Santier District, Passage Grande Cerf, Passage Bourg l'Abbe

Tuesday, April 3 I went to a part of Paris called the Santier district.  In the old days is was the center of what would be like the garment district in New York.  Mostly I saw storefronts which I believe were the retail fronts for the wholesale business behind.  Some had signs that said Wholesale Only.  A few days before I had seen a large store window filled top to bottom with old sewing machines.  It was an amazing site.  Of course I could not find it again when I went back.  I swear I'll keep going back there until I find it again....it looked so cool.

Almost every since display window I saw featured orange as the main color.  It's everywhere in Paris...upscale stores...downscale stores....accessories....handbags...everything.  I think they call is mango, or tangerine, or melon.... but it's all orange to me.  These aren't great pictures, but you can see what I mean.
In this picture, some of it looks kind of yellow too or pink....but it looks a lot more orange live.

I found a messy shop, just stuffed to the gills with trims and buttons and ribbons and hat making supplies...

And some too-weird graffiti.

And a very classy bicycle shop.  You can't really tell because of all the reflections, but the window display was minimal and quite artistic, complete with designer rugs and light fixtres. The sign said something like "custom made bicycles of distinction."

I wandered around and came across this lovely arch over the beginning of a pedestrian-only market street which had interesting specialty shops, cheese shops, cafes, bistros, chocolate shops....everying.  It was about five or six blocks long.

I saw something interesting down a side street, and came across the Passage Du Grande Cerf.  It is a beautiful Passage, very clean and well cared for -  lined with shops of all kind of designers, artisans, decorators, craftspeople, etc.
It was built in 1825.  They did a renovation in 1988 and totally respected all the architectural details of the passage.

                                                               This is all beadwork...

                                      For my chicken and duck-loving friends..........

I loved this knitted (or crocheted) pillow in the shape of a guitar - it's even got the knobs and pick-ups.  It does appear to be missing a string.

When I came to the end of the Passage Du Grande Cerf, right across the street was the beginning of another passage.  The Bourg l'Abbe.  It was built around the same time as the Passage above, but has not been so  lovingly cared for over the years.   You can see it has good bones and a fantastic Barometer from 1862.  The Passage is all kind of dusty and shabby, with an aged patina to it.  The shops in this Passage were more like true old-fashioned crafts people....more like furniture makers, plaster work restoring, frames, that sort of thing.  The windows were mostly covered with something from the inside, so there were no pictures to be had of their contents.  The only one was a wood-working studio.  He had big rough-cut slabs of hard wood out in the passage and, tho you can't see it well in the picture, the door to his shop was so beautiful....not ornate, but a well-worn, well-used wooden door where the wood was all smooth and shiny from years of hard-working hands.

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I was leaving this Passage and I came upon a most unusual shop.  I spent a long time looking in the window and just as I was about to take a picture of the door...it opened and a rather gruff looking man came out and said something to me I couldn't understand.  I thought, of course, that he had said, no pictures.....so I didn't.  But the longer I stood there, the more I was drawn to go in....so I did.  In retrospect, I think he did not say no pictures....but ask me to come in.  The shop is about twice the size of my bathroom (which is pretty small) and packed to the gills with vinyl records....the most amazing collection of blues you've ever seen....more even than my old friend Greg Wilson had.  It was floor to ceiling.  You can see that there was an attempt to sort it out.  There were some bins with dividers with artists names.  Every single old time blues name you could ever think of!....and some you've never heard of.  Also shelf after shelf of old R& B.  There was an area about two feet by three feet to stand in, (no where to sit) because everywhere else there were cardboard boxes full of vinyl records.  The guy didn't say a word and I just stood there staring.  And he was playing the sweetest down with it blues I'd never heard.  I stood there for about a half hour just listening...and he spun the discs.   Finally I just  looked at him, with tears in my eyes and said Merci, Monsieur...and left. He knew...that I knew....where I was.   No pictures........

Goodies Records, 3, rue de Palestro 75002, Paris .........