City of style

Montreal has long been a popular mecca for gay tourists, but not necessarily because of its bountiful furniture and home decor shopping. In fact, the city famously housed North America’s first official gay business, which was started by an industrious Montrealer named Moise Tellier. He opened an apple and cake shop in the 1860s. However, according to records from the time, Tellier’s business was known as more of a gathering place for men interested in the company of other men rather than apples and cakes.

The liberated spirit that made Tellier’s emporium so popular is the same that exists today, drawing gays and lesbians to the city’s rainbow flag-dotted gay village, simply known as Le Village, along Rue Sainte-Catherine.

I spend a boozy evening in the Village watching drag queens perform “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This’’ from “Sweet Charity,’’ but otherwise I save my Canadian dollars for the shops. From the architecture, to restaurants and bars, to those amazing vintage shops, cutting-edge design of all eras is what makes Montreal a destination.

“We have a lot of people who come from New York and Boston to shop,’’ the owner of the well-curated midcentury vintage store Couleurs on Rue Saint-Denis tells me my first day in the city. “They are usually very surprised at what they find.’’

“Toronto is the New York of Canada,’’ says Charles Pease at the interior design store Maison & Objet. “Montreal is more like Paris, I think both cities have a lot of things to offer. But our design sense is more European. We’re fixated on interior design.’’