Last night I visited the vintage car cruise night held every Wednesday evening at the Gibeau Orange Julep on the Décarie – a Montréal landmark.

This was my first visit on a Wednesday and wasn’t really sure how many cars would be on show, but given it was a beautiful summer evening was hopeful for a good crowd. I wasn’t to be disappointed. So many great cars on show, that I need to split the post in two parts (2nd installment tomorrow).

The venue – The Orange Julep

A little background for those readers not familiar with the Orange Julep. The building is in the shape of an orange, measuring 40 feet in diameter and 3 stories high – you can’t miss it. Many refer to the Julep as the Big Orange or simply OJ.

The restaurant was started by a guy called Hermas Gibeau in 1932 to serve his trademark orange drink called Gibeau Orange Julep – A creamy frothy orange drink, the recipe a closely guarded secret. The restaurant serves good quality fast food (hamburgers, hotdogs, pogos,poutine etc) and in past years there were quite a few restaurants in the chain. Unfortunately the Décarie location is the only one remaining in Montréal. I believe the family ran restaurants in Qu.bec City and Trois Riviéres as well, but not sure if they still exist – feel free to comment if you know 🙂

The current building dates back to 1966 when the original orange shaped building (built in the 1940’s) had to be demolished due to the expansion of the Décarie.

Unfortunately the sight of waitresses on rollerskates is no more – I’d love to see this tradition make a return !

I really hope that the OJ can continue for many years to come despite there being both a McDonald’s and Harvey’s in close proximity – neither though have the uniqueness that the OJ has, so hope that tradition prevails. 

For decades, car enthusiasts have gathered at The Big Orange. Classic car enthusiasts still meet every Wednesday night from around 5.30-9.30. To add to the feeling that you have been transported back in time, music from the vintage years provides a great backdrop to the event.

There are often other gatherings at different times, but even without the cars, the Gibeau Orange Julep is a must-see landmark when in Montréal.

Okay, onto the first set of shots.

I arrived around 6 and there were already quite a few cars in the carpark – but for the next hour or so, more kept on arriving.

One car was certainly drawing a lot of attention, a bright yellow tricked-out Impala…needless to say, I took quite a few shots of this impressive mechanical art work.

Although I didn’t post yesterday due to getting back a bit late, I did post a pic of the day over on Facebook, Google + and Twitter. For those who may not have linked up with any of my social media pages, here is the image I posted yesterday. Since I missed the Blue Moon on Tuesday, I was happy to see an appropriately colored orange moon rising up near the OJ sign.

I’ll have some more car shots from the Orange Julep Cruise Meet to share tomorrow !

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

– Martin

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