Here's a list of these streets (this section is under construction) :

• St-Laurent (aka "the Main") : it starts from old Montreal, then crosses Chinatown, the Quartier latin, the Plateau, Little Italy and the goes all the way to the north end of the city. Here are the main sections of St-Laurent blvd. :
  • between de la Commune and St-Antoine in old Montreal : there's nothing particularly special about that section of St-Laurent but it was one of the main road out of old Montreal's fortifications that lead to the Faubourg St-Laurent (aka Près-de-Ville), the first section of the city to extend beyond the walls.
  • the section between Viger and René-Levesque is Chinatown's main commercial street (with de la Gauchetière). There are many restaurants and stores but mostly chinese and asian food markets.
  • the "red-light" section between René-Levesque to the south and Ste-Catherine street to the north : it is where you will find the Monument National theater, a couple of greasy spoons including the Montreal pool room and arcades, peep shows and clubs. There are a couple of army surplus stores, used clothes stores as well as inexpensive electronics stores (for small things like radios, calculators, etc) in the section north of Ste-Catherine but south of Sherbrooke.
  • between Sherbrooke and des Pins ave. : this section is where you will find the highest concentration of trendy restaurants in Montreal (there's at least a dozen of them in that section) and there's a couple of bars and clubs including Angel's and Allegra cigar lounge as well as two great pool places (Bacci and the Swimming). It is the most busy at night with lot's of people walking by...
  • between des Pins ave. and Duluth : it's the most international section (ok.. mostly eastern european), there are many delis (the Main and Schwartz of course), stores and food shops. There's also an ecclectic choice of inexpensive restaurants, from portuguese restaurants (Jano, Casa Minhota) to a tavern serving Malaysian food (Copacabana). There's even a jewish tombstone maker and a lumberyard.
  • between Duluth and St-Joseph : the most interesting place is the portuguese park on the corner of Marie-Anne, that's were you'll find more various restaurants (Bagel etc., Salam Bombay, Better & Gluck, Taquiera Mex, etc) and bars like Les Bobards and the Club Balattou (live african and world beat music). It's another ecclectic section not unlike the previous one (but this is more calm (no punk bars).
  • between St-Joseph and St-Viateur : there's a cluster of restaurants with two of evey type of restaurants (chinese, indian, italian, japanese, etc). The LUX (a round the clock cafe/restaurant/great hangout) use to be the center of that section of St-Laurent but unfortunatly it has closed down.
• Ste-Catherine :
  • between Phillips square and Guy street : main shopping and commercial street gives access to underground shopping malls, fast food restaurants, all very ordinary, in fact there is not one good restaurant in that section of Ste-Catherine...the good restaurants are only west of Guy street (Faubourg, Etoile de l'Inde, Bombay Palace, etc). mainly a place to look at people walking or driving. On nice summer nights (especially frisays and saturdays) the sidewalks are so packed that you have to walk in the street (which are full of cars anyway... it's bumper to bumper). It's also pretty crowded on the lunch hour. It much more quiet in winter. Plenty of arcades, peep shows, movie theaters, "sports" and souvenirs shops... and homeless individuals.
  • between St-Laurent and St-Denis (more red light like) : motorcycle exhibition on weekends... Dome, Metropolis, Fouf, etc
  • east of Berri : gay village

  Driving is bad at rush hours and at night (friday and saturday). Better take René-Lévesque is you're in a hurry (or Sherbrooke). Bus : 15 but better to take subway.

• Sherbrooke, high-rise buildings and hotels, exclusive shops and boutiques (Holt Renfrew, Le Petit Musee, etc), high class restaurants (Ritz-Carleton, Zen, etc), many art galeries, etc. Driving is OK, bus : 24 - access to underground and metro
• Mont-Royal, between St-Denis and Esplanade : used clothes and recycled clothes stores and accessories. Cheap shoes. Binnerie Mont-Royal. east of St-Denis : use to be the street of "everything for a dollar", now it's changing (coffee shops, fun restaurants). Used record stores, everything for a dollar stores, used furniture, etc.
• St-Denis : between René-Lévesque and Sherbrooke, use to be popular, now more quiet. Cafes and bars (Medley/Vieux Munich), new-age boutiques (rocks, sports clothes, etc). between Sherbrooke and Mont-Royal : more recent development, cafes, restaurants (toque, express, etc), very interesting boutiques (valet de coeur, tintin, a l'affiche, etc), librairies (pathfinder, temps de lire, champigny, renaud bray, guerin, etc), etc
• Parc : carpet stores, some restaurants (Vieille Thailande, Frites Alors!, LaoTai, Pizzoo Bar, El Zaziummm, etc), best greek restaurants... and bars/clubs (Rage, Keur Samba, Latin), Rialto, etc
• Prince-Arthur : touristy restaurants (greek and vietnamese, byow) and bars, street musicians and artists
• Duluth, Rachel : BYOW restaurants, used and vintage furniture (50's and 60's)
• Crescent : bars and clubs (south of de Maisonneuve), antiques and upscale shops north.
• Notre-Dame : many antiques stores and restaurants (Sawatdee, ...)
• Victoria : west indies resto...
• St-Hubert north (plaza St-Hubert), centre (nice houses) and south (restaurants and cheap hotels).
• Marie-Anne : residential
• Laurier (upscale restos and boutiques)
• Bernard (mid-scale and upscale restos to the west and cafes to the east)