saint Laurent Boulevard and Saint Catherine Street in the borough of Ville-Marie. The neighbourhood has historically been home to cabarets and illegal businesses as early as the mid-19th century, but especially between 1925 and early 1960s. The term Red Light recalls the old lantern on the doors of brothels. Gambling, illicit taverns, and prostitution have marked the history of this area, also related to prohibition in the United States and Montreal's status as a port city. Today, there are still traces of this type of activity, but it is much more discreet. The variety shows that took place in the neighbourhood launched the careers of several foreign artists and was equally the starting point for many local artists. There still remain some strip clubs and cabarets in the area, such as the Café Cleopatre, threatened with demolition in 2009 by an urban renewal project linked to the nearby Quartier des spectacles. The Montreal Pool Room fast-food restaurant is also located there.

Saint-Laurent station is a Montreal Metro station in the borough of Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and serves the Green Line. The station opened on October 14, 1966, as part of the original network of the Metro.

Sainte-Catherine Street (French: rue Sainte-Catherine) (11.2 km or 7.0 mi) is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east; beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and de Maisonneuve Boulevard in Westmount, and ending at the Grace Dart Extended Care Centre by Cadillac metro station. It also traverses Ville-Marie, passing just east of Viau in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The street is 11.2 km long, and considered the backbone of Downtown Montreal.A series of interconnected office tower basements and shopping complexes line the street, parallel to the largest segments of Montreal's underground city. Educational institutions located on or near the street include Concordia University, McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal, Dawson College and LaSalle College. Nine metro stations serve as access to Sainte-Catherine Street, whereby it passes through residential neighbourhoods, the Quartier des spectacles and the downtown core. It also offers ease of access to the Underground Pedestrian Network.

De Maisonneuve Boulevard (officially in French: boulevard De Maisonneuve) is a major westbound boulevard located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is named after the founder of Montreal, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve. It is a one-way street westbound. De Maisonneuve Boulevard is about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) long and begins on Du Havre Street in the east end (one block east of Frontenac Street in the borough of Ville-Marie), and ends at West Broadway in the city's west end (in the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce) near Concordia University's Loyola Campus. The street also runs through the wealthy enclave of Westmount, and is cut in two by Westmount Park.

The M Telus (formerly known as Métropolis) is a performing arts centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located in the central part of the downtown core, on Saint Catherine Street East between Saint-Dominique and De Bullion Streets, in the Quartier des Spectacles. The hall primarily features rock music groups, and is a venue for several festivals, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the FrancoFolies de Montréal. It can accommodate up to 2,350 people. The venue is within walking distance from Place-des-Arts Metro station, the Complexe Desjardins in the west and from the Saint-Laurent metro station. In 2011, the venue was ranked as the ninth most popular club venue worldwide in ticket sales.In 2016, naming rights were acquired by Telus. The telecommunications company plans to invest $5 million in improvements to the club over the next decade, as part of its corporate rebranding effort.

The Montreal Pool Room is a well-known and well-regarded greasy spoon (French: casse-croûte) restaurant, located in the city's former red-light district on Saint Laurent Boulevard, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The restaurant has been open since 1912 (registered 1921) and is known for its "underground allure", described by some as being a "seedy goodness". Though called a "pool room" by name, it no longer has a pool table.

Club Soda is a music venue in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its address is 1225 Saint Laurent Boulevard in the Quartier des Spectacles in the borough of Ville-Marie.

On the night of September 4, 2012, the Parti Québécois won the Quebec general election, with a minority government. Party leader Pauline Marois was partway through her victory speech at the Métropolis in downtown Montreal when Richard Henry Bain, in an attempt to assassinate her and "kill as many separatists as possible", approached the building and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, killing one stage technician and severely injuring another. After his rifle jammed, Bain lit a fire in back of the building but was quickly tackled and apprehended by Montreal police. In 2016, Bain was convicted of second-degree murder along with three counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

The Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM) is a theatre company and venue located on rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1951 (1951), it launched with the classic play L'Avare by Molière.Initially located at the Gesù (1951–1958), it subsequently moved to the Orpheum, then after 1966 it transferred to the salle Port-Royal at Place des Arts and remained there until 1972. In 1972, the TNM bought the building where the Gayety Theatre and later the Théâtre de la Comédie-Canadienne once performed. The building was renovated in 1997 by Montreal architect Dan Hanganu.

Saint Urbain Street (French: rue Saint-Urbain) is a major one-way street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The original, southernmost section of the street was built by Urbain Tessier (c. 1624–1689), a farmer and carpenter who settled in the area. The name also makes reference to Saint Urbain. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the street, now stretching northward, was home to several of Montreal's prominent British and French merchants, notably the explorer Alexander Henry the elder. By the turn of the 20th century, sections of the street were industrialised and became run down, and were settled by Jews, predominantly from Eastern Europe. Writer Mordecai Richler immortalised the Mile End section as a centre of the Jewish community in Montreal, and he documented the life there in novels such as St. Urbain's Horseman.From roughly 1970 onwards, the Jewish community uprooted to Outremont and the street was settled by Greek, Portuguese and Caribbean immigrants. Today, much of the street has been gentrified. It traverses the boroughs of Ville-Marie, Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension and Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Les Foufounes Électriques is a club and concert venue located at 87 Saint Catherine Street East in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada in a neighbourhood known as the Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter). It is a multi-level establishment with two concert spaces and a dance floor. The club opened in 1983 and became a centre for underground music, underground art, and culture in Montreal.Known as "Foufs" by the locals, the club is the oldest alternative rock venue in the city.