King of Crescent Street
The entrepreneur, engineer, and philanthropic ‘King’ of Crescent Street, John Vago, passed away peacefully on the 20th of October 2018 surrounded by his family, in Montreal, Québec.

Born on the 5th December, 1923 in Budapest, Hungary, he came to Canada in 1951, bringing with him a café culture and bonhomie characteristic of post-war Europe found in such cosmopolitan cities as Vienna, Milan, Prague, Budapest and Paris.

Montréal embraced the European café life as proposed by the young Vago who led his multi-cultural, interdisciplinary team alongside his architect brother, Peter Vago, on to building an empire consisting of the Boiler Room, Oliver’s, Carmen’s, The Casa Pedro to name a few of his innovative venues, culminating in the acclaimed ‘Winston Churchill Pub’ and ‘Winnie’s’.

Crescent Street became the go-to club / bar / restaurant scene also attracting star-studded personalities to this day.

John Vago was humble, loyal to his Hungarian roots but ultimately proud to be Canadian, and a Montrealer until the end. His engaging, charismatic personality, visionary outlook combined with his humanitarian empathy, are a hard act to follow.

He will be remembered for his incredible generosity, his capacity to give many young people a start in life, and was a genuine leader in the vein of his mentor, Sir Winston Churchill.

He will be greatly missed by family, friends, and co-workers alike.

John Vago’s wake/remembrance will be held at Winnie’s. For further information, please contact: derekjvago@gmail.com.