The last time I was in Paris five years ago, people were still allowed to smoke in bars and restaurants here. That made for quite an experience (and a lot of clothes-washing to get the smell out) for all of us.
But this time, quelle difference. And it’s added even more flavour to the Paris nightlife because now, small herds of people gather on the sidewalks and streets outside every bar and restaurant that doesn’t have outdoor tables so they can smoke. You can look down any street and see where the bar is and how popular it is by how dense the roadway cluster is. We passed by one, the Brasserie La Perle on Rue Vielle du Temple, last night that must have had 60 people partying on the sidewalks on two sides.
This being France and civilised, people are allowed to take their drinks out on the sidewalk. (Don’t think they’ll be trying this on Granville anytime soon.) The cars parked partially on the sidewalk make for handy drinks tables and so it all works out. Bar owners must be ecstatic, because it seems to, in some cases, double their capacity.
The end result is to give the streets even more of a festival-like air than they already had. So when the naked man, wearing only shoes and a hat, walked by last night as we were having a drink at a sidewalk table amongst the smokers, he prompted a round of thunderous applause from the sidewalk crowds.
The next passersby to come through — four men in traditional Jewish dress: black hats, long black coats, beards — got barely a glance.
8 responses so far ↓
1 West End Bob // Jun 13, 2009 at 6:49 pm
“drf” and I missed it, but today was Vancouver’s Naked Bike Ride.
Does that compete with the naked guy on the Paris sidewalk?
Enjoy hour holiday, fabula . . . .
2 jimmy olson // Jun 13, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Vancouver is sooo provincial in so many ways, in comparison to Paris and other European cities. You mention parking on sidewalks and naked people.. . here you get fined 2mins BEFORE your meter expires and no-fun-city would not know what to do with nakedness. And I dare anyone to find the kind of boorishness on display on Granville street when the bars get out. In Paris and Rome and Milano ? Never! Vancouver can be so hickish. .. no other word for it. Folks in Vancouver can’t handle their drinks and our night-life has been fractured to the point where only young venture out and they have crowded out the rest. Pity.
3 gmgw // Jun 14, 2009 at 1:01 am
While I vigourously applaud the long-0verdue smoking ban (it’s incredibly difficult to hold your breath and eat at the same time), it is, not surprisingly, getting a lot of blame for the closure of hundreds of small cafes in Paris and throughout France in the past few years. Owners of these small establishments, some of which date back to the 19th century, obviously need a scapegoat. But like any number of social commentators, I would venture to say that shifting patterns of social behaviour are more to blame. The same thing is happening in the UK, with more traditional pubs vanishing every year. It seems that, as with many traditional aspects of French culture, something of a seismic shift away from cafe and pub culture is happening in the two countries, and it’s too early to say what will replace it (probably bloody Starbucks, he said with a profound sense of despair).
I just hope the Bistrot du Septieme, on the Boulevard de la Tour Marbourg, has survived– lovely little place in the 7th where the staff were friendlier than anywhere else we’ve eaten in Paris. It will never get a Michelin star, but it’s a gem nonetheless.
gmgw
4 Urbanismo // Jun 14, 2009 at 8:46 am
Frances,
Before you leave Paris read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14paris-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine
5 Blaffergassted // Jun 15, 2009 at 10:58 am
Does this mean the revolution is over?
6 CV // Jun 15, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Something that I always notice in Paris and other European cities is how fantastic their sidewalk patios are. I love how lines of quality chairs are set up to face outward from the cafes. They allow you to people watch and so the cafes “spill” onto and mesh with the streets.
This sort of set up is really lacking in Vancouver. I think there’s enough demand to have large sidewalk patios. Just look at the Starbucks on Robson/Thurlow; the outdoor seating is always full as it’s a good place to people watch. Unfortunately there seems to be some regulation in Vancouver that requires barriers that separate patio patrons from the passers by. This should be removed to allow for a more organic, spilling effect of tables and chairs on the streets.
More patios less parking!
7 gmgw // Jun 15, 2009 at 3:14 pm
One of the more obvious reasons those Parisian patios work as well as they do is that they’re in Paris, which not only codified sidewalk patio culture but also, as a rule, provides a far more interesting and, dare I say it, “romantic” streetscape to look at than anything Vancouver can offer. Unless, of course, you’re one of those curiously paraochial people who would rather shop at the Gap store on Robson than stroll the likes of the Boulevard St. Germain.
gmgw
8 Larry McLaren // Jun 15, 2009 at 5:02 pm
All the inbreeding that goes on in Alberta and South of the Fraser, is, I suspect, responsible for the boorish morons that compel legislation and bylaws to prevent boorish inbreds from behaving like boorish inbreds.
Or am I thinking of England? (it’s an island, you know…)
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