Comments on: The smoky Paris cafe is dead: Long live the smoky street

By: CV

CV — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:38:50 +0000

It’s interesting to note that the extensive sidewalk patios that are found around continental Europe aren’t really seen in Britain so much. Only the newer areas like Southbank in London provide this kind of experience (St. Christopher’s just of Oxford St. is great also).

Vancouver has enough people strolling around downtown to provide a similar street show to Paris. In fact I’d argue that due to previous Scandinavian/Eastern European immigration in BC it’s a more visually appealing one (though maybe only if you’re a man). Unfortunately there’s just no where to sit, have a drink and enjoy it.

By: gmgw

gmgw — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:29:06 +0000

Frances, the trick is to pick a cafe whose tables are at right angles to the street; you can then rotate your chairs 45 degrees so that you can *both* be facing the street as you dreamily sip your pastis. This only works in cafes with less crowded patios, usually found on quieter streets– which might defeat your purpose if you’re there to see crowds.
gmgw

By: Frothingham

Frothingham — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:47:13 +0000

” Yes, the chairs facing the street are a significant touch. They underline the idea that everything on the street is a kind of show for you to watch. ”

We had a similar mini-experience of this in vancouver on the weekend … three car-free areas on Sunday had a festive street scene. Tables and chairs out to the middle of the street. Lots of great people watching. All kinds of food being prepared outdoors… portends of what can happen when the street is extended to people only. I look forward to many car-free days throughout vancouver during the summer.

By: Frances Bula

Frances Bula — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:32:18 +0000

Kirk, Thanks for the holiday wishes. Josh, thanks for the crepe suggestion. We’ll try to get there when we loop back to Paris at the end of the trip.

To all re the sidewalk cafes — yes, I, too, read the story about how they’re dying because of the no-smoking laws. But it seems to me there must be something else at work. As I said, the popular ones still seemed to attract heaps of people, except they stood out on the sidewalk to smoke.

Yes, the chairs facing the street are a significant touch. They underline the idea that everything on the street is a kind of show for you to watch. It works out perfectly for me and my partner, too, because he ALWAYS insists on sitting so he can face out and people watch, usually leaving me to contemplate the kitchen or bathroom or coatrack.

It does seem to speak to a culture where what’s seen as important is facing the public, not so much the person you’re with — at least for coffee.

By: Larry McLaren

Larry McLaren — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:02:11 +0000

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…)

By: gmgw

gmgw — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:14:42 +0000

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

By: CV

CV — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:14:14 +0000

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!

By: Blaffergassted

Blaffergassted — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:58:07 +0000

Does this mean the revolution is over?

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:46:47 +0000

Frances
If you’re still in the neighbourhood and like crepes – there is an amazing place at the corner of rue vieille du temple and rue perche — about a block north of La Perle.
We went there a number of times and it was awesome; we stayed around the corner from there.
Enjoy your trip… google streetview attached

http://maps.google.ca/maps?sourceid=Mozilla-search&q=78,+rue+vieille+du+temple,+paris&ie=UTF8&ll=48.859922,2.360719&spn=0.000459,0.001207&t=h&z=20&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=48.860536,2.361807&panoid=JjqtmHTt3gdrxu8itg9vwQ&cbp=12,338.57,,0,10

By: Urbanismo

Urbanismo — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:46:28 +0000

Frances,

Before you leave Paris read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/magazine/14paris-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine