Articles
Sex in the City: Nightlife in Montréal
originally appeared in PASSPORT magaine, Fall 2001
by David Ortmann
With Montréal's age of consent fixed firmly at sixteen years, sex can be found aplenty in high school parking lots. You'd be amazed how many nubile French-Canadian boys were eager for English lessons.
The bars, strip houses, and sex clubs aren't bad either.
Seriously though, although Montréal's age of consent is sixteen, no one seems to make an issue of it. Except the tourists from America, were concepts such as sex, drinking, maturity, and consent are more rigid and guarded. Montréal is a European city, despite its North American locale, and with this comes a more European view of sex, life, and love.
"Life is meant to be enjoyed, not analyzed and categorized like old library books." One citizen explained to me over coffee. "We do what we want, but with do it with responsibility, integrity and with care."
When it comes to cruising boys there is no bar better than the appropriately named Le Stud, (1812 Ste Catherine Est). With two floors, three dance floors, three bars, video games, and one pool table this bar attracts all kinds: J Crew boys, leather daddies, queer skinheads, drag queens, straight women, club kids, suit and tie folk, and lesbians (with and without lipstick). The air is smoky, the music thumping, the drinks flow freely and there's always a new scene going down just one more room away. If you want to cruise hard-core, go upstairs where bout ten different sofas line the walls. With sharp pinpoint overheads, everyone in shown in their best light. Guys pose along the wall, the smell of tobacco and marijuana fill the air, and there's something there for everyone.
For a smaller cruising atmosphere, check out Aigle Noir at 1315 Ste. Catherine Est. Known as the Black Eagle Bar, this pub is traditionally more Levi/Leather oriented, but is not purist in that everyone is welcome and it also has a great pool table and a chain link fence gated cruise area. Put the beer down, and hold on tight.
For a sure touch, I recommend experiencing one of Montréal's famous lap-dance clubs. There are many to choose from including Campus, Stock, Adonis (1111 Ste Catherine Est, 6pm - 3am daily), Westside (1071 Beaver Hall Hill. Mon-Fri 4pm - 3am and Sat-Sun 7pm to 3am), and Club Taboo (1950 de Maisonneuve Blvd. Est) where you can see Sean, Monsieur Taboo, 1999.
My top picks are Stock (1278 rue St-André) where the boys are young, cute and ethnically diverse, and Campus (1681 St. Catherine Est.), a larger venue with a regular stable of dancers. By far one of Campus' première thoroughbreds is T.J. I firmly recommend a private lap dance with this man who manages to incorporate hot dance moves, the body of a devil and the face of an angel all in one human form. Private dances generally go for about $10 (Canadian) per song and tipping is encouraged. Montréal law states that patrons can touch the dancers anywhere but on their penises. but honestly. there was so much else to explore and touch, I hardly felt restricted by anything as mundane as a dick law.
For something a bit more. direct, may I recommend one or two of Montréal's notorious sex clubs? Known in the vernacular as saunas and bathhouses, Montréal's sex clubs are open 24 hours a day and there is no telling what you'll find at any given time. The Oasis Spa (1390 Ste Catherine Est) is probably the most popular. A huge warehouse space, decorated along the lines of Bette Midler in mermaid drag, Oasis has pink neon lighting, palm trees, and a hot tub that could easily. er. seat thirty or forty people. The private rooms and showers are clean and there are condoms and lube available, but bring your own anyway. There is no excuse for lack of preparation these days. Oasis was generally hopping at all hours of the night. Picture about forty men in white towels under spooky fluorescent lights ducking in and out of private rooms and trying not to look too obvious about making eye contact. It was like a half-naked, all-boy, David Lynch film.
For a visit to the wilder side, do not miss the Le St-Marc (1168 Ste Catherine Est). St Marc is smaller, darker, and proudly boasts that it is, "Montréal's only sauna with a sling." So. if fisting, leather, rough play, and dark shadowy glances is your game, then your place is St-Marc. The sling room was the most popular spot on the night I was there. Although fisting has never been a big turn-on for me, there was no denying the inherent eroticism of two guys fisting one man while ten other guys looked on. There was also no denying that everyone was enjoying himself.
Other saunas of note are Le 456 at 456 de la Gauchetière St. W (514-871-8341), Aux Berges at 1070 Mackay Street (514-938-9393), and Sauna Centre-Ville at 1465 Ste. Catherine Est (415-524-3406).
So whether you are cruising the bars, getting a lap-dance, or wandering the corridors of one of the city's many bathhouses, the reality of the Montréal sex scene is simple. Do what you will, don't be afraid to talk about what you want, play safe, communicate, and have fun; but, in the spirit of the city itself, do so with responsibility, integrity and with care.