A Saturday Afternoon Downtown

I wrote a poem about going downtown with my Auntie Mable, the poem was published in A Private Mythology (Ekstasis Editions, 2015). 

Downtown Montreal, around 1955; Morgan's in the background, 
Christ Church Cathedral behind the streetcar on the left

A Saturday Afternoon

 

Outside the main doors

of Morgan’s Department Store

facing Phillip’s Square, an organ grinder

played music that Saturday afternoon downtown

with Aunt Mable. I was a child in the late 1950s

with my aunt, walking beside her, window shopping, 

eating turkey and mashed potato dinner

at Woolworth’s basement lunch counter

then buying pastries upstairs as we left to walk along             

Ste. Catherine Street. You could list the beggars you

saw in Montreal back then, the woman with one

shoe off, the shoe hidden behind her,

and the chauffeur-driven black car

that would pick her up,

or so we heard… or the old woman,

scarf tied under her chin

and the tin can of yellow pencils she sold.

Then, Eaton’s, Simpson’s and Morgan’s

were the big department stores,

now it's boutiques, restaurants, crowded streets,

strip joints and bright lights.

Saturday afternoon with Auntie Mable

People used to go shopping, to movies, or to restaurants downtown on Friday evenings; they'd go shopping downtown on Saturday afternoons. I remember going downtown with my Auntie Mable (Morrissey) on Saturday afternoons, but memory has a life of its own so perhaps it was only one time or perhaps it was a few times. This was probably around 1960. 

There are several memories from those times. One is shopping at the Woolworth's store located on the corner of McGill College Avenue and Ste. Catherine Street West. This building was demolished years ago and it is now the location of the Montreal Trust building which includes a shopping mall. I remember eating a turkey dinner at Woolworth's and having two chocolate milk shakes on one of those occasions. I think the lunch counter was in the basement but perhaps it was on the main floor; as we left the store I remember Auntie Mable buying lemon squares in a white box tied with string when we left to return home. 

Because of these memories I have collected photographs of that Woolworth's location; the better to remember it. 

Woolworth's is the white building, centre of photo; view of McGill College Avenue
from Place Ville Marie

Interior of Woolworth's, late 1940s; not sure if this photo is of the Woolworth's we visited

Crowded Ste. Catherine Street in early 1960s, Woolworth's on right

Woolworth's on right; these people are crossing McGill College Avenue and walking along
Ste. Catherine Street, the main shopping area of Montreal

The lunch counter at Woolworth's; again, not sure if this is in Montreal where the lunch counter
was possibly located in the basement of the store

Looking east on Ste. Catherine Street; Woolworth's on the left; late 1950s