Sainte-Catherine Street East closes to cars each summer under coloured spheres strung overhead, the block Mayday dressed as 1980s San Diego.
What Le Village looks like
Sainte-Catherine Street East closes to vehicle traffic every summer between Saint-Hubert and Papineau streets, and outdoor terraces take over the closed roadway under about 800 metres of coloured spheres strung overhead. Bars and restaurants open their fronts directly onto the street, with wooden terrace platforms, patio umbrellas and planters set along the kerb.
The buildings mix cut stone fronts with arched window heads and bracketed cornices alongside low brick storefronts, most two to five storeys. A red steel pergola arcs over the sidewalk on one stretch, and a cream tiled commercial block fronts the street farther east.
A rainbow crosswalk marks the pedestrian entrance near Berri, and rainbow flags hang from the lampposts the length of the strip. The Beaudry métro entrance, partway along, has six rainbow coloured pillars across its glass front.
The strip runs from Saint-Hubert Street to De Lorimier Avenue, with the Beaudry and Papineau métro stations both opening directly onto it. Bars, terraces and corner shops line the block between the two stations at street level, under the overhead spheres.
Shot in Le Village
For Mayday, the production dressed Sainte-Catherine Street East near the Beaudry métro as 1980s San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. Thirty foot palm trees, retro signage and new storefront facades went up over about a dozen businesses for a few days in May 2024, then came down.
Mayday, 2026
Played the Gaslamp Quarter, San Diego, California, 1980s
The production wrapped storefronts across from the Beaudry métro in palm trees, neon signage and temporary facades, standing in for the Gaslamp Quarter in 1987. The set was scheduled to come down within days, and the block returned to its own bars and shops. Street View
A production already dressed this block as the Gaslamp Quarter, adding palm trees, retro signage and temporary facades over the existing low storefronts. The block's low scale and repeating cornice lines needed no structural changes underneath the dressing. French street signs and Canadian traffic signals need hiding, and the spheres overhead have to come down first. Montreal's winters also rule out anything but a warm month shoot. Try searching 1980s retro storefront street now.
Church-Wellesley Village in Toronto, Ontario
Toronto's own gay village runs along a similar low rise commercial strip, with rainbow crosswalks and flags on the lampposts the same way. The block and storefront scale are close enough to cut between the two without a wide establishing shot giving it away. Church Street runs wider and has streetcar wires overhead that Sainte-Catherine does not, so a tighter frame holds the match better than a full street width shot. Try searching rainbow crosswalk village street now.
Castro Street in San Francisco, California
Castro Street flies the same rainbow flags over a compact commercial strip of storefronts, though its buildings run to Victorian wood fronts rather than cut stone and brick. San Francisco's hills and painted wood facades are the giveaway in any wide shot, so this holds only in close storefront coverage. Try searching rainbow flags storefront strip now.
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