Help me remember 1990! Montreal dopers especially welcome!

In My Humble Opinion
1

A project (novella?) I am working on is set in 1990-1991. I was 21 at the time, and it is about people ending university and starting life in the real world. So, I know the time period and I remember the big things (music, fashion, news of the day–yes the first Gulf War makes an appearance ) but with time and age little things fade from memory. For instance, I wrote a passage about a conversation outside a bar, then I remembered that people didn’t go outside to smoke in those days, they smoked in the bar. I had to change a few sentences to reflect this.

It’s set in Montreal, mostly in student apartments, and I remember the neighbourhoods (NDG, downtown, and places in East, metro stations). I remember the English on the signs debate about size, the graffitti with things sprayed out or “corrected” and "loi 101 " beside them. I know the Meech Lake Accord had failed. The location is a backdrop and will poke through occasionally but it is not essential. (I’ve thought of changing the location, but an Eastern city is vital, and I don’t know Toronto well enough) So any memories from late 80s very early 90s vital to Montreal lore is appreciated. Note that the characters are all Anglos.

Those of us in our mid-late 40s like to think 1990 was not that long ago, but technology and societal norms have changed a lot. Any shibboleths to include or anachronisms to avoid are appreciated.

2

Local things:

The big subject around Montréal in the summer of 1990 was the Oka crisis, with the Mercier bridge being closed and the army taking over after it became too big for the Sûreté du Québec to handle.

As you mentioned, the Meech Lake accord failed in early June 1990. The Bloc Québécois started taking form in Ottawa in 1990, and became a party in 1991.

Although your characters may not have noticed it, the Fête nationale (Saint-Jean-Baptiste) celebrations on June 24th, 1990 were massive; I remember walking by the Olympic complex that night and being impressed with the crowd’s size and energy.

Speaking of the Stadium, in 1990 you still had the Expos playing there, under a mobile roof. Also, the short-lived Machine football team.

The Stadium roof started tearing in 1991, and also in 1991 a large concrete beam fell and the stadium was declared unsafe, forcing the Expos to play all their matches on the road for a while.

The fireworks competitions were still new enough to draw big crowds and their main sponsor was Benson & Hedges (a cigarette brand).

All flights to countries other than Canada and the U.S. had to go through Mirabel.

There were two car assembly plants in Québec: the GM plant in Boisbriand (building Firebirds and Camaros) and the Hyundai plant in Bromont.

The Pascal chain of hardware stores closed in May 1991.

If you want to stretch to 1992: A big Metallica / Guns&Roses concert was cut short and it didn’t go so well. There were also a few hockey-related riots around 1991, as I recall (games were played at the old Forum of course).
Canadian things:

Beyond the constitutional crisis, abortions were a also big political and news subject. The Supreme court had found in 1989 that the fetus was not a person.

The big cell phone providers were Bell Cellular and Cantel. Cars with cell phones had little springy antennas on their rear windows.
Global things:

Iraq and Kuwait were the big news item in 1990 and 1991. First big Canadian military operation since the Korean War.

There was a notable recession in 1991.

The Simpsons were a new thing. Twin Peaks was well-liked. Oh, and Right Said Fred.

Most computers were PC clones running MS-DOS, but suddenly everybody wanted a mouse when Windows 3.0 came out in 1990. Most people used a tractor-fed, dot matrix printer. There were Macintoshes and Amigas too, of course.

E-mail was used only at universities and large tech companies, and most people had never heard the word. The World Wide Web wasn’t proposed until 1993. People used phone books and paper encyclopedias, etc.

3

Thank you. That is partly what I am looking for. Right Said Fred made me grin. I was a student at Concordia from Sept '88 to May '91. (Hence the setting, etc )I remember going to concerts at the Old Forum, never got to see a hockey game though. I mostly lived in NDG, ate cheaply at the Peel Pub, bought Steinberg brand groceries. The first dollar store I ever saw was in a mall under … Guy? Metro called Un Seul Prix.

