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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2009 11:17:00 GMT
What's it like where I live? Well, obviously it's Paris and it feels like Paris, but you can't see any famous monuments out of my windows. However, you only have to walk one street away to get a view of Sacré Coeur on top of Montmartre, which is just a short walk away. One thing about Paris is that it doesn't change very fast, except for a few neighborhoods that were completely demolished due to being excessively decrepit. Unfortunately, the new buildings that filled in the empty places were generally complete architectural mistakes from about 1965 to 1985. Now they are a lot more careful about what they build, and some of the mistakes from the 1970's are even being torn down. This is my street corner with the two photos taken 100 years apart, so things have not evolved all that much right where I am.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 15, 2009 16:29:08 GMT
~?~ How did I miss seeing this?
Did you take the 2nd photo -- it's exactly the same angle! That's fascinating. I wonder when the 'new' building was put between those two on the left-hand side.
How busy is your street nowadays?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2009 16:41:08 GMT
Actually, I was already living here when that building was built, but I don't know what it replaced. Although there are still some low buildings in the neighborhood, they are mostly on calmer streets. My own building is the same size and height as the building on the right, still lower than the Haussmann norms of 6 or 7 floors. The building on the left is a Haussmann style building.
The street that the photo looks down is not too busy, but not too calm either, because it is one of the few streets that has a bridge over the immense set of train tracks and freight yards coming out of Gare de l'Est.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2009 17:14:03 GMT
I am certain it is not the same tree, but a tree belongs there to shade the café.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2009 17:19:13 GMT
Strangely enough, the most unstable business since I have been living here is the ground floor on the right. When I moved to my apartment, it was a menswear store, then it became an Italian restaurant, then it was a health care and beauty product shop, and now it is a bank. Banks are generally pretty stable (or at least they were until 2008), so I am not expecting another change as long as I live here.
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Post by repertoire on Feb 16, 2009 15:22:18 GMT
I have seen this, and spotted the change on chimney counts on the top of the building which is in the right corner, first picture there are 10 and in the second one 1 lost on both sides, where total is 8.
But nobody has recognized my fixation.
Anyways, I am a genuis and only I know that.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2009 22:04:42 GMT
I found a new set of old postcards of the neighborhood. Now I have to find the time to go and duplicate the angles with my camera.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2009 19:36:36 GMT
I kept looking at this old postcard and it just looked so familiar, but I just couldn't exactly place it. Then I finally realized that it is the building that I see out of my living room window every day. It is very likely that the photo was taken from a window in my building, maybe even my very own window.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2009 20:23:01 GMT
This is another nearby street 2 blocks from my place. The second building on the left (new low building) is the emergency night shelter for drug addicts.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 24, 2009 12:08:53 GMT
Here's the main street of the neighborhood, then and now.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 24, 2009 16:18:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 19:34:12 GMT
Quite a few changes on this one.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 19:39:08 GMT
Haven't seen a Starbucks yet,that's hopeful. Every trip to N.Y. yields another one of those f'ers on a old familiar corner. These old postcards are wonderful,I have some of NOLA I need to dig out and fashion with now.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 19:54:23 GMT
Hmmm... the nearest Starbucks is about 2 km from my place. But there are now 34 Starbucks locations inside Paris (which I just counted on their website).
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 20:20:40 GMT
Here's an interesting phenomenon. The "former city hall" on the left has disappeared, and has now been replaced by a middle school ("collège") facing the side street. I am not completely convinced that the former city hall was completely demolished because the stones of the "new" school are identical to those of the old building, even if the windows have changed. And while the city hall was a much nicer building, it is the next building on the street that has survived almost unchanged.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2009 21:42:08 GMT
Okay, this is the last one until my next photo safari.
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Post by Jazz on Feb 25, 2009 22:12:30 GMT
This is a great photo essay of your neighborhood. I love the feel of walking back in time. Is this historical preservation because of a special architectural code? Or a sense that the French have, to preserve beauty, despite its not being 'in fashion' at one time? Probably both. I like looking at the 'then and now'.
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Post by lola on Feb 26, 2009 2:56:31 GMT
Really nice, Kerouac.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2009 4:00:50 GMT
That airplane or whatever is flying mighty low don't you think? It even looks as though people might be looking up at it?
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 26, 2009 4:41:32 GMT
Erk -- you're right! The picture needs a collective word balloon of everyone saying "Ouuuu ~ merde!"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2009 6:06:47 GMT
I am pretty sure that the airplane is a fake addition. On one of the photos that I found, there is an impressive zepplin flying over the street -- but I found another version of exactly the same photo sans zepplin. I think it was probably trickery on the part of city folk to show how modern and amazing life in Paris was compared to the muddy manure-scented villages that were receiving these cards.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2009 16:18:54 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2009 17:34:54 GMT
Château Rouge métro
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2009 18:06:58 GMT
Seems hardly changed at all.The first one,did it have a Metro station,I see gorgeous art nouveau perhaps wrought iron,the second one,an obvious Metro stop,diiferent ironwork. Was the original pilfered or what?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2009 21:20:21 GMT
The French can also make great mistakes in taste from time to time. Most of the Art Nouveau metro entrances were dismantled and thrown away in the 1950's and 1960's, because they were not considered stylish anymore.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2009 23:45:16 GMT
EISCH! Was it Brassai who took all those fabulous photos of the Metro before this happened?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2009 10:30:24 GMT
It occurred to me later that MOMA in N.Y. has an archway in their outdoor cafe that I believe was part of the original iron work from the Metro in Paris.
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Post by bjd on Mar 8, 2009 14:23:42 GMT
There are still a few of them around. Not always in places where you would expect. A couple of weeks ago I found a couple in the 20th arrondissement on a busy, wide street. I took a picture of it for the first time ever.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2009 15:10:23 GMT
I found another photo on the net that was taken out of my apartment window 100 years ago. I wonder if they could have ever imagined that I would do the same thing.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 8, 2009 16:56:25 GMT
The French can also make great mistakes in taste from time to time. Most of the Art Nouveau metro entrances were dismantled and thrown away in the 1950's and 1960's, because they were not considered stylish anymore. Kerouac, can you find a photo pair for the metro entrance in St. Michaels square, which I believe is still in the original Art Nouveau style? Love these before after photos, which are so similar despite the vast time lapse.
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