Rediscovering the 16th arrondissement

[Deleted]

Before I start posting photos, I need to explain a few things about the social dynamics of Paris, which are very clear to all Parisians but which probably make no sense to most of the other people in the world, including the rest of the French. At the same time, I’m quite sure that New Yorkers, Londoners, Romans or residents of many Asian cities as well as many others around the world completely understand that certain parts of the city reject certain other parts of the city in various ways.

Actually, most guidebooks of Paris mention the difference between “Right Bank” and “Left Bank,” but they get it all wrong with their stuff about bohemians, students and intellectuals being on the left bank and bankers and business people being on the right bank. This is an absolute load of bullshit, and if ever there was a grain of truth 100 years ago, it disappeared long ago. And yet, people of the left and right banks do not mix much even though Paris has tons of extremely convenient a very short bridges linking the banks, unlike cities like London, New York or Lyon. Frankly, why cross the bridge when you have everything you need on your own side of the river? It’s as simple as that.

Millions of crossings from one side to the other are made every day. I worked on the Left Bank for almost 15 years. But when you are on the other bank, it is never your home territory. It’s really not hard to understand – the outer arrondissements are all self-contained cities with populations in excess of 200,000, and your life gravitates around the local services.

In recent years, there has been a much more distinct social boundary drawn through Paris – the political boundary. When I first moved to Paris, it was a political confetti, with communist arrondissements on both banks, centrist areas, right wing areas, but it was basically a right wing city and in any case, it had no power as a city at all. It had been recognized long ago as a place with too much spirit to allow it to rule itself, so it was under the administration of the central government from 1794 until… 1975. That’s when they decided to finally dare to let Paris have a mayor again, but the first election was in 1977.

Jacques Chirac was the first mayor of Paris, and he was in charge from 1977 to 1995. Apparently, he did an admirable job of unifying the city, because in the legislative elections once he was mayor, he achieved the “grand slam” – every single arrondissement voted for his political party.

It was only when he left city hall to become president that Paris woke up again. (The fact that the new mayor was a well known crook with underworld connections helped to wake up the city.) The conquest of the left was slow but inexorable. The 18th arrondissement was the first to go Socialist, then the 10th, and then several others, then a few more, and that’s when the current political boundaries came into being. Basically, eastern Paris is completely to the left, whether the residents are rich or poor, and western Paris remains to the right, where the majority are rich.

Just as an example, in the recent presidential and legislative elections, the 18th, 19th and 20th arrondissements voted to the left around 75% while the 16th arrondissement voted to the right 75%. In eastern Paris, we have a sort of visceral aversion to the 16th arrondissement, land of rich bankers and industrialists, oil sheiks, overpaid expats, African dictators who have robbed their countries blind, deposed royalty from around the world and a very huge contingent of inherited wealth. This does not make any of these people specifically guilty of anything, and some of them are good people.

But anyway, when you live in eastern Paris, you do not visit the 16th arrondissement unless you have a reason to go there. Believe it or not, I lived in the 16th arrondissement for about 6 months shortly after arriving in Paris. (I have lived in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th arrondissements since I moved to Paris, so you can also understand why I do not have any affinities with the Left Bank either!) I lived in a “servant’s room” (chambre de bonne) in an ultra rich building with a Turkish toilet down the hall for 290 francs a month (44.21€). Once a month, I would leave the back side of the building to go into the front and ring the doorbell of my landlords. They were an ancient withered couple but they seemed to be totally charming, although I was never once invited to cross the threshold of their apartment – the money was given across the doorsill and then the door would close. What I do remember about their apartment is that I could see a corridor behind them that was so long that I could not even see the end of it.

So I decided the other day that it was time to make a visit to the 16th arrondissement with my camera.

Get ready.

[bjd]

Oh, you're exaggerating -- I was in the 16th one day last year -- to go to the Musée Marmottan. ;D

[Deleted]

Yes, and I worked just 2 blocks from the 16th arrondissement for the last 8 years, so I visited hundreds of times.