Something else I remember; everyone smoked.

4

Ayrton Senna won the 1990 Canadian Grand Prix. Nelson Piquet won in 1991. Both were in Montreal.

5

This thread is fine and all, but how is it helping me watch Ole Miss and Florida State?

Can’t get anything right…

6

“Touche pas la Loi 101!”

In December 1988, the Supreme Court held that the provisions of Bill 101 restricting signs to French only were unconstitutional.

7

John Abott was still settling into the “Mother House” on Atwater.

Cirque had finished a successful US tour and headed over to Europe in … 92/93?

Matt_mcl would be a good resource if he’s still around.

8

Wait - John Abbott was 88/89. It’s been a while. :slight_smile:

9

Student apartments were (and are) mostly in the McGill ghetto. I think most UQAM, Concordia, and U de M students are commuters. Why would you get an apartment in NDG?

Ben’s was still open (closed in 2006).

10

Bens closed !? Wah! Loved that place but it was expensive for me. I went to Concordia, most of my classes were at Loyola campus which is why I mainly lived in NDG. NDG paperback was my second home.
I have a lot of Montreal flavour. Thanks. Any other 90s things? I was trying to explain toy son that there were smoking and no smoking sections of restaurants. He was horrified. He has an uncanny sense of smell, eating in a smoke filled room is next to possible for him.

11

Nirvana released Smells Like Teen Spirit and the Nevermind album in 1991. That was quite a big cultural thing for some people here in the UK - no idea about Canada, though.

12

Right Said Fred’s 15 minutes of fame in North America were really in early '92, so it may not fit your time frame. “I’m Too Sexy” was a hit in different countries at different times between the second half of '91 and the spring of '92… it’s doubtful that many Canadians would have heard of the song prior to January '92 when it started charting there (although I guess some pretty trendy Canadian dance clubs could have been playing it prior to then).

For late 1990 - early '91 Vanilla Ice would be the guy who fits perfectly. I think the Montreal setting in this time frame means your story is obliged to namedrop Bootsauce at some point as well.

13

Ha! I played Bootsauce so much on my college radio station. Then a year later I actually saw them play an arena show at a small neighbourhood arena. It’s the only concert I remember EVER at the rink where I took skating lessons. It was great… walking distance so I could drink without issue.

14

I think The Montreal Mirror was a free publication you could pickup and browse through. You could always have one of them tumble across Dorchester/René Lévesque.

15

I imagine that any retail store or coffee shop you walk into would be playing Two Princes by The Spin Doctors.

16

1990? Quebec? I think of the Jean LeLoup song, “1990”. (En mille neuf-cent quatre-vingt-dix).

17

My BFF was at McGill 88-91 and would send me their student satire newspaper, The Red Herring. It was a scream and I believe I have a few pages left in a plastic tote of memories. I recall each issue would make fun of the Lachine Canal (once suggested filling it in w/ cement).
The tree times I visited Montreal (twice in 90s) I was always struck w/ how the guy on the PS in the Metro calls the stop for Berri-UQAM, w/ the emphasis on the **U **much greater than the rest of the phrase. I’d kind of sing along to it.
I once got forced off the freeway going on to the island and wound up in Pincor. I don’t speak French. Getting directions was a challenge.
Was the Biodome ever popular? Did the Expos ever do well?

18

The Montreal Mirror was where I first encountered two of my favourite things… the Straight Dope and the work of Matt Groening.

19

Yep. And Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik was released then too. Even if you weren’t really into music, if you were young you knew “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Give it Away” and then in early 1992 “Come As You are” and “Under the Bridge.”

Twin Peaks, Northern Exposure, Beverly Hills, 90210, In Living Color, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Wings, and Life Goes On were on TV. And Fox was showing some really weird stuff back then, like Good Grief, Herman’s Head, Get a Life, Roc and what was that comedy about nuclear war?

20

On the darker side, the École - polytechnique massacre had occurred in December 1989. Didn’t the street protests and manifestations continue into 1990?