The transformation of the Main
Owner of Café Cleopatra taking city to court for uprooting “historic area”
By David Adelman
Published: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Updated: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
From the outside, Café Cleopatra may look like nothing more than a sleazy strip club. But owner John Zoumboulakis has managed to keep the neon lights flashing on this fixture of lower St. Laurent Blvd. for more than a quarter of a century. Soon, however, Zoumboulakis might have to turn off the lights.
For years, the city of Montreal has claimed it wants to revitalize the area known as the Lower Main, Montreal’s historic red-light district. In late 2007, the administration of Mayor Gerald Tremblay began negotiations to tear down the strip and make it part of the Quatier des spectacles. The job was given to the Angus Development Corporation, a non-profit created in the mid-90s to develop an abandoned rail yard in Rosemont.

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