Its address has been synonymous with sin, swing and a little bada bing for nearly a century. And now, the Café Cléopâtre is fighting to keep the bad old ways alive.
The Montreal establishment, which offers Danseuses à Go Go on its signage and Céline Dion in drag on the second floor, is the last holdout in a redevelopment project to clean up Montreal’s mythical but badly bruised red light district.
The Café Cléopâtre is taking an Alamo-like stand on a stretch of St. Laurent Boulevard known as the Lower Main. One by one, its motley collection of neighbours – the hot-dog joints, nightclubs and old-fashioned groceries that formed the backbone of the street’s gritty and offbeat character – have sold out to a city-backed developer.
But the Café Cléopâtre is gyrating on, challenging a city expropriation order in court. The establishment, with its strippers, burlesque shows and Montreal Fetish Weekends, says it’s an urban “icon” that deserves to stay.

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