Club Soda, Music venue on Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Canada
Club Soda is a music and comedy venue at 1225 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, at the corner of Saint-Catherine Street in the Quartier des spectacles. The room holds 1,000 people in a cabaret-bar format, with the stage at the centre of the hall. The building dates from 1908 and was renovated for the club's 2000 opening.
Club Soda was founded in 1982 by Joseph Martellino, Guy Gosselin, André Gagnon and Martin Després at 5240 Park Avenue, now the Théâtre Fairmount. Rubin Fogel became part owner in 1985. The original venue closed in July 1999, and the club reopened on March 21, 2000 at 1225 Saint-Laurent Boulevard in a building from 1908 known as the Crystal Palace, a 1940s cabaret.
Club Soda became known through the Lundis des Ha! Ha!, a stand-up comedy night first held on 21 February 1983 and hosted by Serge Thériault and Claude Meunier as Ding et Dong. Between 700 and 800 people attended the first edition and over 400 were turned away. The evenings launched comedians such as Daniel Lemire, André-Philippe Gagnon and Rock et Belles Oreilles, and in 2012 about fifteen pioneers reunited for a commemorative show.
Club Soda stands at 1225 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, at the corner of Saint-Catherine Street in the Quartier des spectacles, Ville-Marie borough. The hall holds 1,000 people in a cabaret-bar arrangement, so sightlines vary by configuration. Monday evenings have traditionally been given over to comedy line-ups rather than concerts.
The building at 1225 Saint-Laurent was built in 1908 and was known as the Crystal Palace; in the 1940s it operated as a cabaret. It was rebuilt to measure for the club at a cost of 3.5 million dollars before Club Soda moved in during 2000.
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