Below is a pic from 1976. Who knew Gare Centrale had a row of arcade machines? In fact, it had more than one--according to our sources, there were two or three different arcades in and around the train station until about 1991.
Another random spot that had arcades: The tunnel connecting Peel Metro and Stanley street.
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| The three arcade games being played: Upper Deck (1973), a baseball game; Super Flipper (1975); and Speed King (1970). |
The eighties were the golden age of arcades, and there were as many as two-dozen of them downtown. According to a former coin pusher, arcades in Montreal were hotbeds of drugs, gambling, break ins, and general "bad behaviour". That might explain why there were so many on then-seedy St. Catherine street, which at that time was dominated by strip clubs, bars, peep shows, XXX shops, and hot dog joints.
Perhaps it also explains why peep shows and arcades were so often paired together in the same complex, with separate entrances beside each other, as shown below.
Side note: In the backroom of Paul's Boutique (record store on Mont Royal), there is a nice collection of classic arcade machines--- I don't remember which ones, except The Simpsons and Terminator 2. Anyhoo, If you give the guy a bit of cash you can bring some beers and pretty much play all afternoon.
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