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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2012 6:28:09 GMT
I saw this video on another site and I was fascinated at how little Paris has changed over the years -- except for the clothes and the cars!
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Post by bjd on Jan 6, 2012 9:02:34 GMT
You don't find it has changed? When is the last time you saw a tourist in lederhosen?
The market in les Halles? Lots of bicycles, which then disappeared for a few decades -- now there are lots again. The smoke coming out of the chimney of the barge on the Seine. The smoking everywhere -- still outside of course. And is it the film or is everyone walking around much more slowly than they do now?
I kept waiting for the accordeon music to come on -- fiddling with my loudspeakers!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2012 9:45:24 GMT
I was talking about the physical appearance of the city. The disappearance of Les Halles is really the only notable difference. I have seen tourists in lederhosen, although not for a couple of decades. In the 1970's there were also a lot of Japanese women in kimonos on the Champs Elysées. I have not seen any of those for a few decades either.
Unfortunately, that video does not seem to have any sound.
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Post by bjd on Jan 6, 2012 10:15:12 GMT
Well, you who spends your time taking pictures of all kinds of buildings and areas of the city, you should know that it has changed quite a lot. What hasn't really changed are the tourist monuments shown in that video: the Eiffel tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe...
I sometimes get the impression that parts of Paris are kept sort of "museum-like" in order to keep attracting tourists.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2012 12:11:21 GMT
In spite of the buildings changing -- a little -- the feel of the streets and the occupations of the people look the same to me. Nevertheless, on the thread I made about my neighbourhood two years ago, where there were postcards from 100 years ago, it was still incredibly easy to recognize the specific intersections and streets.
One thing I noticed in that film was the uniformity of the skyline in the scene from the Eiffel Tower looking out in the direction of Ecole Militaire. Naturally, the Tour Montparnasse was missing but what struck me even more was the absence of all of the social housing from the 1970's near the périphérique, which tend to be 18-20 floors high and which obviously make a visible bump on the skyline.
The population of Paris started declining in 1954 and it is only since the beginning of the 21st century that population is finally increasing again because of the new housing projects that have replaced industrial zones and decrepit semi-abandoned slum buildings.
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Post by nycgirl on Jan 6, 2012 20:18:53 GMT
I remember your past vs. present thread, it was really neat. It's funny, I was pleased when I recently stumbled upon a pre-Civil War courthouse across the street from me. It is lovely and in good condition. Then I got to thinking how mundane and unremarkable is to live near a beautiful 150-year-old building in Paris or London.
Paris definitely seems more resistant to change than New York. Whenever I watch an 80s movie that is set here, I am astounded at how different (and scruffy) it looks. And in photos from 100 years ago, before the huge skyscrapers started going up, the city looks almost unrecognizable.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2012 21:08:07 GMT
Going back to 1936, this video is pretty incredible as well. While I still see the same architecture that I see in 2012, the commentary is surprising, especially where the American narrator mentions several times how clean Paris is as opposed to the rubbish covering American cities!
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ssander
member
Offline
At the Belleville Arts Open Doors in Paris in 2007
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Post by ssander on Jan 9, 2012 9:27:51 GMT
On our first trip together, the first few mornings, I would wake up, look out the hotel window, and say to my wife, "It must have rained a little last night - the streets are wet -- we're really lucky it stopped before we woke up." After a couple of days, I realized they were cleaning the streets every night. SS
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2012 10:21:11 GMT
My father used to think that also when he would visit.
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2012 11:45:27 GMT
I was listening to the Saturday food/cooking segment on NPR yesterday. I always hear some interesting tidbit,recipe, technique,new trends in food from various places. Yesterday one of the guests was from the NY Times,Paris correspondent. She waxed poetically about the French peoples love for fresh peas and some of the various methods in which they are prepared. (I have no great love of peas but,some of these sounded positively delicious). Towards the end of the show the hostess asked her if there were any new trends that were being observed in Paris currently. To my shock and dismay she reported that Paris seems to have become "brunchified" and that on almost every other street corner there were now food establishments that were serving bagels (flown in from London!) and Philadelphia Cream Cheese,with the added lox if one desired along with some other seemingly non traditional breakfast/brunch fare.
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Post by koloagirl on Jan 6, 2014 3:17:40 GMT
Aloha from Kaua'i! Well, kind of re joining the party after an absence of a year.....no Paris in 2013 for us (sad face!)....but my lovely husband surprised me at Christmas with a print of a Modigliani painting we both loved and found in Paris (I only knew his art in passing, and my husband not at all).....which was his way of saying we are coming back this year! ;D ;D So I am once again enjoying seeing all the beyond fabulous topics and photos here on AnyPort! One thing in reference to mentioning that "the era of little independent shops is in its death throes, like it or not"......I know it wasn't a small independent shop, but am I correct in hearing that the book store "Mona Lisiat" is no more - anywhere? That makes me sad, because I loved browsing those shops! Paris is such a treasure trove of small independent shops that this news makes me sad....altho' it doesn't surprise me unfortunately. I'm assuming the ubiquitous Gilbert Jeune bookstores are still alive and well? Malama Pono (take care) Janet
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 5:29:29 GMT
Yes, Mona Lisait was liquidated and all of the stores closed. Gibert Jeune is still thriving and Gibert Joseph is thriving even more, having taken over one of the Virgin Megastore locations. The rest of the Virgin Megastore locations are sitting empty...
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Post by fumobici on Jan 10, 2014 22:22:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2014 23:22:47 GMT
No, that's what my place looks like, but my ostrich and my Mickey aren't as dusty!
