What is the best area in Montreal to get an apartment to live the "Hobbyist lifestyle'"?

[TheQuestion]

PS: I don't mean to offend anyone, I'm only asking since you guys give insightful answers.

I read Chester Brown's graphic novel, "Paying for it' and a certain point Chester keeps himself and apartment where he can get the escort to visit him.

Requirements;
1-Studio/One bedroom apartment.
2-Centrally located, close to supermarkets or pharmacies, convenient stories.
3-Flexible guest policy. Where its easy to register your lady friends which out much paperwork.
4- Chill laid back neighbors, everyone keeps to themselves.
5- Ideally a building that caters towards college students, grad students or single professionals. No/less couples, families or retirees who tend to have other requirements.
5-Flexible Guest policy II: Where maybe a lady friend can stay without you for a few days without much of a fuzz.
6-Flexible Guest policy III: Where guests can visit the gym or any other facilities without issues.
7- Cafe, restaurant or bar underneath or in the same street where you can meet your date before inviting them in.

Inbetween(Could be important but might be tricky depending on the laws of each city):
8-Somewhere where you can rent in case you leave for the summer/winter and its easy to rent it for a few months.

Bonus but not neccesary:
9-Rooftop events at the top floor where young single meets and chill hang out.

 

[MCTJ]

Griffintown

 

[jmioffe]

I read that graphic novel. Is the author a Montrealais?

 

[TheQuestion]

@jmioffe
I think he's from Toronto, but it's likely he's monger in Montreal a bunch of times.

 

[EagerBeaver]

2 neighborhoods:

(1) Griffintown
(2) Old Montreal

If you receive in one of those two neighborhoods, you would be viewed as presumptively a reasonably cool and swanky dude, albeit that is a rebuttable presumption once you open your mouth. If you receive elsewhere other than downtown, you would not be automatically viewed as cool and there may even be a presumption that you suck, albeit on different levels of suckitude.

 

[Skym]

Downtown. I live downtown

 

[jmioffe]

2 neighborhoods:

(1) Griffintown
(2) Old Montreal

If you receive in one of those two neighborhoods, you would be viewed as presumptively a reasonably cool and swanky dude, albeit that is a rebuttable presumption once you open your mouth. If you receive elsewhere other than downtown, you would not be automatically viewed as cool and there may even be a presumption that you suck, albeit on different levels of suckitude.

Plateau/Mile-End/Mile-Ex/Petite-Patrie/Little Italy aren't cool?
Not being sarcastic, just curious. I love Montreal and would like to get to know it better.
Because Old Montreal and Downtown strike me as actually kind of uncool.
There's no youthful spirit there, they're just places where old people with money spend it.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Plateau/Mile-End/Mile-Ex/Petite-Patrie/Little Italy aren't cool?

Here are 2 drills right off the bat that distinguish the differences between the 2:

1. Go to any of the above areas and go in a restaurant and ask for a business card. Look at the address on the business card. Guarantee you the address will list the city as "Montreal." Now go in Griffintown and go in any restaurant in Griffintown and run the same drill. Ask the owner for a business card. The business card will not list the city as Montreal. It will say "Griffintown." It will not say Montreal. Just Griffintown. That's fucking cool.

I have done this drill. I double and triple dare you to do it.

2. Look at and study the borders of Griffintown. The south end is the Canal. Now cross the Canal, and go to the southern shore. Go in condos and businesses and ask for business cards. They should say Point St. Charles, right? The map says Point St. Charles, right? Wrong!!!!!! The businesses cards will all say "Griffintown." Why? Because Griffintown is cool. Point St. Charles is NOT cool.

If you have not done these kinds of drills I double and triple dare you to do so.

I have stayed in the neighborhoods you mentioned. They are not cool. They are not trendy. They are not younger generation cool.

3. Final drill. Go into a club and tell a girl you are staying in Griffintown/Old Montreal. Then tell the next girl "I am staying in the Plateau". Watch the reactions of each girl. I dare you to do this drill. Double dare and triple dare and then tell me I am wrong.

 

[Numerati]

I can say Grifftintown has really come a long way. Back in 2009/2010 the area was just one big area of desolate wasted space full of empty lots and one story warehouses. Now it is some awesome neighborhood full of high rise apartment buildings and condos. A whole neighborhood on its own. If I ever move back to Montreal for some reason Grifftintown I would seriously look into.

 

[oobe]

(gloryfying Griffintown)

OTH try to find anybody who has survived in Griffintown more than 5 years... it impresses young folks from the suburbs, but quickly they realize It's overpriced, too dense, no neighborhood life, traffic jams, endless construction, and move out. The only cool spot is having coffee at the corner of Cornuto on a sunny day.
So unless you have a 2-floor penthouse on the top floor (and love waiting for the elevator) and like to impress strippers...

