A good friend's daughter is doing her phd thesis on the counterculture scene of the 60's in Montreal and is picking my brain for information. One question she asked has me stumped so I thought I'd pass it by the Mudcat people who were there then. This is the question:

"So here's the question of the hour: where were the beautiful people of Montreal hanging out? Where was your Haight-Ashbury, your Yorkville, your Greenwhich(sic) village? Or was there even a village? Maybe it was spread out more, or had a few centres scattered about...I don't know. I guess what I'm trying to do is get a sense of the 'countercultural geography' of the city at this time. What are the hot hangouts, cozy book-nooks, cafés, headshops, meditation centres or green patches? Were anglo and franco mingling in these places?

So many questions, so little time..."

I can think of a few venues like the Swiss Hut, Phantasmagoria Records, coffee shops and music venues but can't really remember if there was a specific geographic area equivalent to Haight-Ashbury or Yorkville.

Anyone?