As she talks about the future of Le Nadia, Catherine D. Lapointe pauses to throw a boules ball across the patio.
The game is set for customers expected at the outdoor venue’s opening on Thursday. Around Lapointe, borrowed benches sit beneath the trees, tables have been arranged for summer crowds, and the Olympic Stadium rises above the skyline.
A month ago, none of this existed.
Last month, Le Nadia, Montreal’s only gathering space dedicated to women’s sports, was forced out of its original home on Ontario St. E. following administrative issues.
Now, against the odds, it is preparing to reopen as an outdoor guinguette in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve while its founders search for a permanent indoor location.
Le Nadia co-owner Catherine D. Lapointe plays on one of two pétanque pitches at the sports bar’s new outdoor location. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette
“We could have just taken a break and waited,” Lapointe said. “It didn’t feel right.”
The decision to start over came quickly.
When news of the closure spread, the Montreal Victoire was hard at work in the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoffs, and the pro women’s soccer club, the Montreal Roses, was beginning its sophomore season. The city’s only gathering space exclusively dedicated to women’s sports suddenly had nowhere to gather.
Yet Lapointe knew she wasn’t starting from scratch. Before opening Le Nadia’s first permanent location last December, Lapointe and co-founder Caroline Côté spent a year organizing pop-up events across Montreal. They hosted watch parties, community gatherings and discussions, slowly building a following before they ever had a venue of their own.
Again and again, they found themselves returning to Hochelaga. The neighbourhood offered more than customers. It offered a connection to the story behind the project itself.
Je l’ai fait en 4 minutes… brag! On se retrouve dès ce jeudi le 04 juin à notre nouvelle adresse : 3081, rue Ontario Est. Plus de détails à venir cette semaine. On a hâte de recommencer à boire de la piquette et à jaser des matchs des @rosesmtlfc avec vous! #lenadia #lejardindesroses
During a recent visit by The Gazette to the new outdoor site at 3081 Ontario St. E., Lapointe gestured toward the Olympic Stadium while explaining why staying in the east end mattered.
Le Nadia takes its name from Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, whose perfect 10 at the 1976 Montreal Olympics became one of the defining moments in women’s sports history. Nearly 50 years later, that legacy remains central to the venue’s identity.
“It’s the summer of the 50th anniversary of the Olympics in Montreal,” Lapointe said. “Le Nadia has to exist for the anniversary of Nadia.”
Catherine D. Lapointe at Le Nadia’s previous location in December. Pierre Obendrauf / Montreal Gazette
The new venue looks very different from the pastel-coloured café-bar that first opened six months ago. There are no permanent walls and much of the furniture has been borrowed. Some benches came from a festival where Lapointe once worked. Others were lent by supporters for the season.
At one point during the interview, a butterfly drifted across the patio as she spoke about the summer ahead.
The atmosphere felt a world away from the uncertainty that followed the closure announcement in May.
For Lapointe, however, the project was never really about a physical space.
She describes Le Nadia less as a sports bar than a gathering place, one where people can discover a new sport, ask questions and feel welcome regardless of how much they know.
In many sports bars, she said, people sit together watching the screen. At Le Nadia, they tend to talk.
“You have to start somewhere.”
For now, Le Nadia is focused on the summer ahead. The Roses are playing their summer season, the city is still buzzing after the success of Victoire. Montreal is preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Olympics. And after a turbulent spring, a project that briefly found itself without a home is once again welcoming people in.
“We’ll have sports. Something to drink, something to eat. Be together.”
I’m an intern reporter at the Montreal Gazette. I first came to Montreal during an exchange year at McGill University and loved the city so much that I returned after graduating from the University of Glasgow with a degree in International Relations. I pursued journalism to combine my love of writing with my curiosity about people, politics and the world around us. I enjoy stories that connect big ideas to real lives.
amclaughlin@postmedia.com