Post #745124 by Club Nouméa on Thu, Jun 18, 2015 3:53 AM

An evening out in St.-Germain-des-Prés

We start in the Rue Dauphine, just before dusk, at what is now the Hôtel d'Aubisson, at No. 33.

The basement of this building used to be the location of Le Tabou, an exotic bar that opened in 1947 and was popular with the Left Bank intellectuals, jazz fans and night owls.

Virani has already featured this place on Tiki Central, so here is the link:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=43458&forum=2&hilite=virani

St-Germain-des-Prés has long been a location for exotic art, which I first noticed in the early 1990s whilst walking around the neighbourhood. The back streets between the Boulevard St. Germain and the Seine have a large number of boutique art galleries and art dealers that still sell "primitive" art.

Window-shopping during the daytime tends to be an ordeal at these places due to all the refractory glare you get - not off the glass when photographing I hasten to add, but from the gallery owners. And woe betide rubber-necking tourists wanting to take photos. Should you be seeking the dictionary definition of "snooty", in the absence of words, a photo of a Left Bank art gallery owner would probably suffice. Consequently, the evening is the best time to peruse these places, once the owners have gone home.

While most of the "primitive" art on offer tends to be African, I did spot two galleries in the neighbourhood selling South Pacific carvings (doubtless at very high prices although these places seldom if ever feature price tags).

This one was selling some Kanak maces from New Caledonia.

And this one had a Maori walking stick, displayed upside down for some reason, and quite a way away from the window (hence the blurred photo).

This neighbourhood is worth having a look at if you are after antique or recent books about exotic places too:

The Librairie Maritime d'Outremer (Overseas Maritime Bookshop) was also promoting a recent publication about the travels of Lapérouse:

Lapérouse was a French naval officer exploring the Pacific who went missing, along with the two ships he commanded, after sailing from Botany Bay (Sydney) to New Caledonia and on to the Solomon Islands in 1788. It was not until 2005 that a French expedition to Vanikoro atoll in the Solomons formally identified two shipwrecks there as Lapérouse's vessels.

Crossing the Boulevard St. Germain, I also came across this reminder of the South Pacific:

Nearby is a 1960s style bar and grill called Le Basile:

They have a small yet functional list of exotic cocktails on offer. Their Cuba Libre was quite nice, as is the décor.

As a concluding note, probably the best option if you are looking for South Pacific carvings is to hop on the Métro and get off at Porte de Clignancourt and head north to the St.-Ouen flea market. There is one shop there that sells carvings from Papua New Guinea:

You may also come across other stuff wandering around the various stalls, although this seems to be the only dealer there that specialises in South Pacific carvings.

My next instalment concerns the long and sorry tale of a Kanak chief's head....

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Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas !

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2015-06-18 04:02 ]