Sassiland: A Walk Around the Neighborhood on a Rainy February Day

February 10, 2009

A Walk Around the Neighborhood on a Rainy February Day

While I was going back and forth to the laundromat today, every time I passed the Poisson Bleu café/bar at the corner of my building, I thought of how I keep meaning to photograph the tables, which are outside in ALL sorts of weather. So after having brought the clean-and-dry laundry back home, I grabbed Marco's camera and made a turn, just around one long block really. It's funny what you see when you're LOOKING for visuals.

So, first a glance at the outdoor seating at the Poisson Bleu. Look inviting?

I think I'll choose INdoor seating, thank you very much!

I turned right at the corner and took a photo of the stencils advertising the "Cardboard Furniture" workshop:

At the end of the block is this bizarre supposed furniture refinishing business . . .the owner clearly has a love of Hollywood nostalgia . . .and who knows what all else . .

Those are James Dean and Steven Seagal in the window, in case you were wondering.

This creepy mannequin in the window often makes me gasp as I walk home at night -- leering as he does.

The guy has all sorts of junk available!!! And the decoration of the exterior of his store follows suit!

I'm pretty sure the PLAGE (beach) is NOT that-a-way, but I went down that street anyway. This is the Rue des Vignoles -- I believe I've talked about it before. It takes its name from the old vineyards that used to be here when this was out in the country, the village of Charonne.

You can see that evidence in the first few hundred feet of the street: Look at the faded paint on the upper story of this building. I wonder when this dates from?

I can make out "General Provisionment of Vines" . . . but there's so much writing over that in addition to the faded out nature of the writing, one's left more with a ghostly image than anything concrete. Which is perhaps appropriate, given how much the neighborhood has changed since its incorporation into Paris in the late 1800s.

For years, developers have been building new buildings in among the two-story houses that were typical of the village. This picture perhaps gives you a sense of the scale of the old buildings.

Meanwhile, across the street from the photo above, you can see in the background one of the hulking monstrosities built in . . the 1960s? 1970s?? One funny thing is that lots of these two-story buildings, where the first story used to comprise the shopfront, have now been converted into two-story residences. Such is the case with the Nova Pneus building below; check out the edge of the terrace railing on the roof. If you note a more modern door buzzer or secure lock, it's a good clue that inside is probably a pretty pricey residence!!

But you can see down on the left hand side of the buildigns here, a building all boarded up. This is how many look.

On the side of that building, here's what you see (another frequent sign in the neighborhood):

The poster up there says "New Subsidized Housing to Come." I don't know if all these projects are on track; you see a lot of these signs with no apparent activity. But there are a lot of the public housing projects dotted around the neighborhood. I have to say, the newer ones look pretty cool. I think I have a photo of one of them from a day last fall.

Yes, here is one:

Anyway, back to where we were. Basically on the corner of the crazy man's shop, just a couple of steps away.

If you were to turn your back to the huge poster and boarded-up house in the penultimate photo, you'd see this street sign:

Yes, that means just what you think it does. "Impasse Satan."

Just around the corner, for good measure, there's . . .

"God's passage." Good heavens! Someone had a little fun naming all the alleyways around here!!!!

Back to rue des Vignoles. Our tour is almost done.

This is a wine bar and restaurant; I don't know whether the owner bought the entire building, or just fixed up the whole façade, but it's quite nice. These folks also own a wineshop over on the main road near us, Avenue des Pyrenées. Unfortunately the restaurant is closed exactly on Marco's days off (Sunday and Monday), so we've not had a chance to try it.

Here's another cozy-looking restaurant, cobblestones glimmering with the rain.

And, from the same position (I just pivoted and looked across the street to my left):

I didn't take any pictures of this today, and don't know how easy it will be to capture, but some of the latter-day development/conversions done on the street south of this, Rue des Haies, are actually quite nicely done. I'll have to see what I can grab there next. But for now, time to head back to rue Vitruve by walking back up the Rue des Vignoles. I love the typography of the Nova Pneus, so why not treat ourselves to a close-up as we pass back by (I love that the current residents kept that bit of Paris history rather than covering it up with a modern façade):