Pints, bottles and brawls

This place has more retro-funk than the 1960s ever did. A whimsical and groovy little spot just below Pine Avenue, “GoGos” is always decked out in some crazy ensemble from costumed doormen to the barmaids sporting genuine platform gogo boots. The martini menu comes on an old vinyl covered in stickers featuring cutesy drinks like Pussycat and the Captain America. It can be a pain to get inside past 11 pm, but once inside this packed-in funhouse, hoist yourself up on the nearest red rubber chair and boogie like its 1965.

Formerly known as Buddha Bar, B-Side is where you will find the local university crowd with flair. So don’t expect any Frosh parties or Ithaca t-shirts, but the trendy and younger 20 something year-olds pack B-Side to the brim on the weekends. Not the largest of venues, but definitely one of the best and liveliest rooftop terraces around. The owners are music connoisseurs so you’ll definitely recognize the tunes ranging from 80s Madonna to the Killers and other sing-along songs.

If traffic lights, skyscrapers, and black smog are making you weary of the concrete jungle then it is time to take refuge at the Lodge. Located in the epicenter of the jungle, St-Laurent Blvd. (north of Prince Arthur), the Lodge offers city denizens an opportunity to escape the pavement and surround yourself in a wooden ski lodge accompanied with furred stools, a big moose head, a wooden chandelier, picnic tables, and thin birch trees.

Bifteck is “The” artist hangout on lower St-Laurent, known for its crowd of starving musicians, struggling painters and poets and amateur philosophizers. Those who have “made it” in their respective crafts also still frequent this unassuming dive bar, making for an eclectic blended crowd eager to soak up the grunge vibe, cheap beer, 2 for 1 mixed drinks and free popcorn. A quaint and very cheap little bar, Bifteck is also popular with mainstreamers for its laidback attitude and pool tables (an increasingly scarce sight on lower St-Laurent).

Shed Café is “the” original trendy restaurant from the good ol’ days before St-Laurent was a glitzy mass of see-and-be-scene spots. Dishing less pretentiousness and more causal fare than its shiny neighbours, Shed has a reputation for funky décor, and impressive bar list, reliable food, friendly service, fantastic sangria and a comfortably cool vibe.

Vol de Nuit, located on the cobblestones of Prince Arthur, is one of those easy Montreal haunts loved for its cheap drinks, outdoor terrace and inviting crowd. Catch some sun on a busy summer afternoon, or grab a pitcher with some friends and groove to the music over vodka sodas. Head to Vol when you don’t quite know where else to go, but you’re in the mood to hang out, or when you’ve got a group of people who won’t be pleased by any place too-chichi or too-grungy. Vol strikes a happy medium for everyone.

Co-owned by the brother of Montreal rocker Sam Roberts, Pistol is one of those places on the Main that can be said to really give the street that ûber cool vibe that other cities just cannot quite duplicate. Maybe it’s the I-don’t-really-care-but-I-do attitude of college-age and slightly aloof (but still likeable) waitstaff, or the tasty sandwiches with James Bond inspired names (The 007, View to Kill and Goldfinger are all safe bets). Pistol has good food at the right price with a vibe so laidback it almost reeks of contrivance – were it not actually one of the most “real” places on the boulevard.

Montreal is sprinkled with intimate smaller scale concert venues for the slew of local artists whose followers will traipse from one funky concert club to the next to catch original and not-yet-mainstream shows. Club Soda is one of these very places known for its indie rock and innovative underground shows.