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Category Archives: Paris popular culture
The scavengers
Major nineteenth-century cities such as Paris or London depended on complex ecosystems in which the showiest sometimes obscured underlying layers. Consider a city in which by 1900 it was said that as many as 300,000 cigars (perhaps the number included … Continue reading
Lost (and found) in translation
Among the pitfalls in learning French are what is known as “faux amis” (false friends) – that is, words that sound as if they ought to mean the same thing in English and French, but don’t. Like librairie, which is … Continue reading
Everyday Hats of Paris
While there is a Paris of high fashion, there is also the Paris of everyday life. And what could be more everyday (quotidien) than dry cleaning or having a dress or pair of pants altered? This little bellhop with his … Continue reading
Dateline Paris 1900: The Astounding Moving Electrical Sidewalk
In 1900, if you were lucky enough to have a ticket such as this one—and almost fifty million people did—you were in for an astounding treat. Paris and France went all out to make the Paris Universal Exposition the biggest … Continue reading
The Paris Gigantic Wheel and Varieties Company Limited
It was an intriguing postcard, titled simply “Paris. La Grande Roue” (Paris, The Big Wheel). I didn’t recognize it, but I liked it, so I bought it. Little did I know that this purchase at an antiques fair in Paris … Continue reading
Posted in Paris expositions, Paris history, Paris popular culture, Paris postcards
Tagged 1900 Exposition Universelle, avenue de Suffren, Blackpool, Columbian Exposition of 1893, Earl's Court, Eiffel Tower, Ferris Wheel, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., H. Cecil Booth, La Grande Roue, Le Wonderland, Norman Anderson, Paris Gigantic Wheel and Varieties Company Limited, Sylvain Ageorges, Théodore Vienne, universal exposition, Victor Breyer, Vienna, Walter B. Basset
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Tall tales and some Paris-Marseille rivalry
Tall tales abound in every culture. When Philippa and I set out to explore our new neighbourhood in May, we never suspected that we would learn more about tall tales in France. On the nearby Rond-Point des Champs Elysées, a … Continue reading
Posted in Paris history, Paris popular culture, Paris postcards
Tagged Alain Weill, Art Gallery of Ontario, Artcurial, bridges, First World War, Marseille, Paris postcards, Photocollages, Photomontages, Photomontages Improbables, Sardine, Stamp and card market, tall tales, transporteur, William Notman
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French advertising postcards (I’ll drink to that)
With our flat only steps away from the Garden of the Champs Elysées near Avenue Gabriel, it was inevitable that we would meet. How could I resist colour so wonderfully lurid in a science-fiction/absinthe sort of way? My eyes didn’t … Continue reading
Guessing games
A little shop that we often visit is Tumbleweed on the rue de Turenne. As its name suggests, the owner is American, and the tiny boutique features everything from puzzles to children’s shoes to wonderful bags printed with images of … Continue reading
Signs of Paris
On the first day of our first shared trip to Paris, signs such as this made me realize we were walking through history. We had bought the makings of a picnic lunch, which we ate on a park bench. We … Continue reading
Parisian Fields 