I even made a photo report about the all of the doors along Avenue du Président Wilson.

This report is going to start with rue de la Pompe, one of the streets with more variety than most in the 16th.







My first photograph, starting at avenue Foch where the street begins (if I must be honest, that is where the street ends, because that's where the high numbers are), was a complete failure but it wasn't my fault. It was a manor ("hôtel particulier") cordoned off with chains and protected by two police cars, so I did not feel brave enough to point my camera as I passed by. I did look to see if there was any embassy sign or other indication, and there was not. So whatever it was, it was an extremely important and controversial person, because not many people get that sort of permanent protection.

Once I was well away, I pointed my camera in that direction, but you can't see anything.



However, I had entered the world of fine residential architecture.





Even the supermarkets are in fine buildings.

[Deleted]

In spite of what I wrote earlier, I always think of the 16th as being very classically French. Some of the first places I saw seemed to indicate that the foreign element is very important.

I checked out the menu.

Of the several months that I lived in the 16th, one thing that I have never forgotten is that it really closes down in August, something that is no longer true for most of the rest of Paris. When I lived at Porte Dauphine, I actually had to take the metro two stops to even find a place to buy bread in August. In any case, Henry was having fun somewhere, far away from his establishment on rue de la Pompe.

At this point, I was just a block from Place Victor Hugo, which in no way resembles anything he described in Les Misérables.



Taxis don't mind triple parking here, because they know that the locals will not take the metro to go elsewhere. That is for the servants.



At last, I saw one of the things that most annoys me here -- the private streets. I'll show you a lot of them.

[Deleted]

No need to worry about that now. I continued along the street.





I am fascinated by buildings built on impossible parcels, like this round-ended one.



Time to get our bearings.



I see an interesting tree in the distance. These rich people have their trees in back, not along the street.





This is the extremely chic (public) Lycée Janson de Sailly. A close friend of mine actually went here.



Even rich kids are not supposed to look out the windows in class.





Notables in all walks of life decorated the façade.



Another private street!

[fumobici]

This is interesting. Those private streets creep me out. If Hollande's 75% doesn't put paid to those, then he should increase the rate at 5% a year until it hits 100%. If that doesn't work, time to dust off the tumbrels, pitchforks and torches! ;D

[Deleted]

I often do these walks early in the day, so I was not able to visit this Paris institution for even people who do not live the 16th arrondissement. Réciproque is the most famous consignment store of the city, where people can buy used designer items for unbeatable prices -- the slinky Chanel black dress, the fancy Saint Laurent item, the Bally fuck-me pumps or fabulous handbags from Louis Vuitton or Hermès.

For 5 years, I have been telling myself that I have to take my mother's mink coat there, but I never get around to it, and also I am rather depressed in advance. I still have the original receipt that my father paid for it -- something like $3000 in 1967 -- but I know that the best you can hope for now is about 200€. The age of mink ended decades ago.

     

I will try to remember that if ever I meet someone who lives at 90 rue de la Pompe, I will not be jealous of them.



Another private street!



Here is the mairie of the 16th arrondissement, facing avenue Henri Martin.



Being next to city hall calls for a special street sign.



Even people living here need their fruits and vegetables besides caviar.





However, we are on the edge of the 'village' of Passy, which is a small protected enclave of 'cute Paris.'



But at the tobacco shop, fine cigars are more important than cigarettes.





Here's an open private area for a change.



Even here, modern buildings sneaked in, in the 1970's.



Ah, at last a church!



But this one is more for employees rather than employers.



A new modern building will be arriving here next year.









Location of the sales office



Other small buildings will not last forever, much as they try.

[htmb]

I'm enjoying this very much, k. I have also been to the Marmottan a couple of times. I walked back east as far as Troccadero the last time (down rue De Passy), but I really need to do more exploring of the 16th since that's the extent of it for me.

[mich64]

Wonderful, this is enlightening.

I too am fascinated by buildings such as the round ended one.

