Montreal/South West

From Wikitravel Shared

Montreal South West is the area west of Downtown, on both side of the Lachine Canal, and limited by the districts of LaSalle, Verdun and Westmount.

It is made out of the neighbourhoods of Petite-Bourgogne-Griffintown (Little Burgundy), Saint-Henri, Pointe-Saint-Charles, Côte-Saint-Paul and Ville Émard.

Historically a blue collar neighbourhood, it used to be called "Smokey valley" because of a high concentration of heavy industry and other sources of pollution. These days are long gone, and the Lachine canal cleanup and conversion into a park and bike path, as well as many of the old industrial buildings being gentrified and turned into luxury condominiums have changed the face of Sud Ouest forever.