Hometown Hero

Quebecers are fiercely proud of local folks who have achieved fame and fortune. There are statues in the parks of notable artists, poets, and writers, and you’ll even see streets or parks or cafes named after some of them.

Go by any tourist site, and you’ll overhear the guide dropping names of the luminaries from Montréal who are known throughout the world: writers like Saul Bellow, Mordechai Richler, and Michel Tremblay; television producers Sid and Marty Krofft; comedian Kevin McDonald; actors William Shatner, Norma Shearer, and Christopher Plummer; and singer/songwriters like Céline Dion, Gino Vannelli, and Rufus Wainwright; and so on.

But there’s a special warmth reserved for those who made it big in the outside world and returned like Leonard Cohen.

Cohen kept an unassuming house off of Parc-du-Portugal just off Boulevard Saint-Laurent, and was a regular at businesses in the community. By all stories, he was approachable and down to earth, and voiced his appreciation of the community.

Montréal expresses its love for Leonard Cohen with two building-size murals, physical exhibits and virtual exhibits, and a lot of other resources listing his favorite places in the city.

Below is an incomplete gallery, with pictures of a few of those places.