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Montréal has a large and thriving gay scene, evidenced most vividly on rue Ste. Cathérine Est. I've visited Montréal several times, the first in the company of mostly straight men whom I had accompanied to Lake Placid, New York, to do winter sport-y things like luging. It was in preparation for this border-crossing side-trip that my excellent good friend Snoop Matty Matt and I stopped by a 7-Eleven to purchase a Montréal map and, at the behest of Matt's bisexual friend Chicken Jim, a bottle of hair mousse. At the counter of the Sev, Matt or I asked the clerk what he know of Montréal nightlife. Unbeknownst to us, the clerk was "family" and—presumably thanks to the mousse—assumed we were too. He directed us to Ste. Catherine Street East, on which boulevard Matty and friends got their first (and perhaps last) taste of gay strip clubs.
Quebec and Ontario and perhaps all of Canada permits nude dancing. Several of my favorite strip bars lie along rue Ste. Cathérine Est: There's Campus, the first one I ever visited, which has a good variety of dancers and at which, last year, there was a talented body painted who created the Spiderman you see in my icon—who, BTW, is fully nude; Adonis (no website, alas), whose dancers tend to be younger and twinkier than average; and the amazingly successful Stock Bar, whose live strip shows are simulcast on their website (with archived material for when they're not live).
All these bars, unlike their comatose D.C. counterparts, have dancers appear on stage one at a time, and each dancer does two dances: one to a fast dance track, where he teases and removes some clothes but keeps at least underwear on; and a second, slower song where he either gets or starts out completely naked and spends 3.5 minutes loving himself. Stock Bar has by far the most beautiful men—they seriously hire only extremely hot, built guys—and the most streamlined routine, whereby a constant stream of dancers are announced in French and English in thuslike order: Dancer B fast, Dancer A slow, Dancer C fast, Dancer B slow, Dancer D fast, Dancer C slow, etc. This goes on from early evening (mid-afternoon on weekends) through the wee small hours of the morning. Stock Bar also has the distinction of launching some current porn stars, including Colt man Dave Angelo.
All these bars also have private booths, where you can pay an average of $10 Can. "per song" to have your favorite dancer give you a lap dance. The dancers' versions of lap dancing, touching rules, and what constitutes "a song" all vary crazily. Some dancers will double the rate and allow you to touch (with hands, or sometimes lips or tongue—on anything but genitalia and anus); others are absolutely stentorian about the forbiddence of hand-touching, even relatively neutral areas like arms, shoulders, etc. At no point has one of these dancers ever put his dick in my mouth during a private dance, but I have to assume some of them sometimes do this kind of thing. It certainly goes on in American strip clubs, so why not in Canada where laws and attitudes re prostitution tend to be less restrictive/disparaging?
Compared with most U.S. cities, Montréal holds their pride celebration, Divers/Cité, late: August 1 through 5 this year. I am considering going, but with so much else going on in July and August (gourmet camping, Falcon Ridge Folk Fest, Philly Folk Fest, the Cheese Lords recording an album, and Southern Decadence, I'm not sure I can afford the time or the money... Well, there's always Stock Bar's website...
Quebec and Ontario and perhaps all of Canada permits nude dancing. Several of my favorite strip bars lie along rue Ste. Cathérine Est: There's Campus, the first one I ever visited, which has a good variety of dancers and at which, last year, there was a talented body painted who created the Spiderman you see in my icon—who, BTW, is fully nude; Adonis (no website, alas), whose dancers tend to be younger and twinkier than average; and the amazingly successful Stock Bar, whose live strip shows are simulcast on their website (with archived material for when they're not live).
All these bars, unlike their comatose D.C. counterparts, have dancers appear on stage one at a time, and each dancer does two dances: one to a fast dance track, where he teases and removes some clothes but keeps at least underwear on; and a second, slower song where he either gets or starts out completely naked and spends 3.5 minutes loving himself. Stock Bar has by far the most beautiful men—they seriously hire only extremely hot, built guys—and the most streamlined routine, whereby a constant stream of dancers are announced in French and English in thuslike order: Dancer B fast, Dancer A slow, Dancer C fast, Dancer B slow, Dancer D fast, Dancer C slow, etc. This goes on from early evening (mid-afternoon on weekends) through the wee small hours of the morning. Stock Bar also has the distinction of launching some current porn stars, including Colt man Dave Angelo.
All these bars also have private booths, where you can pay an average of $10 Can. "per song" to have your favorite dancer give you a lap dance. The dancers' versions of lap dancing, touching rules, and what constitutes "a song" all vary crazily. Some dancers will double the rate and allow you to touch (with hands, or sometimes lips or tongue—on anything but genitalia and anus); others are absolutely stentorian about the forbiddence of hand-touching, even relatively neutral areas like arms, shoulders, etc. At no point has one of these dancers ever put his dick in my mouth during a private dance, but I have to assume some of them sometimes do this kind of thing. It certainly goes on in American strip clubs, so why not in Canada where laws and attitudes re prostitution tend to be less restrictive/disparaging?
Compared with most U.S. cities, Montréal holds their pride celebration, Divers/Cité, late: August 1 through 5 this year. I am considering going, but with so much else going on in July and August (gourmet camping, Falcon Ridge Folk Fest, Philly Folk Fest, the Cheese Lords recording an album, and Southern Decadence, I'm not sure I can afford the time or the money... Well, there's always Stock Bar's website...
