Turcot and the VilleMarie: Nov 2011

This past weekend I took a quick trip through Turcot and the along the Ville-Marie and then through the TA Wall and Factory. My main mission was to catch a big Jays roller along the Ville-Marie facing into Turcot yards but I caught a few more hits along the way. It was nice to get back into and around Turcot again, as I had not been through the yards in over a year since they locked it all up and began enforcing more stringent security measures to keep people out.  Walking along the side spot next to the Ville-Marie still drummed up some nostalgia though and I found myself chilling out a bit to take it all in again. Sadly, although there was some new and old hits along the wall leading to Decarie, Turcot in general is pretty dead, buffed, and washed out.

Looking over the yards from the vantage point of where the roller was, I sat back and watched as construction workers buzzed about repairing and maintaining the dilapidated and aged body of Turcot Interchange. I got into Turcot only around 2004, but man was it nice back then. All the way up to a couple of years ago you could walk through the yards and check out plenty of new pieces by just about any local writer. I spent hours covering Turcot every time I went in, whatever the season, day or night (I still kick myself over never having got any big spanning shots of the yards when they were in full effect). It's a shame that it's a dead spot now, but hey, not like it's the safest spot to be stomping about anymore considering the condition of the structure as of late. It was nice to see that the upper wall in the back is still active to some degree though and probably will be for some time to come.

I like big rollers, like the one I caught some flicks of  in NDG the week before that Gesa and Raskoe (see below) put up not too long ago. And this was a pretty big one for sure, whole wall, top to bottom, and in a prime spot. I took plenty of pics, but here are a few of the best ones I think I got. I like the Turcot roller more than the one I caught in NDG, though it was in a pretty prime spot too, but this one has 'the spot' for this area and was a nice ode to Jays style too. I also tossed in a couple of pics of a Sake and Aper spot along the Ville-Marie I snapped at some point along the way too, great spot, but a SUPER pain in the ass to get a shot of being where it was.

TA was pretty busy when I passed through, lots of kids running about the wall area and factory mucking about. Bank and Castro were just finishing up a Jays tribute on the lower wall so I decided to chill out a bit. It was nice to catch up with them and always a pleasure to watch a couple of solid Montreal writers do their work. Besides that I took a trip through the factory and exited through the upper wall area. Besides a weird paste in the factory and a sweet production on the way out there wasn't much too new there.

All-in-all a productive mission for sure. Good to see some folks along the way too. Stay posted as Vanhorne pics coming soon, and tonnes from the streets.

Rooftop Edition Vol. 1

Montreal's got some heavy rooftop action going on all over the place: big rollers and lean overs, flops and pieces in the craziest of places, and lots of bombed out walls high above the streets. Residential, commercial it doesn't matter, if it's a good spot, sooner or later its going to get hit up. I see these rooftops every day I walk around getting whatever it is I need to get done and it nags and nags and nags at me to get pics. So I finally got my ass in gear and started working rooftops a little more often towards the end of the summer. Not like I didn't before, just not to this degree.

 

Although I'm not getting every rooftop I've wanted up until now, I think I've got a few nice ones thus far. And I know there are far better choice spots for me to find, no worries, I've been casing out areas, hunting down the spots, I'll get them sooner or later. And when I do, I'll be showcasing them here.  And man do I love these spots. There could be graff all over the rooftop, discarded construction materials, lawn furniture, empty beer bottles and cans, left over paint cans and other impliments; bombed out from end to end, on every air conditioner, vent, and whatever else might be lying around. Or it's just a small part of the larger skyline, dusk or dawn, midday or midnight. In any case there are always great shots to be taken, and rooftop missions are always fun.

Some of these shots aren't even on rooftops, just spots high up there. I decided to toss in flicks I've taken on some of my not so successful missions to get to rooftops but deliver some pretty nice high up alley way shots from fire escapes and the such. Although not rooftops they are definitely high above the regular streets so I figured they belonged here and should be given honorable mention along with these other spots.

 

There are plenty of spots that I haven't hit up yet. Some great one's along St Caths and in the Plateau, and plenty more I am yet to discover. And a personal shout out to Verse and Vibo for killing it lately, they've been getting up everywhere. As you can see off this post they are well represented. And there are some serious spots by Castro, Sake, Bank, Serak and others I am yet to get under my belt too. It's just a matter of negotiating a few obstacles, but once I get by them, you can bet that I'll be adding those to my collection.

 

  

Well hope this makes for a nice opening rooftops post, sorry to those I was unable to tag in the post as it was a bit of a heavy one. More to come soon.

Stay posted.