Oh, also the flashy side of the neighborhood is attracting the type of people who love to show off, race their mercedes between traffic lights and play loud music with the windows down. With the increasing density from all the new constructions, I know several people who are not enjoying the change and decided to leave.

 

[Numerati]

See. The difference of living in Montreal and visiting Montreal. Thanks for the reality check oobe. Never been to Griff but pass by there in 2011/2012 and saw all that construction. Back to Westmount it is for me. Ha ha.

 

[EagerBeaver]

oobe,

I am no stranger to Griffintown. I have stayed at a number of AirBnB's there, and all of them were great. Also, were you aware that XO held their party in a Griffintown condo in 2016? Why do you suppose that is? Because it's an uncool place? Because Sammy has no class? Tell that to Sammy's face. The dude has some good taste and that was a very fucking cool party.

As far as people not lasting there, maybe it's for financial reasons and they are not making enough to keep up. They tell you about traffic jams and the construction, but do you really think they gonna flat admit to you that their paycheck is not covering the rent? That is pride kicking in and coming up with excuses, excuses you hear and have no choice but to accept since the real reasons are not being given.

And why do you suppose all the construction is there? Construction goes to areas that are worth developing. What they are building there is worthwhile housing, for the people who can keep up and afford it. You do not build new construction where people are not going to buy and pay some coin. You build where you can make money with sales and not have empty condos and projects.

Griffintown is to Montreal what Park Slope is to Brooklyn and what Greenwich Village is to Manhattan.

 

[Stx]

Anyone who actually lives in Montreal will know that Griffintown is massively overrated. Oobe summeraizd it well. Its hype peaked a few years ago.

It's one huge artificial neighborhood built by real estate developpers with no planning. There's no public transit, no community organizations, barely any service centres, barely any grocery stores, barely any schools for parents to send their kids to, almost no green areas, and the vast majority of condos there are made of disgustingly cheap material and are about as big as a shoe box.

If you're just visiting sure it looks nice, but it's almost like a tourist trap. Nothing is organic there, it's all one huge gentrified commercial project. There is no neighborhood history or culture. Again, it's great for tourists, transplants from the suburbs, and for the nouveau riche crowd, but it's a rather terrible place to actually live in as a montrealer.

All that being said, the city has been working to adress many of these issues, and with the REM being built there giving it a link to the public transit system, the area should be a lot more livable in the near future.

In my humble opinion, more interesting areas to live in include quartiers des spectacles, the old port, and the areas of the plateau closer to downtown. If you want the suburbs, the Dix30 development is another interesting area close to downtown and will also have a REM station in a few years. Less boogie areas include St-Henri and some parts of the atwater area.

 

[TheQuestion]

Guys, thank your advice, lots of insights At the same time,I'm wondering Is Griffintown good for the hobbyist lifestyle?

I want to make sure we are staying on topic.I read a few comments about Griffintown not being good for families.Exactly! I'm trying to avoid
families, couples, older more conservative folks. I'm only looking for a "hook up apartment" where I can bring women home and have no issues.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Guys, thank your advice, lots of insights At the same time,I'm wondering Is Griffintown good for the hobbyist lifestyle?

I want to make sure we are staying on topic.I read a few comments about Griffintown not being good for families.Exactly! I'm trying to avoid
families, couples, older more conservative folks. I'm only looking for a "hook up apartment" where I can bring women home and have no issues.

TheQuestion-

Those guys who were bashing Griffinton and especially the last post before yours are absurdly off topic. No community organizations, really? Are you applying to be Montreal's version of Mother Theresa or fucking escorts? HELLLLLLOO!!!!!!!!!The prior posts totally miss the mark of what you were asking about. Griffintown is all about hook ups. I have stayed at many Griffintown AirBnBs and they are great. There was also a comment about no supermarkets and I had one right across the street from one of the AirBnBs I stayed at. An IGA if I recall correctly, in the heart of Griffintown, on Notre Dame near Peel. It's dead across the street from an enormous, newer condo complex where I stayed via AirBnB. Anyway, the other posters apparently think you want to raise a family there, stage elaborate birthday parties for the kids, host charitable dinners and immerse yourself in culture, or else train to follow in Mother Theresa's footsteps as a community organizer. They are way off mark from what I saw, and not following the thread. This is an Escort Review Board, last time I checked.

Book an AirBnB there, walk around, call some agencies, and draw your own conclusions.

 

[bobnh]

Plateau. Within walking distance of one of the metro stops. The plateau has EVERYTHING that makes Montreal special, and you can hop on the metro to easily
get around in the city (except Griffintown where there is no metro

 

[gallantca]

What I like about Griffintown : easy access to the canal for running and cycling paths. Yes, it's hip, good pubs.....

What I like less : subway (metro) access isn't ideal. I'd pick a location in Montreal near a metro over anything else. My car sits in it's parking spot 99% of the time during the week. That wouldn't be the case in Griffintown.

