Quebec artistic hub from the 50s rediscovered by chance on Crescent Street

A piece of Montreal's artistic history was uncovered on a handprint-laden wall in a basement on Crescent Street, where Chez Bozo once thrived.

The 19th century building on Crescent Street in downtown Montreal is squeezed between two modern condo towers, between Rene-Levesque Boulevard and Sainte-Catherine Street.

Up an old rickety staircase, a wall reveals its glorious past as an artsy ’50s coffee house called Chez Bozo, named after the Félix Leclerc song of the same name.

Famous visitors left their painted handprints on a wall of fame.

Edith Piaf was one of them.

It was here that she met Quebec rising legend Claude Leveillee... Before the two famously moved to Paris to write songs together.

John Cordell, of Montreal’s Jazz Society, jammed here with other anglophone musicians. As did future singing legend Jean-Pierre Ferland, and most notably Felix Leclerc, Quebec`s first singing folk hero.

The coffee house, or, as they’re called in French, the Boîte à Chanson, was the first of its kind in Quebec.

It stayed open barely a year, from 1959 to 1960. But hundreds more would open in the following decades across the province.

As Crescent Street quickly developed into a go-to destination for partying Montreal`s anglophones, Chez Bozo faded from memory. Its famous wall with the hand prints, covered up through a series of businesses that set up shop on the same location for more than 60 years.

Contemporary singer Alexandre “Bernhari” Leclerc (no relation) rediscovered the location and its priceless wall while working on a research project on Felix Leclerc

“I was in the national archives of Quebec on a visit and with my gloves, and I found the poster of the first important songwriter club,” explains Leclerc.

Leclerc found the address on Crescent Street and walked in, thinking the place was abandoned. He was kicked out by a tenant who briefly mistook him for an intruder.

“I knew I found the Bozo club, and I understood at that moment that I found the wall.

Leclerc called up his friend Maxime le Flaguais, a well-known Quebec actor and songwriter, best known for his role of Alexis in the recent remake of the popular series Les Pays d’en Haut.

He used his contacts in Quebec’s cultural circles to draw attention to the historical find because the building was slated for demolition.

“The owners didn’t know about the wall, obviously. They’re from China, and they didn’t know about Quebec’s culture,” explains Le Flaguais of the building’s absentee landlord.

Quebec’s Ministry of Culture immediately classified the building to protect it for its historic significance.

A launch pad for careers

Virtually everyone in the Chez Bozo collective was inspired by the Beat movement in the United States, inspired by Jack Kerouak, Alan Ginsberg and Neil Cassidy, along with rising post-war French songwriters.

The Boite a Chansons would serve as a stepping stone for Quebec cultural icons of the following decades.

“It’s Clémence Derochers, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Raymond Levesque, Claude Leveille and Herve Brousseau and later Jacques Blanchet came in and Andre Gagnon the famous pianist, he came along too,” says Le Flaguais.

Their handprints, all still visible on the decrepit wall.

Leclerc and le Flaguais signed a lease with the building owner, with renovations underway so they can revive Chez Bozo, 70 years later.

“There’s a lot of ghosts around here to help us. There’s this story around this place and it is incredible and it’s a mythical kind of club and I mean, it’s going to attract for sure,” says Leclerc

Chez Bozo expects to reopen in the spring. With a new generation of artistic creators