History: Riots, the bed-in an the Great Antonio

The Gazette’s “through our eyes” feature this week looked back at the Great Antonio pulling a bus and the 1986 Stanley Cup riot among others. Despite the wreckage shown on Ste‑Catherine Street that night in May 1986, the paper reports there were only six arrests.

The Centre d’histoire piece looks back to the 1958 opening of the Voie Camillien-Houde by largely forgotten city mayor Sarto Fournier. The writer notes the irony of the name, given that Houde himself had promised that motor traffic would go over the mountain “over his dead body.”

I know I’ve grinched before about not really ever having grasped the point of a bed-in, but there are reports this week on the 50th anniversary Sunday of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel bed-in by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The anniversary is accompanied by an exhibit at the Phi Centre. I happened past the other day and went in, and can tell you: don’t make a special trip.