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Of course, there wasn’t a lot of competition. Prohibition had shuttered bars everywhere in the United States since 1920. Canada was still a patchwork of wet and dry provinces, few of which had brought back the old saloon.

Quebec, on the other hand, chose to sit out the whole Prohibition trend. So Montreal, a.k.a. Canada’s “Sin City,” quickly became the alco-tourism capital of the north, rivalling Cuba’s Havana and Tijuana, Mexico, for both nightlife and notoriety. 

It’s still possible to drink in some of that storied past in modern-day Montreal, thanks to generations of bar owners who’ve done their best to preserve old spaces as sites of living history. 

“If you want to feel like you’re walking into history, one of the best is ,” says Kate Boushel, partner at Montreal’s award-winning Atwater Cocktail Club. “Even when it got a little rundown, the owners kept the bar’s core essence and held on to the historic artifacts and decor, like the terrazzo floors and coats of arms hanging on the walls.”

Some of the features in Bar Dominion, established in 1927, are now protected by Héritage Montreal, a historic preservation organization founded in 1975. It’s a bar with a lot of past lives, but, somehow, all its stewards recognized good bones when they saw them. In its most recent incarnation, Dominion is a first-rate gastropub with a historically minded drinks program and stunning interiors that manage to simultaneously evoke the Roaring ’20s and feel warm and welcoming.

One of Bar Dominion’s owners, Andrew Whibley, is also a partner at , a restaurant that opened last year on the ninth floor of the Montreal Eaton Centre, in a long-shuttered space that was, in 2000, classified as a historic monument. 

Designed by architect Jacques Carlu, the space is a sprawling and spectacular example of art deco opulence that’s been painstakingly restored to its original circa-1931 glory, including a chic little hidden gem of a bar, Le French Line, tucked away just after the host stand. With original deco art, a grand piano and a killer view of the neo-Gothic Christ Church Cathedral, it’s an ideal place to enjoy some oysters and cocktails inspired by the history of the space.

“I definitely appreciate (heritage) programs like this in Quebec, because it does help you hold on to the past,” says Whibley. “I think Le 9e and Dominion are good examples of projects that add a little bit of specialness to the city.” 

That specialness can also be found in other, less rarefied bars, including interwar taverns like Mount-Royal’s , open since 1922, where you might still find a beer stein on the table. , a 98-year-old bar near Place des Arts, can give you a really good sense of what drinking in a classic Quebec tavern was all about — but with a well-curated back bar.

Some old taverns have made big changes. Others, like in Old Montreal, don’t inhabit historic bar spaces but still pay tribute to the city’s legendary taverns by lovingly recreating them. It’s a great spot to stop in after dinner at the nearby , first licensed in 1754.

At the end of the day, though, you don’t have to go to an ancient bar to get a feel for the excitement that travellers experienced in the 1920s. It’s pretty easy to dial into that vibe in so many of the city’s best bars, from the chic tiki hotspot to the , which has always tried to resist tying itself too closely to the past.   

“Even though you enter the bar through a back door in an alley and there’s a red light out there, we don’t call the bar a speakeasy,” says Boushel. “We don’t play jazz. But we try to balance art deco with disco, so we can channel the upbeat and bustling energy of the bars that made this city famous 100 years ago.” 

Christine Sismondo is a Toronto-based writer who specializes in bars and cultural history, as well as an academy chair (Canada East) for the World’s 50 Best Bars.