[URBAN NOTE] "Montrealers make pilgrimage to Leonard Cohen’s old haunts"
This second Laura Beeston Toronto Star article is a more personal engagement with different Montrealers and their interactions with Cohen.
Leonard Cohen is about as Montréalais as the smoked meat on my plate.
But, in fact, the waitress at The Main Deli Steak House says that the enigmatic Montreal poet used to order Baby Back Ribs “presque toujours,” followed by a piece of cheesecake.
I’m sitting in his spot, something that happened by instinct. The corner booth of the Saint-Laurent Blvd. staple has a great view of the entire restaurant: a modest open-concept kitchen, famed meat in the window and pictures on the wall of its most legendary patron, who came by regularly until about four years ago.
Unpretentious, The Main hums along as if nothing happened last week. No Leonard Cohen songs are playing over the radio and the mixed crowds of friends and families brunch in a light mood on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s been three days since the world discovered Cohen died, yet somehow he still feels very present.
Poet Mark Abley recently wrote about the “subconscious influence” that Cohen has in Montreal, quoting the man himself from The Favourite Game: “Some say that no one leaves Montréal.”
Leonard Cohen is about as Montréalais as the smoked meat on my plate.
But, in fact, the waitress at The Main Deli Steak House says that the enigmatic Montreal poet used to order Baby Back Ribs “presque toujours,” followed by a piece of cheesecake.
I’m sitting in his spot, something that happened by instinct. The corner booth of the Saint-Laurent Blvd. staple has a great view of the entire restaurant: a modest open-concept kitchen, famed meat in the window and pictures on the wall of its most legendary patron, who came by regularly until about four years ago.
Unpretentious, The Main hums along as if nothing happened last week. No Leonard Cohen songs are playing over the radio and the mixed crowds of friends and families brunch in a light mood on a Saturday afternoon.
It’s been three days since the world discovered Cohen died, yet somehow he still feels very present.
Poet Mark Abley recently wrote about the “subconscious influence” that Cohen has in Montreal, quoting the man himself from The Favourite Game: “Some say that no one leaves Montréal.”