II.4.4.g. GENTRIFICATION WITH BRAKES

MENU: 2.4.4.g. Gentrification with brakes

GENTRIFICATION WIPES OUT A PART OF LOCAL CULTURE, BUT SOCIAL SERVICES AND CREATIVE NEWCOMERS BRING A (MOSTLY) HAPPY MIX 

Bank ad next to the Barbès metro

Aspects of change

• Empty lots and new building

• A Moroccan restaurant changes hands 

• Fast-food chicken replaces a convivial bar

• On the other hand...

• Social services, key to the mix

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Empty lots and new building

EMPTY LOTS AND NEW BUILDING

    

STREET SCENES

Transformation

(Corner rues Cavé / Myrha)

Uprooting, anonymous, 2014

The same site in 2020: a youth center with announcements for training and hiring, a pingpong table and a player. 

Rue Stephenson

Construction 

(In 2021)

 

Rue Cavé

A new real estate agency...

...and a gentrified neighbor.

    On rue Doudeauville (Main Street)

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A Moroccan restaurant changes hands 

A MOROCCAN RESTAURANT CHANGES HANDS

SIMPLE DECOR AND MUSLIM TV MEANT AN AUTHENTIC AMBIANCE, WHERE HABITUÉS CHATTED AND THE PATRONNE WAS GLAD TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED

(AT 20 RUE MYRHA, UNTIL 2016)

Now the decor is imaginative but people don't talk. The owner agreed to be photographed, but from afar:

The original cuisine was simply served and succulent. Now it is elaborately presented and ordinary. 

There is no noticeable rapport between clients or between clients and staff.

Money is what counts.  

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Fast-food chicken replaces a convivial bar

FAST-FOOD CHICKEN REPLACES A CONVIVIAL BAR

UNTIL 2022: ART, MUSIC, TELEVISED SOCCER AND POLITICAL DISCUSSION IN AN ALGERIAN'S BAR

(FOUNDED IN 1995)

L'Omadis

43 rue Doudeauville

 

# # #

Watching a soccer match is the Haitian poet Charles Sadrac.

# # #

"We don't have to agree on everything," Hamid Goudjil would cheerfully say, and we'd go on discussing:

Libre circulation des idées ("Free circulation of ideas")

# # #

But he sold the site to a real estate agence and now...

The street-art cat on the window above the store is the only sign of individuality.

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On the other hand...

ON THE OTHER HAND...

ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE FAST FOOD: "THERE WAS NO WAY WE COULD FIND THE 40,000 EUROS THE REAL ESTATE AGENCE ASKED, BUT WE COULD AFFORD THIS CORNER." 

-- Sonia, the cordial co-founder and owner of the shop below, which faces the former bistro now fast-food.

Small food shops have nothing to do with the anonymity of fast foods or brands. Here are a few, traditional or new: 

Vivre(s)

39 bis rue de Doudeauville

Neighbor: 

Nearby

African music and the smell of spices

Koyaka Market

47 rue Myhra

Teas and roasted coffees:

Brûlerie Barbès

14 rue des Poissonniers

On your way back to the Barbès métro...

• Mothers and grandmothers sit next to the railings of the Square Léon park, selling products that they have prepared themselves:

"How much?" "One euro." -- "That's very little." --"But we don't pay taxes!" (They laugh.) They didn't want their pictures taken.

• The corner grocery has flair...

Amiprimeur

10 rue Caplat

•  Across the street and a block away from Barbès's frightening young men, a bar for artisanal beer suggests that co-existence is taken for granted.

Brasserie de la Goutte d'Or

28 rue de la Goutte d'Or

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Social services, key to the mix

SOCIAL SERVICES, KEY TO THE MIX

AT AN EMPTY CORNER NEXT TO A MUSLIM BOOKSTORE... 

Africans discuss, ignoring the cutting-edge boutique behind them:

# # #

By shielding immigrants from gentrification's full ruthlessness, social services protect their vitality.

End of this section.

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Next section, 

2.4.4.h.

 The neighborhood keeps its soul