“The old Paris is no more. The form of a city changes more quickly, alas, than a mortal’s heart.” Is this still true? Baudelaire published his classic lines in 1857, a few years after Louis-Napoleon and Baron Haussmann began their massive reconstruction of Paris. And at almost any moment in the subsequent century and a quarter the lines would have continued to ring true. After “Haussmanization” came the destruction wrought on the city during the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune. Over the subsequent decades there arrived the Eiffel Tower, the glitter of the Belle Époque, electrification, the automobile and the Metro, and large-scale immigration from outside France. The interwar period brought more immigration and considerable new construction throughout the city. After World War II, along with yet more waves of immigration, this time above all from the global south, came the planners with their steel and glass. What Haussmann had spared of working-class Paris, with its corner cafes and music halls, now fell in large part to the wrecking ball, as did the grand old central marketplace of Les Halles. In 1977, the social historian Louis Chevallier published a bitter lament for his own “old city” entitled
I missed you by a week! Did you get to the BN Richelieu site, all renewed and shiny? And yes, Paris is a series of restaurants - La Coupole, l'As du Fallafal ...- with a few monuments, libraries, and a river with which to walk off the meals.
I remember a pension just like that….with a table napkin rack with a slot for each pensionnaire’s napkin (woe betide you if you took somone else’s)…do they still exist? I guess not?
Hi there, what a beautiful piece! I found it by chance when I was also writing my own (just got back from Paris myself). I have asked my readers to please go read your text. Loved it, thank you!
Sadly, as of when I visited last October, Nos Ancêtres les Gaulois, was closed for business. Not sure what happened, but I would have liked to eat there.
I missed you by a week! Did you get to the BN Richelieu site, all renewed and shiny? And yes, Paris is a series of restaurants - La Coupole, l'As du Fallafal ...- with a few monuments, libraries, and a river with which to walk off the meals.
Missed Richelieu this time but will be back on sabbatical next year and look forward to seeing it.
I remember a pension just like that….with a table napkin rack with a slot for each pensionnaire’s napkin (woe betide you if you took somone else’s)…do they still exist? I guess not?
Hi there, what a beautiful piece! I found it by chance when I was also writing my own (just got back from Paris myself). I have asked my readers to please go read your text. Loved it, thank you!
https://projectnuno.substack.com/p/paris-je-taime
Sadly, as of when I visited last October, Nos Ancêtres les Gaulois, was closed for business. Not sure what happened, but I would have liked to eat there.
Merci, j'ai beaucoup aimé ca. Quels souvenirs! Je reviendra en parler :).