The 16th is an area that I have never encountered and I now understand why.

In our city we have residents that definitely live in there own district and have no need to visit other parts of the city, however, I never thought of it that way until I read your essay.

It made me think of friends we have in different neighborhoods and how they would never move from there area and would even say emphatically that they would not move to others.

We have lived in 5 different districts of the city. Our first home we bought was in the neighborhood that I grew up in which was a desirable area then, but not now.

We do not have private streets, but then again, we do not have people of that kind of wealth living here.

[Deleted]

I came across what appeared to be another church.



Not a church at all, but a private elementary-middle-high school.



This one was closed for August, but consignment shops are a major industry in the 16th. They are everywhere.



This side alley was a totally incongruous scene in the neighbourhood.



Architects who dare to break the alignment of the street fascinate me.



I suppose the rich proprietor said "I want the full morning sun!"



I would love to see more of the wild garden on the roof.



The trees intrigued me.



I should have known: another private street.





Zooming through the bars of the gate to get a better look









The high end Picard frozen food chain is very well implanted all through the arrondissement.



For once a building entrance was temporarily open.



We have reached the end of rue de la Pompe.



The main shopping street of Passy is here.



Not even painted directly on the wall!



I took the metro back home to regroup and choose another street.

[Deleted]

For my next visit, I took the metro to Michel Ange-Auteuil.



The 'village' of Auteuil is like Passy -- incongruously small compared to the surrounding residences.

Here, for example, is the entrance to the Villa Montmorency, the most famous private zone of the 16th arrondissement. It is not just one private street but a section of six private streets. It is not too easy to find out who lives here, but I did a little bit of research.

The richest resident would be Vincent Bolloré, the 10th largest fortune in France with 4.5 billion euros. He is one of the people controlling the natural resources of Africa. There is also Xavier Niels, who owns the 'Free' telephone and internet companies in France, but his 2.7 billion euro fortune was originally based on pornography. This list could go on and on -- Céline Dion apparently spent 47 million euros for her Parisian home here. Lots of movie stars have lived here, but most of them do not stay because they find it too stuffy.

The most famous resident in recent years has been Nicolas Sarkozy, who moved into Carla Bruni's apartment here even before they were married. The Bruni family is more than 100 times wealthier than Sarkozy, so he was unable to offer her the luxury to which she is accustomed. Naturally, for four years the other residents were not happy to have the president disrupting their routines and having all sorts of extra security crawling all over the place, but now that he has returned to private life, they will probably be able to put up with him.

Anything this big also has its poor folks. Apparently there are also some of the former wealthy who lost their fortunes living in the ruins of their former glory -- they close off 30 or 40 rooms and just live in 3 or 4 rooms that they try to keep respectable looking.

In any case, the gatekeeper was already watching me, which is why I did not even cross the street to get any closer to the gate.

There is a market square right across from the Villa Montmorency. I am quite sure that they must sell some very fine products there on market day.

Today's mission, however, was to take a look at rue La Fontaine.





There must be a huge number of pet grooming salons around here.



These majestic apartment buildings always impress me.



This modern one struck me for a reason that is not immediately obvious in the photo.



The main windows are at least two storeys tall -- compare to the building on the left.



Most of the buildings are 'modified Haussmann' style.











Every now and then something different breaks the monotony.



Hard to imagine an armchair like this gracing the local apartments.



Ah, this definitely looks different. What could it be?

[bjd]

This is interesting, Kerouac.

When our daughter finished high school and went to do a summer prep in Paris, it was held at one of the lycées in the 16th. We found her a place to live, which turned out to be a foyer in one of those private streets -- all the kids in there were doing preps. We drove in circles looking for the place -- we could find it on the map, but just couldn't figure out how to get there. Near Michel-Ange-Molitor metro as I recall.

When we finally discovered it was a private street, there was no way to get in because, of course, it was locked and it was pre-cellphone days. Fortunately a woman came out and let us in, on foot.

Our daughter didn't like living in that area. Now, of course, she lives in a much more interesting part of the city.

