Boulevard Saint-Laurent: the Main
The line that splits the city — the garment lofts, Schwartz's smoked meat, the MURAL walls, the bars. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Lower Main, near Rue Sainte-Catherine
Start where the boulevard meets the old downtown, the southern end where the Main was once the immigrant arrival street and the line of the city's nightlife. Walk north; the boulevard is the spine, and the whole walk is just following it uphill.

2. The old garment district
The blocks around Rue Sainte-Catherine and up toward Sherbrooke were the schmatte trade — fur, fabric, tailoring — and the loft buildings still carry the freight elevators and the carved cornices. Look up at the upper floors; the work moved out, the architecture stayed.

3. Schwartz's Deli
The smoked-meat counter that has been curing brisket on the Main since 1928, narrow and tiled and usually with a queue out the door. Order it medium, on rye, with a pickle. Eat at the counter if you can; the room is the experience as much as the sandwich.

4. The MURAL festival walls
North of Rue Rachel the boulevard becomes an open-air gallery — the murals painted each summer for the MURAL festival, several storeys tall, changing year to year. This is the densest stretch; walk the middle of the sidewalk and keep looking up.

5. The bars around Rue Prince-Arthur
The boulevard's drinking stretch, where the bars and tapas rooms cluster and the pavement fills after dark. Quiet by day, which is when you'll likely pass; note the doors and come back at night if the walk leaves you wanting one more thing.

6. Mont-Royal station
Cut east off the Main into the Plateau to reach the Orange line. The transition — loud boulevard to leafy residential in two blocks — is the city in miniature. One stop and you're back downtown.

Boulevard Saint-Laurent: the Main