The End of an Era

posted by Odin on Apr 19, 2009

'bens' by viewfromthemoon, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License

By now every real Montrealer knows that the Bens deli has been closed for a while.  This restaurant, established in 1908, has been a true landmark for Montreal for nearly a century.  After a long standing employee strike, the owners sadly decided to close the institution for good.

The Ville-Marie borough recently issued a construction permit to a developer to demolish the building and erect a sixteen-storey hotel in its place.  This took place despite calls from heritage groups to preserve the structure.

Personally, I have only been to Bens once, around fifteen years ago.  I am not a big fan of its type of food and/or ambience, but, in my opinion, its 1940s art-deco style is a relic of a lost era.  Asides from Beautys in the Plateau, I cannot think of any other remaining diner that captures this period and keeps it alive in our collective minds.

Bens has been frequented by celebrities from all over North-America.  Their autographed pictures used to adorn its walls in an attestation for its fame and once-found glory.  It is sad to think that the hotel that will replace it will not bear a single resemblance to its predecessor (maybe it could have carried its name?  Or it could have been built in a neo-art-deco style?).

For those interested, the McCord museum will be exhibiting the photos of celebrities along with other collected memorabilia.

What Montreal has truly lost is not just a restaurant, but a representative and reminder of a bygone era.