When you're a tourist, hopping into a Uber is fine. Not so fun day in, day out.

Metro access is king when picking a spot to live.

 

[EagerBeaver]

All the AirBnBs I have stayed at in Griffintown had parking garages with spots. One was directly on the Canal and I saw numerous persons jogging and biking along the Canal every day.

There is a Metro Station in Point St. Charles, several blocks south of the canal. I was able to walk there from my Griffintown AirBnB on the Canal. I saw several Euphoria girls at that AirBnB, one of them for 3 hours. It was August 2016. We ordered Mexican food from a restaurant on the other side of the Canal. I walked over a bridge and got our food, leaving the girl at the condo. On my way back, the fob didn't work for the front entrance of the condo which had then been newly built and was sparsely occupied, except by my AirBnB Host and a few other unit owners. So 5 minutes of waiting for someone to enter or exit was useless. I yelled up to the second floor condo to the Euphoria girl to let me in, but she couldn't hear me. Finally I called James and told him to text her and tell her to come down and let me in. He texted her and she came down and let me in. We then went up to the second floor, ate our food and had some fun. I liked that place. I told myself next time I would stay there I would rent a bicycle and ride the Canal, but never ended up back at that complex.

A lot of people don't know this but there is Metro Line that runs south of the downtown and you can use it. At some point it does loop north and connect with the main line running through the downtown core. I have used that Metro line when in Old Montreal and southern points on the island.

 

[TheQuestion]

TheQuestion-

Those guys who were bashing Griffinton and especially the last post before yours are absurdly off topic. No community organizations, really? Are you applying to be Montreal's version of Mother Theresa or fucking escorts? HELLLLLLOO!!!!!!!!!The prior posts totally miss the mark of what you were asking about. Griffintown is all about hook ups. I have stayed at many Griffintown AirBnBs and they are great. There was also a comment about no supermarkets and I had one right across the street from one of the AirBnBs I stayed at. An IGA if I recall correctly, in the heart of Griffintown, on Notre Dame near Peel. It's dead across the street from an enormous, newer condo complex where I stayed via AirBnB. Anyway, the other posters apparently think you want to raise a family there, stage elaborate birthday parties for the kids, host charitable dinners and immerse yourself in culture, or else train to follow in Mother Theresa's footsteps as a community organizer. They are way off mark from what I saw, and not following the thread. This is an Escort Review Board, last time I checked.

Book an AirBnB there, walk around, call some agencies, and draw your own conclusions.

Hey man ,thanks for you insightful comment. Yes, exactly its all about living this lifestyle without being bothered.

At the same time, I wonder what's your take on downtown? How does downtown compare to Griffinton?

 

[EagerBeaver]

Hey man ,thanks for you insightful comment. Yes, exactly its all about living this lifestyle without being bothered.

At the same time, I wonder what's your take on downtown? How does downtown compare to Griffinton?

I stayed downtown many more times than Griffintown and I like the Le Seville Condos best for your criteria, see my comments listed below the photo and link.

Le Séville | Prével | Projet 100% complété | Promoteur immobilier Montréal​

Le Séville est un projet résidentiel et commercial signé Prével situé sur la rue Sainte-Catherine, au coeur du village Shaughnessy à Montréal

www.prevel.ca

1. Directly across the street from the Atwater Metro on St. Catherine Street.

2. Coffee shop and supermarket on first floor of building. There is a large shopping mall nearby.

3. Doorman building with door entry code- so it's secure, but they don't care about escorts and I have seen probably 20-25 while staying at one of the 3 buildings making up this complex, which as you can see from the photo, spans an entire city block on St. Catherine. But it has discreet side road entrances. Never had any issues except agency giving the girl the wrong door code off by one digit.

4. The condos are nice. 2 and 1 bedrooms and I have stayed at both. There are swimming pools on each roof. The swimming pools are accompanied by grills which guests may use so you can impress a girl and cook a steak and lobster dinner for her and then swim before heading downstairs. As you can see in the photo, each unit has a balcony. I am kind of scared of heights and did not eat breakfast out there, but you could.

5. It's right next to Chinatown II, so if you like Asian cuisine as I do, you don't have to venture very far to get dinner. There is also a Portuguese chicken fast food place nearby which I liked.

6. There is a large cinema nearby if taking an escort to the movies is something you might do. It's a short walk.

7. Years ago I knew one high end Indy escort running an incall out of Le Seville. Pretty sure she split the rental with some other indies. So it's an escort approved property.

As compared to Griffintown? It's as nice as any AirBnBs I stayed at in Griffintown. More amenities.

The advantage of Griffintown generally is that (1) the lifestyle fits in better, and (2) you can operate slightly more discreetly in terms of being seen less, if that matters at all.