the journals of alan rhodes

September 16 Thursday
Mailed away $12.06 for a hookah [which arrived October 18th, broken]. On my way to the shops in C block I saw people toking weed in the middle of St Louis across from the Arena.

September 17 Friday
nite-went to the end of the path to lend Diana and Dawn four records (English project). Rea phoned, he really grossed me out [I'm not sure, but I'm think he was jacking off].

September 18 Saturday
I went to Fairview, met Liz and Anne C. on the bus. Got 'Black Sabbath-Paranoid'. At 8:00 pm I went to Rea's. Wayne was there, also a guy(10) with dark hair, wearing an army jacket [Mike McCartney]. We went to the Maples(11) Inn, they went in but got thrown out. Then we went to Valois (yelling all the way) to the Mayfair Tavern, then to Velos Pizza. Mike was trying to make Coke bottles balance [on their bottom edge, using salt and Coke]. Left at 11:15.

10. If I had not met Mike, I probably would not have met Lesley and Co. a week later, and how different life would have been in that case.

The Maples Inn

11. The 'Mapes' began life as the Maples Rustic Lodge Dance Pavilion on December 5, 1925. It was the place to go, back when Pointe Claire was a hot spot and vacation destination for the city folk of Montreal.(but due to an 1983 article coming to light recently (2005), this story may have stood, but read on.

The hotel hit hard times by the time the 1960's arrived, and became the drinking and drug centre of English Montreal. You wanted drugs? Loud live music? Under age drinking? Motorcycle gangs? Look no farther than the Mapes.

It is important to stress how much of a focus of counterculture life the Mapes was, and how it is now part of legend.

Out front was a large wooden covered porch that covered the whole width of the hotel, which by this time no one actually stayed at. I'll always remember the sound of walking up the two or three steps up on this porch, with the sound of a band playing inside.

The interior consisted of two main spaces: the large main hall with a stage, pool tables and regular tables for seating (with maple leaf motif chandeliers) . The other space was a long room with room for only two rows of booths on either side. It was called the Caboose, and here was most of the drug dealing and smoking. A third room was opened in 1976(?) that served food, in an attempt to make the place more respectable.

I'm glad I made some audio recording there, first in 1975 (scoring drugs in the Caboose) and again in 1982 and 83. I wonder if they are among the only recordings to survive?

By the way, The Maples Inn burnt down under mysterious circumstances on a Sunday night in 1985, after a lengthy battle between the then owners and local residents. The residents had champaign ready.

Condos were built in its place...(and on The Psychotic Hour we joked ala "Poltergeist" that the condo owners were haunted by the spirits of rock bands, drug dealers and biker gangs...They're here!)