I Love My Neighborhood: Faubourg Saint-Denis, Paris

 

Welcome to another edition of “I Love My Neighborhood”, where I ask expats from across the globe to share the joys of local life they’ve found in their corner of the world.

If you’re just joining in now, check out the other cities that have been covered so far here.

This week’s guest post comes from Daisy, who originally hails from NYC but has lived in Paris for nearly a decade. We originally met when I participated in one of her treasure hunts at the Louvre, and since then she has become a dear friend; our weekly lunches are one of the few things that keep me sane when this city is driving me crazy. She is also one of the most knowledgeable people I know when it comes to culture and history, which is why I love reading her blog. Married to an Argentinian, she is now raising the most adorable tri-lingual baby in her vibrant neighborhood of Faubourg Saint-Denis.

Daisy: Why I Love Faubourg St Denis

I love my neighbourhood because it’s loud and gritty, colourful and lively. The Paris that I know by day leans towards subdued, elegant, spoken with a discreet modulated voice. Coming home is the exact opposite. Faubourg St Denis (FSD) is a market street, with fruit vendors screaming their strawberry sales, competing for attention from the veggie salesman across the road shouting his own sale of the day. It’s something that Storsh, my 18-month old, won’t hear when he’s 8 or 18, probably. That “Ventre de Paris” (belly of Paris), as Honoré de Balzac referred to Les Halles (back when it was the site of a meat-market smack dab in the center of town), is moving farther and farther afield and Paris’s gentrified bits are nestling their nose into more and more corners.

I used to live off of rue Montorguiel (another nearby street-market down in the 2eme) which is still technically a market street, but now it’s paved and fancy with restaurants and cafes and even a Kiehls shop from New York. FSD is still vibrant and functioning (though town hall is talking about pedestrianising it, and there are boutique ‘gourmand’ shops and cafes appearing daily). But for now it’s still a little UN of sorts popular with Asians, Arabs, Africans and Bobos alike (Bobos being the Bohemian Bourgeois, over-educated socialists who “feel for” underdeveloped countries, and like to claim poverty but wear 800 euro leather shoes and read Le Monde Diplomatique). So it’s for the shouts, grit and variety that I love my neighbourhood (plus our flat is removed from the street, so we can recede into silence).

Passages

The open-aired, tree-lined Passage Petites Ecuries is constantly sprouting new restaurants, bars and cafes with an angle (plus every Tuesday at 7 pm it’s one of the meeting points for Organic Farmers to deliver their fresh veg in crates to the environmentally-caring cooperative who subscribe). At night Petites Ecuries is buzzing with slightly older bobos at places like Lucky Luciano (a sophisticated Pizzeria with exposed brick walls, tricking one into believing they’re in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) or the classic 1901 Alsatian Brasserie, Flo (with adorable old murals, suitably woody walls, formal but pleasant life-long waiters and most importantly fois gras, oysters and choucroute to die for). Just across FSD there’s Passage Brady, a 19th century glass covered passage which serves as Paris’s India town, rich with the smells and colours and textures belying India itself. And then there’s Passage Prado, an L-shaped passage, which is the most run-down and the prettiest of them all, with art nouveau details running along the glassed-in roof.

I heard recently that the Right Bank was commercial and the Left Bank was artistic, which is why there are only Passages (19th century covered shopping malls, essentially) on the Right Bank. Sadly even these are dying out, being semi-privatized or closed up entirely, along with the shouts of the veggie vendors. Americans have a term they claim to be French “nostalgie de la boue” (nostalgia for mud, literally, or an appreciation of the grit and grime of the old). I guess I suffer from this muddy nostalgia.

