Montréal à la Berlin
Berlin isn’t the only international hipster headquarters, and here in Montréal the creative class pack the co-working cafes throughout the day and the sound systems pump throughout the evening (and the doormen are far less scary). Now’s the time to experience Berlin à la Montréal.
Where Berlin is covered in graffiti, Montréal holds the status of one of the world’s leading mural cities, our buildings covered in massive artworks by international artists—many painted live in front of a supportive audience of passerby during the annual MURAL Festival. Speaking of painted surfaces, there’s even a bit of the Berlin Wall in Montréal, gifted to the city by Berlin after the German reunification.
Berlin Wall
MAPP_MTL
International hipsters have taken note of Montréal’s edgier quartiers like Villeray, Verdun, Mile-Ex and the Mile End, adding them to the list of the list of the world’s coolest neighbourhoods alongside Kreuzberg and Neukölln. A wealth of digital artists show off their latest creations at local galleries and museums, as well as the MAPP_MTL digital mapping festival which lights up the summer nights with eye-popping animations on a massive urban canvas.
Party people dance the night away at Montréal hotspots like Stereo, Newspeak and Ausgang Plaza, all without Berghain’s infamously judgy doormen. And things keep lubricated with offerings from Montréal’s microbreweries, all creating small batch wonders—Marché Jean-Talon’s annual Oktoberfest is the perfect opportunity to try more than 100 of them. Prost!
Mark Hamilton
Mark Hamilton is the community director for QueerMTL, an internationally-touring musician with his projects Woodpigeon and Frontperson and a graduate studies student of history researching LGBTQ+ activism in the city. He’s lived in Montréal since 2015, during which time he’s most often spotted atop a BIXI bike usally running a few minutes late.