Remembering Motel Raphal: Guest who stayed the longest recalls its decline

Montreal's MotelRaphal, in its zenith a prosperousexample of thepost-war roadside-motel boom, slid into seediness, becominga haven for drug use and prostitution before going bankrupt in 2009.

This week, what was left ofthedilapidated, graffiti-covered building in thewestern corner of NDGwas finally torn down.

While most of the motel's guests didn't stay longsome only for a few hours John Rankine called the place home for 17 years.

"It was convenient," hesaid.

Rankine, now 81,worked as a pipe-fitter within walking distance of the motel, at afactory innearbyLaSalle.

After retiring from his full-time job, Rankineoccasionallyworked at the motel's front desk, giving him an inside lookinto one of city's seedier establishments.

"That's when I got to learn about a lot of things that weregoing on in there,"Rankine, who still lives in NDG,recalled in an interview.

"They were renting out roomsfor four hours,of course. That's when the trade was coming in.I didn't like it really, but that was part of the game."

"It was always the girl signing the register," Rankinesaid, recalling checking in prostitutes and their male clients.

"We couldn't control that. What goes on behind closed doors, you had nothing to say about."

Seedy strip

The sprawling75-room roadside motel, with its flashy sign,ample parking and a kidney-shapedpool out front, wasonce a draw to weary travellers and vacationers.

But by the 80s, the motel had come to exemplify the sordidsection ofSt-Jacques Street West (though it's actually locatedonSte. Anne de BellevueBoulevard, a little further west).

Scroll through news archives and Motel Raphal comes up often:a man died after a fire in a room in 2006, another was found dead in a bathtub in 1993 after being stabbed multiple times.

"Some people would come there, and, of course, they would use drugs as well," saidRankine.

"One of the persons who used to go around cleaning the rooms had to watch themselves because they would find needles around."

Immortalized in song

Despite its shady reputation, or perhaps because of it, the motel took on folklorestatus. Alocal band even decided to name itself after the motel.

EmilySkahan, one of three members of Motel Raphal, grew up on the West Island, and remembers seeing the motel when she drove intothe city.

"We passed that multiple times. I always asked my parents if we could go because there was a pool and it was so luxurious not knowing that it wasn't that at all.

Later, though, she realized, "It's pretty much the ugliest part of the city."

Canvas for graffiti

Inthe years since the motel was shut down, thebuilding was a magnet forgraffiti loversbutwas viewedas a major eyesore to commuters.

LorneMiller fromConstrux/Proforma, the company that bought the building after the motel shut down, began bulldozing the site this week.

Itwill take a couple of weeks to a month to finish the job, which includes planting grass, he said.

Long-term plans for the site include four condo buildings with a total of 185 units. He said his company might do the work or sell it to another developer.

The borough orderedthe companyto clean it up on May 5. The deadline is June 5.