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The Grand Boulevards
The Grand Boulevards were built in 1705 where the the old walls
around Paris were demolished and by about 1750 the Boulevard (the
original name) had became fashionable where the nobility and rich
built their homes and Parisians would sit and watch the horse carriages
and riders pass by. The east end, the Boulevard du Temple, became
a center of theatres and dance halls, circuses, waxworks, puppets,
dancers, acrobats, mechanical figures, cafes, restaurants, booths
and barrows. This lasted for about 100 years.
There are some pretty covered passages off the Grand Boulevards, as
Passage Jouffroy and Passage Verdeau (book and print dealers).
Musée Grevin
Wax museum (approximately 500 characters) scenes from French history
and the present day.
Blvd des Italiens
The Boulevard des Italiens became very fashionable in the middle
of the 19th century. It was lined with cafes and restaurants which
the 'beau monde' frequented, #22 Cafe Tortoni, #20 Maison Doree,
the meeting place for fashionable Paris, No. 16 Cafe Riche. The
boulevard got its name from the Opera-Comique, which was commonly
called 'the Italiens'. Cafe de la Paix is the quintessential 19th
century cafe and was designed by the same architect, Garnier, as
the Opera. It was a frequent haunt of Oscar Wilde. Nearby in Rue
Scribe, where the Hotel Scribe now stands, used to be the exclusive
Jockey Club and it was here the Lumiere brothers held the world's
first public cinema screening in 1895. L'Olympia Music Hall, in
bd. Des Capucines was where Edith Piaf achieved fame, and it is
still an important venue for pop stars.
Pigalle
Stretching from the place de Clichy up to Monmartre, Pigalle is
a red light district with live peep shows, erotic videos, and sex
shops. The famous ‘Moulin Rouge’ is here and the Musee
de l'Eroticisme, which is actually quite interesting. Further along
on Boulevard de Rochechouart was the nightclub Le Chat-Noir, made
famous in the poster by Toulouse Lautrec.
Continued...
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