[Deleted]

There was a plaque on this inhabitual building and when I read it, I though "Of course!"

This is the domain of the Apprentis d'Auteuil (the apprentices of Auteuil), one of the most important charity foundations in France. Until 2002, it was still called 'Les Orphelins Apprentis d'Auteuil,' but orphans are now in scarce supply in France.

This place was created in 1866 by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (they call themselves Spiritans) and full developed under Father Daniel Brottier (1876-1936) who was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1984. The foundation has locations all over France and takes care of 9300 young people. 73% of them are between ages 12 and 17 and 18% between ages 18 and 20.

The local residents must really hate this place and suspect it of every petty theft or overturned rubbish bin in the neighbourhood. Quite a few of the young people are 'isolated minors' -- the new flood of 14-17 year olds who leave their families in Afghanistan, Iraq or Somalia (among other places) to try to find a new life in Europe. However, they are a minority, because 74% of the kids have been placed there by their families and the other 26% by social services or juvenile court judges.

A few famous people grew up there -- actors, football players, television personalities.

Anyway, it was nice to be able to walk into a welcoming place after all of those private streets.





They have their own chapel of course, but they were having Sunday mass, so I did not go in.









It is a pretty massive compound.





This was the main building -- probably mostly classrooms.



There is some kind of little museum -- not open at that time.



There is an on-site café & restaurant so that the apprentices can learn to be cooks, waiters and bartenders.

not open in August!

I don't know what this building is for.





Even a Catholic orphanage needs graffiti around the sporting grounds.



Sometimes you need protection from the rain.



Smaller children have not been forgotten.



I hate statues like this!



Finally a few residents!

Anyway, I really enjoyed discovering this little domain. Every single person I encountered said a pleasant 'good morning' to me.

[Deleted]

I continued down the street, wondering what I would see next.



More privacy...









sometimes a strange flourish





Another little market square



What is it?



ah, the local conservatory

Wait, now here's something! An open private street?

maybe because this building is too interesting?











I love this building.



There's some information around the front.

So they used the call the Castel Béranger the Castel Dérangé? French humour. But it won the first prize for building façades and Hector Guimard even did the ground floor. But now I know why the street is not private -- this building is social housing!

And I continued along...





... until the street ended at the Maison de Radio France.

[bjd]

Do you think Castel Béranger is still public housing?

Never mind -- I just looked it up. Nope, it's privately-owned apartments now.

[tod2]

I am so pleased you have given us this wonderful walking tour in photos Kerouac. I stayed briefly in the 16th with my mom in 2000. The Passy Metro, although airy and an interesting above ground route for quite a distance, was not easy , being at the bottom of the hill!

It is annoying when small roads and alleys are closed off but I suppose when you have so much wealth lying around it must feel pretty insecure if anyone and everyone can come very close to your home.
(I'm thinking 'cat burglars' and maybe even assassins)

I read up on the area and see that Villa Montmorency's main entrance is actually at 12 Rue Poussin.
Also that this enclave is built on the site of the gardens of Chateau de Boufflers, with it's alleys following the same lay-out as those of the old park.
The Chateau itself once stood on the site of 60 rue d"Ateuil and the park gardens were landscaped by an English gardener and delighted the likes of Marie Antoinette. A poplar tree was planted here on the execution day of Louis XVI, by his brother the Comte de Provence and future Louis XVIII. I wonder if that would have anything to do with Ave Des Peupliers which I note runs parallel to Rue Poussin?

Your photos of Le Castel Beranger are superb. When I stood outside many years ago I did not capture everything that bears Guimard's stamp the way you did.
I love the Rue Agar plaque carved in stone in memory of the actress Agar who lived in Ateuil during the 1800's.

I am looking forward to your next walking/photo tour!

[Deleted]

Well, at least the exterior cannot be modified in any way since it was classified as a historical monument in 1992.

[Deleted]

Private streets are of course not reserved only for elegant historical buildings.