Nightlife

Chez Jeannette is one of Paris’s meccas of hipster nightlife. I feel my age (and 8-year tenure in Paris) when I say I knew Chez Jeannette before the hipsters arrived, but I did. It was still filled with the same retro formica tables, red chandeliers and that wonderful wall of 19th century mirrors in the back, but it was family-owned, with a 50-year old waiter ordering the “café” or “Rose” from his ancient papa behind the bar, his mother serving food and comfort. I’d come up to Chez Jeannette to feel at home while I wrote home with the dusty old folk who were my fellow regulars. That said, it’s great fun now, has good food, and is wonderful for Eurotrash watching.

The Mauri 7 across the road is a rival without food, but with wonderful old LP covers on the walls and more media/fashion/magazine/advertising/graphic design Bobos drinking outside or in, within the Passage Brady where Mauri 7 also has tables. L\Inconnu, at 17 rue Mazagrin, also has a good scene going on with its cool green tile walls and graffiti artwork; and a little wine bar on rue d’Enghein has a warm glow to it, but doesn’t get half so much attention it should: Tombé du Ciel (falling from the sky). My fave though is a tiny place at the back of Passage des Petites Ecuries called Au Passage, which is a tiny hole in the wall, nestled between a chic graphic design office. The area is not short on hipster hotspots.

I have a full-time job, a treasure hunt company and an 18-month old. But in my heart of hearts I’m really just whiling away the time, rotting my liver further and emptying my wallet at any one of these cafés, as I did for most of my life up until five or six years ago when I married and decided it was time to grow up.  Watching the cool kids cop attitude as they flit their afternoons and evenings away always makes me happy. If I’m not doing it, someone has to!

History

The word Faubourg means “False Berg” or “Sham Town”, pointing to the fact that any street which bears this ‘Faubourg’ word was on the outside of the city walls at one point. There are two “Portes” (arches, or literally ‘doors to town’) within 50 meters of one another on the Grands Boulevards (the Grands Boulevards themselves having once been the walls, stitching in Louis XIV’s 17th century Paris). The Arch of St Denis, built in 1671-74, bookends Faubourg St Denis in the 10eme from rue St Denis, the red-light district in the 2eme. Likewise, the Arch of St Martin (1674), distinguishes rue du Faubourg St Martin in the 10eme from rue St Martin down in the 3eme. Both arches commemorate Louis XIV’s military victories and were far grander replacements of Charles V’s medieval toll-entrances.

The street of St Denis is ancient, leading directly to the Basilica of St Denis (which is outside the current walls of Paris, the “Péripherique”). The patron saint of France and first bishop of Paris, St Denis was beheaded in 250 AD and buried in a Gallo-Roman cemetery which is where the Gothic basilica now lies. If you’re interested in French history the Basilica of St Denis is the single most important place in France for you to visit, as nearly every monarch was interred there since Dagobert in the 7th century. It’s also of tremendous importance art historically, because it heralded the difference between Romanesque and Gothic architecture under the supervision of the Abbot Suger (1081-1151).

Location

I’m in central Paris, which means only 15 minutes by metro to my office in the 8eme, or a 30-minute walk home when I’m not picking Storsh up from the creche (daycare – which is right by the metro in the 2eme, five minutes away). Of course being on a market street, we’re never short on food, flowers, dry cleaning, newspaper stores, banks and convenient amenities. Most importantly it’s a 20-minute walk to the Louvre, and a 5-minute walk to four different parks for Storsh. Who could ask for more?

Well, OK, if I had my druthers THATLou, my treasure hunt company, would be earning gazillions and I’d have a flat in Palais Royal facing the Louvre, and with a park just downstairs for Storsh… But then where would my mud be?

———

About the author: Daisy de Plume is a native New Yorker who’s lived in Paris for eight years. She’s the Founder + Creative Director of THATLou, which runs themed Treasure Hunts AThe Louvre. With a background in Art History and a past in print magazine editing and writing (Vanity Fair and Condé Nast Traveler, respectively) THATLou somehow makes sense for Daisy de Plume. You can read all about past Treasure Hunts as well as various pieces in various museums, museum politics + purchases, and soon, museum personalities in her blog, www.thatlou.com. She’s also on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

All photos courtesy of the author.

