What makes a rue a rue? Rue de la Police, a tiny little street that runs between Guy and Pierce has no street fronts with addresses on it. Why does it merit a name? Shouldn’t it by rights be an alley? I don’t think I’ll be insulting anyone by saying that it qualifies as the ugliest street I’ve travelled so far since no one really lives on it. The Commission de toponymie, the provincial government organization responsible for managing Quebec place names has a whole paragraph on the origin of the name. It takes longer to read the description than to walk the whole length of the street. The only redeeming feature is this mural.
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OK, so I wasn’t planning on writing about alleyways - only named streets, but I had to make an exception after yesterday when I stumbled across the project Les Ruelles du Centre-Ville. For one week in July, from July 26 through July 30th, the city is transforming 10 different alleyways in town from frowsy to funky. They add live music, tea, lawn chairs, and individual tubs of water for weary office workers or tourists to soak their feet. It’s enchanting. The one I came across was off of Mansfield between René Lévesque and Saint-Catherine.
More info from an article in Métro |
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