Tour guide Stan Asher brings guests to Wilensky's Deli, which seems to remain unchanged from its heyday in the 1940s.
Photo by Neilia Sherman
Stan Asher sits down heavily on the steps in front of the Bagg Street Shul. At 71, with knees that are now giving him trouble, leading a group around the Old Jewish area of Montreal is not an easy task for him. Yet, obviously, it is a labor of love for this historian and retired professor. He carries with him a well-read copy of "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz," by the late Mordechai Richler, and when we come to buildings that are mentioned in the book through very thinly veiled fiction, Asher actually reads out loud the excerpts that pertain to the places we are visiting.
There is always a feeling of sadness and nostalgia in visiting an area such as this that has drastically changed yet still bears clues of a once-thriving Jewish population.
In my hometown of Toronto, that area is Kensington Market, but this is my opportunity to learn about the historic Montreal Jewish community, one of North America's first Jewish enclaves. In 1760, the prohibition against non-Catholics settling in Montreal was lifted and Aaron Hart, the first Jewish settler, arrived. Canada's first synagogue was built in Montreal in 1777. The synagogue was called Shearith Israel and was established by Sephardic Jews. It no longer exists but was located in what is now Old Montreal.
However, our tour is of the formerly Jewish area known as "The Main," which sprang up after the heavy immigration of the early to mid-1900s. The main axes of this old Jewish quarter are famed Montreal streets - St. Lawrence Boulevard (The Main), Clark Street, St. Urbain, Esplanade and Park Avenue.
The tour started with a nice breakfast at Beauty's, a Jewish Montreal landmark that was opened in 1942 by Hymie and Freda Sckolnick and has maintained its popularity throughout the years. The consensus seems to be that it is the nostalgic quality of the place with its 1950s-diner feel that keeps people lining up for brunch every Sunday. Asher had the "Mishmash Omelet," which included hot dogs, salami, green pepper and fried onions. I stuck with pancakes.
Sufficiently sated, it was time to check out "The Main."
One of the first places that our group visits is Wilensky's Deli, at the corner of Fairmount and Clark streets. For the uninitiated, this place is a little scary. For one thing, the time warp is unbelievable. The place sports walls, signs and dÇcor that hasn't changed since its heyday in the 1940s. The hand-lettered signs try to warn patrons about some of their quirky food rules. The main thing sold is "the special;" these are all made up in the morning with lots of mustard, so it costs extra to get one without mustard. The ingredients are bologna and salami and then the whole thing is heated on a bun that cannot be cut, according to tradition. It sounds awful to me, but at $3 a pop, this is a very popular lunch in these parts.
The family/staff all stand around looking faintly irritated by our group and reluctantly allow some of us to take photos. Asher points out that a pivotal scene in the movie version of "Duddy Kravitz" was shot here as this was one of Richler's favorite boyhood haunts.
Not far from Wilensky's is the Fairmount Bagel, which is open 24 hours a day in order to appease the apparent need of Montreal to have access to their beloved bagels at any time of the day or night. Originally opened in 1919, this place boasts hand-rolled, oven-baked bagels, which are a Montreal tradition. They claim to be the first bagel bakery in Montreal, and a healthy rivalry exists between the Fairmount and St-Viateur Bagel down the street. The bagels are much harder and sweeter than those I am used to, but I'm definitely starting to acquire a taste for them.
With Asher as a guide, it is easy to picture how Jewish this area once was. Apparently in the 1920s and 30s, dozens of little shuls - usually located in houses - were all over the area. By the 1950s, many of the Jews moved to new Jewish communities, and the small shuls were vacated and demolished or converted for other uses.
We come to a building at 5116 St. Urbain that is now being used as a Polish Evangelical church, according to Asher. He tells us to look closely at the cross near the top of the building. Sure enough, we can all see a stained-glass Star of David peering out from behind the cross.
As we lookat more buildings, this theme becomes evident. The new owners would paste on a new sign or half-heartedly attempt to erase some of the Hebrew writing, but it is always easy to find evidence of the former Jewish function. Another example: Colläge Franáais, which has schoolchildren hanging out the window and waving at us, was at one time the first Jewish school in the area. It was known as the "Jewish people's school," and Hebrew writing is still visible although attempts have been made to erase it. One of Asher's favorite jokes is that most of the buildings used to have the Ten Commandments on them but that efforts have been made to erase them, although the tablets and some of the Jewish writing is usually visible. "Somewhere there must be a warehouse full of the Ten Commandments," he says.
Along the tour, it is notable that many of the brick buildings in and around St. Urbain streets have become part of Montreal's Chasidic Jewish community. They have established small houses of worship and tend to live next to one another in the old-fashioned Montreal-style flats.
Asher becomes visibly excited when we approach a worn-out-looking building that is now the Sun Youth charitable organization. Apparently, this was the famous Baron Byng High School he attended as a teenager. At that time, as non-Catholics, Jewish children had no choice but to attend the Protestant schools. Ironically, this Protestant school had a 90 percent Jewish population due to the strong Jewish presence in the area. Famous Jews who have come out of this school include Irving Layton, William Shatner, David Lewis, Leonard Cohen and, of course, Mordechai Richler. We stop while Asher tells stories of odd teachers and classmates and most strangely admits that his mother moved the family right next door to the school so that he wouldn't have to cross the street. "Overprotective Jewish mother," he grumbles. We can't argue.
I'm eager to catch a glimpse of Richler's former home where he got worked up enough to write his diatribes about this celebrated Montreal community. He lived in a second-floor cold-water flat in a building with one of the outdoor winding metal staircases that this area of Montreal is known for. Asher points out the exact flat where Richler lived, but it has been renovated and doesn't have the earthy look that I pictured.
It is time for more food. We have to fit in another famous Jewish Montreal landmark, Schwartz's Deli, with its amazing Montreal smoked meat. It is packed with people, standing-room only with a line outside. The meat is mouth-watering, worth the wait and the cramped quarters.
We end the tour sitting on the steps of the only original synagogue left in the Old Jewish area. Its official name is Congregation Temple Solomon, though some people just call it Beth Schloime or the Bagg Street Shul. There is a Hebrew inscription on its cornerstone that describes it as having been built in 1925. It is a miracle that this one synagogue still exists as the membership barely can get a minyan together. Lately, university students have been coming and trying to help give the shul much-needed new life.
Asher has been giving these tours for about 15 years. It is a perfect mesh of his interest in Montreal history and literature. And although he consistently proclaims himself to be nonreligious throughout the tour, he seems to take delight in finding Jewish symbols and Hebrew writing and of course the ever-present Ten Commandments tablets that are still visible on almost every formerly Jewish building that we see. It makes you feel good that somebody cares enough to help the rest of us to remember.
Neilia Sherman is a freelance writer in Thornhill, Ontario.