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17 Comments

  • Reply
    Linds Frank
    August 28, 2012 at 09:29

    Love Daisy’s post! I hardly ever get to her neighborhood (unless I’m craving Turkish food!), but she made me want to pay FSD a visit and spend some time exploring its passages. Thanks Edna!

    • Reply
      Daisy de Plume
      August 28, 2012 at 21:54

      Thanks, Linds! You guys will have to come by for a peek at the passages and Lucky Luciano’s is perfect for a cozy pizza on a Sunday night!

  • Reply
    Lindsey
    August 28, 2012 at 10:21

    Great post, Daisy! Gives further reason for visitors to spend time exploring the right bank. And your little one is darling!

    • Reply
      Daisy de Plume
      August 28, 2012 at 22:02

      Lindsey, Thanks! I really enjoyed writing it, and thinking about our newish hood. I must find the time to photograph it more, before it changes too much. For the same reason I can stick Storsh in the snaps!

  • Reply
    Daisy de Plume
    August 28, 2012 at 22:03

    Edna!
    Thank you for your really lovely introduction. I’m going to miss you (and our lunches) something fierce when you scamper off on your next (surprise) adventure!
    xxx,
    D

    • Reply
      edna
      August 30, 2012 at 00:39

      Thanks for such a fab post! We’ll figure out a way to still have lunches, I have no doubt.

      And hey…WE’LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS. (Too easy, couldn’t resist.)

  • Reply
    Mary Kay (Out and About in Paris)
    August 29, 2012 at 00:08

    Wonderful post, Daisy! I’ve been intending to make another trip to your neighborhood and this glowing report is just the impetus that I need. The only problem is that with such a long list of places to try, I’m probably going to be a frequent visitor to Faubourg St Denis.

    Storsh is adorable! I love the last photo of his smiling face!

    • Reply
      Daisy de Plume
      August 29, 2012 at 14:44

      Mary Kay! Thank you for your warm words – as you know, I was so pleased when you wrote a two-part series about the market street. With all these visits, perhaps you can get a seasonal pied de terre here for when the Pakistani Mangoes are in season! xx

  • Reply
    Ann Mah
    August 29, 2012 at 12:07

    Just when I thought I knew Paris, I read this lovely post and learned so much! Those glass-covered passages are calling to me, especially the spice-scented passage Brady and divinely “muddy” Passage Prado.

    • Reply
      Daisy de Plume
      August 29, 2012 at 14:49

      Hi Ann! Yes, yes, do come for a visit to the colourful, spicy Little India-Passage Brady. Or shake off the Passage du Prado mud (I guess you shake dust off, not mud!?) at the Mauricien cafe, L’Ile aux Cerfs for a snack!

  • Reply
    Loulou in France
    August 29, 2012 at 15:19

    Thanks for introducing me to a new neighborhood to explore the next time I’m in Paris. And your description of Bobos made me laugh out loud!

  • Reply
    Daisy de Plume
    August 29, 2012 at 23:24

    Yeah – whenever you’re here please do come for a coffee or Indian / Turkish / whosiwhatsit chomp! Would be such inappropriate fare to accompany fun stories of the Count! xx

  • Reply
    Traveling Mo
    August 30, 2012 at 23:38

    Thanks for sharing Daisy! Moving to Paris has long been a pipe dream of mine, and you’ve just whet my appetite further! I’m with you – I like my share of mud

    • Reply
      Daisy de Plume
      September 1, 2012 at 00:12

      It’s funny because I never actually wanted to move here, I just wanted a short break from NY, but this city gets under your skin – or it did mine – and now I’m just here. Come soon, though, as the mud’s starting to get painted over!

  • Reply
    parisbreakfast
    September 3, 2012 at 20:14

    You capture so well the area – who knew there were so many undiscovered treasures here?
    I will definitely be tracking them down next visit.
    Tanks Daisy!

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