The historical markers of Paris tell lots of stories...



... but often what they are talking about is long gone!

Rue du Ranelagh starts just behind the Maison de Radio France, so I figured I might as well give it a chance as long as I was still in the 16th arrondissement. I used to come around here many years ago because there was a fascinating Cinéma Ranelagh in a small jewel box theatre. It was one of two cinemas in Paris that did not have enough room to project a film normally. They used a very complicated system of mirrors to project the movie from behind the screen. Anyway, it is no longer a cinema although it continues to exist as a theatre -- and it is not even on rue du Ranelagh itself.

The usual collection of elegant apartment buildings



This private street appealed to me more than most.





I'll take the gatekeeper's cottage.





old and newer welded together



no peeking here!





Some new buildings retain the name of the old 'hameau' (hamlet) -- still fabulous gardens in back.









access to the public for once



another public high school









an oddity to break the alignments again



a very enthusiastic roof garden



something for the locals to talk about ("When are they going to fix that disgraceful wall?")











Nearly all of the servants of the 16th are Filipinos. And here is the Philippines embassy.



It's across the street from the Boulainvilliers RER station.

I decided I needed to interrupt my report here for the time being, so I took the RER. The SNCF decided to leave all of its green space to live its own life at random.

[Deleted]

I confess that I was sort of beginning to reach my saturation point with the 16th arrondissement, because it is simply not my world, but after doing the residential streets, I felt obligated to visit a few more commercial streets.

I decided to start with avenue Kléber leaving from Place du Trocadéro. But I made of point of not showing the Eiffel Tower.



The Paris Trocadéro Business Center fills an entire city block. It was the head office of a bank from 1915 until 1995.

The Frog is a pleasant microbrewery chain found all over Paris. It is usually funky and old fashioned, so I was a bit shocked to see how its avenue Kléber location looks.

Most buildings along the way are traditional and rich.









Even here, there are a few holdouts for building up to the same level as the other buildings.





All of a sudden, a fascinating cobbled street. Grassy cobbles! On avenue Kléber!



There was even an embassy back there. Which one?



A big bravo to Colombia for having one of the friendliest looking embassies in Paris!



a well guarded tree



And here is the more traditional embassy of Peru.





One of the biggest waste management and water treatment companies. Its future is assured.



This is a very historical and important building. At least it was.



Here is a photo from the ambassadors' conference in 2005.



For a lot of us, its fame lies as the location of the Paris peace talks that ended the Vietnam war.

Welcome to the new home of the Qatari owned Peninsula Hotel of Hong Kong.





The Hôtel Raphaël next door was hot stuff. Now it looks like the little has been.



The Peninsula Hotel will be beautiful. Better to preserve the building than build something like this, two doors to the left.



And we reach the end of avenue Kléber at Place Charles de Gaulle.



One more photo since most of you don't get to see this thing from the side.

The last part of the report will concern avenue Victor Hugo, to take us back to where I started in the first place.

[patricklondon]

Fascinating. Might the security-surrounded house on the Ave Foch be the one occupied by the Obiangs of Equatorial Guinea? There was a piece about it in my paper a few days ago:
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/06/france-africa-autocrats-corruption-inquiry

I'm with you on the east/west thing. One of the phrases I learnt on my very first school exchange to a family in Paris (they lived just below the Buttes Bergeyre in the 19th) was a dismissive Très seizième!! about just about anyone a bit too up themselves.

And as for the private streets, I suppose that's the same as gated communities. Some of the people on the development where I live want to gate us off, mainly because (as far as I can see) they just feel insecure at the sight of local teenagers "hanging about" (which is, as we all know, tantamount to plotting burglary and pillage, though it seems to be me to be mostly about getting away from their traditionalist parents and talking to the opposite sex).

[Deleted]

Aug 16, 2012 20:05:07 GMT patricklondon said:

Fascinating. Might the security-surrounded house on the Ave Foch be the one occupied by the Obiangs of Equatorial Guinea? There was a piece about it in my paper a few days ago:

I've been following that affair as well, but it is not at all near that corner.

