Every city has underrated neighbourhoods – places whose reputation does not match how great they actually are. I thought it might be interesting to see what you think are some places that fly below the radar in terms of urban form, businesses, culture or whatever.
I'll start with one from Montreal. Ville Saint-Laurent is a big borough that is quickly becoming one of the most diverse in Montreal. There are immigrants from all over Africa and Asia making their home here, often side by side. Most of the area developed in the two decades World War II, but the oldest part of it, usually known as
Vieux Saint-Laurent, was originally a country village that became an early streetcar suburb. Now it's served by two metro stations and it feels halfway between the city and suburbs in terms of density and streetlife. There's an interesting range of building types and the main commercial strip along Décarie Boulevard is a crazy mix of Chinese, West African and Italian businesses.
Décarie isn't anything special in terms of its architecture but it's a pleasant street to walk along thanks to wide sidewalks and lots of trees. More importantly, it's the kind of place where you can find an Italian gelateria, a Portuguese rotisserie, a northern Chinese dumpling joint, an Ivorian grocery store and a Vietnamese noodle shop within the same 200 metre strip.
Along Décarie is Beaudet Park, which is a larger version of a quintessential Montreal square, with a nice geometric arrangement of walkways and a monument in the middle (in this case a cenotaph).
The side streets in the area area mostly residential, but there are a few secondary commercial strips. The architecture is very eclectic, ranging from villageois, to classic Montreal greystones, to more suburban versions of typical Montreal triplexes, to what I would describe as "west end suburban," a boxy 1950s style you see all over the west side of Montreal.
There are two cégeps (a kind of college) in the area, one English, one French, and they add a lot of vitality, plus some architectural heft.
On the western edge of Vieux Saint-Laurent is the Ville Saint-Laurent borough hall, which appeals to anyone who loves kitschy 1960s architecture.
In sum, it's a quirky semi-suburban area with good transit access that blends some very typical Quebec architecture with a lot of cultural diversity. And I have to give a shout out to Vinh Hing, a fantastic Cantonese-Vietnamese hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you can get dry Phnom Penh noodles with a side of pork bone broth (including pork bones) for $7, and Chinese doughnuts (youtiao/yau za gwai) with a meatball in broth for $3. They also sell birthday cakes...?
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