Neighbourhood guide

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (HoMa)

The proud east, from shoeboxes to monuments

Mercier–Hochelaga-MaisonneuveMontréal17 spots

The vibe

Along Promenade Ontario, regulars greet each other by first name and new bistros sit beside snack bars from another era. HoMa keeps its plain talk, its neighbourhood rents and a solidarity inherited from the factories. At the end of the streets, the leaning tower of the Olympic Stadium rises like a science-fiction set dropped onto a working-class village — and that contrast says it all.

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UGO signatures

10

See & discover

3

Where to eat

3

Drink & nightlife

Good to know

Keep going to Promenade Bellerive to watch the freighters slide past on the river.

When to go

Saturday mornings for Maisonneuve Market and Promenade Ontario. In summer, the terraces of Place Valois set the tone.

Getting there

Green line: Joliette or Préfontaine for Promenade Ontario, Pie-IX or Viau for the Olympic Stadium and the market.

The story

How the neighbourhood came to be

Maisonneuve was once an independent city with outsized ambitions: in the early 20th century it dreamed of becoming the ‘Pittsburgh of Canada’ and built itself a market, a public bath and a city hall worthy of a capital, in dazzling Beaux-Arts style. Bankrupted by its grand projects, it was annexed to Montreal in 1918. A century later, the neighbourhood is writing its renaissance without disowning its shoeboxes, the squat one-storey houses typical of the east end.

Did you know?

1The city of Maisonneuve, bankrupted by its grandiose projects, was annexed to Montreal in 1918.
2The Olympic Stadium tower is the tallest inclined tower in the world: 165 metres, leaning at 45 degrees.
3The ‘shoebox’ — a flat-roofed, single-storey house — is an architectural signature of the east end’s working-class streets.

1 experience

UGO signatures

UGO Signature

Tournée des microbrasseries d'Hochelaga

Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (HoMa to those who know it) traded its factories for brewing tanks without losing any of its working-class spirit. The ritual unfolds along Promenade Ontario: settle on a first terrace for an IPA brewed fifty metres away, chat with the neighbouring table who knows the brewer, then walk up the street to the next brewery, past fruit shops, neighbourhood diners and the facades of Maisonneuve Market. No lines, no dress code here: craft beer is drunk the way it always has been in the east end, among neighbours, replaying last night's game. This is the Montreal of neighbourhoods that doesn't try to impress, and impresses for exactly that reason. Insider tip: end the crawl at Morgan Park facing the old public bath, when the sun sinks behind the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.

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