I just took a look on Google street view, which shows the posts and chains to block the pavement, but I came up with no information on what is there. I am not giving up.

[lola]

We appreciate your intrepidity, K.

Is Castel Beranger social housing? Great facade.

I really dislike statues like that, too. I wonder what it is about them? The campus of a local university is infested with them.

St. Louis has a many private streets, too, grr, but probably few billionaires lurking. There's only one Gilded age neighborhood I know of where the security guard won't let you even walk and admire the mansions. Some private streets have gates at both ends that they randomly open or close to confuse the lower classes. Supposedly the residents pitch in to pay for their own snow removal and street repair, and so deserve their enclaves.

Réciproque might be fun, though, the way you describe it.

[Deleted]

After many years in Paris, I often contradict people who say "I heard everything is closed in August." That was true perhaps 30 years ago, but French society has changed a lot in that time. The fact that the minimum vacation time for an employee is 5 weeks a year, and on top of that there is the famous "RTT" (réduction du temps de travail). To explain it briefly, since the 35-hour work week was put in place in 2000 (instead of 39 hours, dating from 1982), a large number of companies kept the same working hours as before and instead gave comp time to make up for it -- a maximum of 22 days a year. My own office worked 37 1/2 hours a week, so we had just 11 RTT days. But anyway, it revolutionized the way that the French take their holidays. Instead of taking a month off during the summer and maybe a week at Christmas, people take all sorts of short vacations throughout the year -- and things do not close all the much in August anymore.

Well, except maybe for avenue Victor Hugo.







[photobucket height=640 width=480]http://s450.photobucket.com/albums/qq228/kerouac2/Paris%2016/?action=view¤t=dc114223.pbw[/photobucket]

I would not be having lunch at Prunier today -- closed for the holidays.











Le Nôtre was open if I required a snack.



They have one of the full-sized Autolib stations here. It reminds me of the electronic confessional in THX-1138.





I was soon back at Place Victor Hugo.

[Deleted]

I know, I know, this has gone on long enough, so just one more street, I promise.

Since we're still on Place Victor Hugo, you might as well take a glance at the local supermarket.



The produce section is outdoors.



And so finally, I started up avenue Raymond Poincaré (President 1913-1920). I think I recognise this flag.



Indeed, it is the embassy of Laos.



Next door to the embassy is an uncharacteristic church, closed at the time.





I got my usual dose of triumphant architecture.

And thus I found myself back at Place du Trocadéro, where the #30 bus was waiting to take me home...

[lola]

Looking up Autolib' on wicki: clever idea. Kinda too bad if they're forced to change their name.

I wonder how often someone orders the "menu tout caviar" at Prunier, 150 euros/pop. Probably it's just on the menu to add swank.

[tod2]

More interesting streets and buildings revealed! Definitely worth a couple of hours visit on a holiday to Paris, especially when you want to escape the hordes and leave all the Eiffel Towers, Notre Dames and museums to them!
Wonderful walk Kerouac. We demand MORE ;D

[Deleted]

Aug 17, 2012 14:56:08 GMT lola said:

Looking up Autolib' on wicki: clever idea. Kinda too bad if they're forced to change their name.

I'm sure you remembered when you saw that Vincent Bolloré created and operates the cars of the Autolib system, "Hey, that's the richest resident of the Villa Montmorency!"

[fumobici]

This is becoming quite the homage to what I had thought of as "boring Paris". In spite of my preconceptions, fascinating. Thank you!

[lola]

>>I'm sure you remembered when you saw that Vincent Bolloré created and operates the cars of the Autolib system, "Hey, that's the richest resident of the Villa Montmorency!" <<

Time to redistribute?

[mossie]

Many thanks for taking us somewhere that I never visit. I suppose I have caught the east/west bug quite strongly. I always stay in the 19e and most of my time north and east of the Louvre. it is nice though to be reminded that there is more to my favourite city.