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Post by htmb on Jan 10, 2014 23:33:16 GMT
Must have been a fascinating find.
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Post by bjd on Jan 11, 2014 8:30:27 GMT
"the typical French decor that was typical of the time"
Well, not exactly. Obviously the place of a wealthy woman who collected art.
It struck me that she left in a hurry -- confirming things I have read elsewhere -- when she left Paris. Things like brushes lying in her bedroom. (Whatever are those pieces of furniture with a mirror called in English?)
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Post by htmb on Jan 11, 2014 12:54:31 GMT
"the typical French decor that was typical of the time" (Whatever are those pieces of furniture with a mirror called in English?) Vanity table
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2014 16:33:56 GMT
You shouldn't admit to knowing such things.
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Post by htmb on Jan 11, 2014 16:48:12 GMT
Darned if that isn't the truth, Kerouac, though my maternal grandmothers would have been proud I could pull that little tidbit out of my feeble brain. I own a chair similar to one of those pictured. It's a Louis something and belonged to my great grandparents. Fortunately it's not of the heavily ornate stuff like those vanity tables which I do not like.
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Post by spindrift1 on Aug 22, 2017 15:10:24 GMT
I hope I am allowed to ask this question but if the mods don't like it, please delete it !
I see a lot of videos and photos of Paris completely jam-packed with immigrants/refuges putting tents on boulevards and making a lot of mess. Is this truly the case? or is it propaganda?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2017 15:30:46 GMT
Yes, it is true. There is an official migrant camp for 400 people near where I live, but there are far more migrants than spaces available. This week it was evacuated by the police for the 35th time in two years. 2400 people were taken to temporary shelters, but they often return in less than a week.
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Post by spindrift1 on Aug 22, 2017 15:39:09 GMT
I see. I wonder whether people/tourists are afraid of them or at the very least, wary. I would be.
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Post by spindrift1 on Aug 22, 2017 16:08:04 GMT
i see. thanks Huckle.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2017 16:26:04 GMT
Since La Chapelle is my neighbourhood, I can add a bit more accurate information to the situation there. It was in fact pretty much an alt-right fantasy elaborated to create a media buzz. The last thing that the migrants want is trouble with the authorities so they basically shrink away from "the French" when we pass close to them. This said, the area around the La Chapelle metro station is nobody's favourite because it's true that 90% of the people hanging around are immigrant or refugee men and a street market springs up instantly the moment the police wander away -- contraband cigarettes, telephone charging cables, socks... From about 4pm to 7pm, you really have to squeeze through on the footpath so obviously the majority of women are uncomfortable there, even if nothing happens to them. After the initial media spasms, many local women came out to say that they have never had the slightest problem there whether they were wearing a miniskirt or a hijab. The subject faded out of the news just as quickly as it was invented, but there are lots of photographs that make it all look really nasty, and I'm sure that they will be used for years. Here is what it looks like when you walk through there. Obviously, women who don't like being stared at despise the area. referentiel.nouvelobs.com/file/16076696-harcelement-de-rue-a-la-chapelle-pajol-anne-hidalgo-annonce-un-plan-de-lutte.jpg
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 22, 2017 16:51:23 GMT
But that happens everywhere in Paris. All of the worst stories I have ever been told have concerned French men.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 26, 2017 15:31:27 GMT
I took a bus the other evening -- I think it was just past 7pm -- and here was the scene at Place de la Chapelle. s19.postimg.cc/esr239sib/001.jpgAs I mentioned earlier, this happens a few hours at the end of the day. Absolutely none of these people are hanging out there until about 5pm, and they are all gone by 8pm when the customers are gone.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 26, 2017 15:43:27 GMT
As for Paris changing, my neighbourhood is certainly changing all the time. It is undergoing major gentrification, but at the same time it remains very popular with "new arrivals." I'm sure that the proximity of Gare du Nord plays a role in this, but also just the fact that it has always been a very mixed area as well as being one of the cheapest zones in Paris.
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Post by lagatta on Aug 26, 2017 15:52:37 GMT
Yes, those look tidy and handy for foods from that part of the world. I suppose Sudanese food combines Egyptian and East African influences? It is also surprising because Sudan was more in the anglosphere. I guess that is like the earlier arrival of South Asians in Paris during the Thatcher years.
Some of the takeaway dishes look appealing.
Perhaps now that I've let my hair go grey I won't face as much harassment as 30 years ago. I always stayed in Eastern Paris, but I also got harassed in wealthy 'white' areas. But Italy was far worse...
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Post by lagatta on Aug 27, 2017 13:23:15 GMT
It is almost as if these articles are promotional material. I read a similar one about Tooting in London, in the Guardian. Since Mayor Khan is from there and still lives there, that and some new cafés and restaurants create the needed "buzz".
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 27, 2017 15:09:24 GMT
I pass by l'Aérosol almost every day but I have never stopped there. There is a big old SNCF wall along one side of rue de l'Evangile, so I have just seen the lights and the parasols on the upper levels. I think of the place basically as a building supply warehouse (Point P) which it still is, and I am not the least bit attracted to the idea of having a drink there, nor am I a customer of food trucks. The location is incredibly inconvenient for most people (me being one of the rare exceptions), so it really goes to show that bobos will go anywhere you tell them to go. These are the same customers who went to Grand Train last summer, also an inconvenient place for most of them but at least a far more ambitious project.. If I want to go for a drink with bobos and some casual food, I far prefer Les Petites Gouttes which is at least a permanent establishment and also only about 4 minutes from my place.
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