Mont'l Club Back in News With Police Booze Raid

Mont'l Club Back in News With Police Booze Raid

St. Michels and Rockhead’s were briefly closed after racially targeted police raidings led by Inspector Louis Lévesque claiming that they were violating provincial liquor laws. Although Rockhead’s Paradise was able to re-open, St. Michel did not have the same fortune and closed in 1953. St. Michel was an incredibly important part of little burgundy and hosted so many small musicians. It was not as big as Rockhead's and was not as prestigious and having been located in Montreal's red light district, had many illegal gambling dens and running alongside the main entertainment. Oliver Jones, a protege to Oscar Peterson, said in an interview "The St-Michel was a little rougher. Rufus Rockhead never let anything get out of hand although there was always pressure from authorities to close him down. But I remember playing in the St-Michel and saw a lot of what I wasn’t supposed to see – girly girls and strippers. But the people there, there was always someone looking out for me." (Oscar Jones interview, in "Jazz in Montréal, from the Roaring Twenties to Today" Richard Burnett, 2024). Because downtown jazz clubs were segregated, these clubs were crucial to keeping Black musical expression alive, even if it contributed to Montreal's "Sin-City" reputation and appeared in less legal spaces. This is what was accessible to Black Canadians and to them, jazz was a rebellious sound not to be tamed. Governments invaded and targeted these places constantly to try and shit them down or run them out of business.

Variety

“Mont’l Club Back in News With Police Booze Raid” Variety, October 21, 1953, 61.

Variety

October 21, 1953

Variety

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