Club Nouméa's Parisian Tiki Tour - Tiki Travel

CN Club Nouméa Member Wanganui Joined: May 03, 2010 Posts: 459	CN Club Nouméa Posted posted on Wed, Aug 19, 2015 6:36 AM Le Tiki Lounge, Belleville The drinks menu I worked my way assidiously through... It was my first time back in Belleville in 9 years and my recollection of the place was a bit blurred by time. It is one of Paris's more interesting neighbourhoods, being a traditional bastion of working-class socialism (the last and bloodiest fighting in the Paris Commune of 1871 occurred there), as well as being an immigrant neighbourhood for decades, attracting refugees from the Russian Revolution, Germans fleeing Hitler and, more recently, Maghrebins and Chinese. My last night out in the neighbourhood was in 2006 to see a concert in a seedy basement bar by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, but that's another story. This time I was here for the tiki bar, which had popped up a few years ago. Having walked all the way from the Seine, I was parched and was looking somewhat incongruous in spite of my black Hawaiian shirt, as it was only 5 in the afternoon and there was no one there but the owner and the barman. Some confusion ensued over my arrival, as they had only just opened up the place themselves, but a Mai Tai was granted and I settled in, chatting with the owner for a while until a neighbour turned up for a drink. It was her first time there but there turned out to be a South Pacific link - she was in the film business and one of her friends had worked on Mathieu Kassovitz's film "L'ordre et la morale" ("Rebellion" in English), about the Ouvéa hostage incident in New Caledonia in 1988. This prompted my reminiscences about my first visit to New Caledonia shortly after the events in the film, when the place was an armed camp, with Puma military helicopters patrolling continuously overhead, and the morning wake-up call at my hotel being provided by the squealing of military radios being tuned in as a mobile command post in the car park set up for another day's activities. After the neighbour left, the place was still quiet, so I got the opportunity to have a look around and take some photos: These stairs lead down to a basement: I was to return several times, later in the evening, when there was more of a crowd, and the atmosphere was always welcoming, to the extent where the place came to feel like a home away from home. The drinks were very good, while the music was great. Lounge music purists may wince, but the soundtrack of Le Tiki Lounge is 50s and 60s rock and roll. I have been collecting that stuff for over 30 years now but was still only recognising about one in every six or seven of the songs that were being played. It was a welcome change from the usual suspects you tend to hear in retro bars. Various interesting conversations were had with the resident DJs, including one who had been stationed with the Foreign Legion in Tahiti. I took the opportunity to quizz him on various French performers that had always puzzled me: why were these names I kept hearing considered to be so important in the Pantheon of French popular music? To my relief, among other things it was confirmed that Telephone really were just another really bad 80s band and yes, Renaud is naff after all. The conversation was interesting at the bar and I met all sorts of people. Every night was different.... Topics of discussion ranged far and wide, and were always stimulating. So I kept coming back, met more people, and even got coaxed out onto the dance floor one night by a couple of lovely Parisian ladies (the one on the right had purloined my hat for that purpose), dancing to the likes of Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and The Sorrows' "Take A Heart". I will always have fond memories of the three Métro station changes from Montparnasse to get to Place de la République, then wending my way through the crowds in that busy square, and walking up the Rue du Faubourg du Temple, ignoring the curious looks at my tapa-patterned South Pacific shirt, all the way from Auckland circa 1970, until I finally got to the one spot in Paris where it did not look out of place: Le Tiki Lounge. Toto, j'ai l'impression que nous ne sommes plus au Kansas ! [ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2015-08-19 06:48 ]

Le Tiki Lounge, Belleville

The drinks menu I worked my way assidiously through...

It was my first time back in Belleville in 9 years and my recollection of the place was a bit blurred by time. It is one of Paris's more interesting neighbourhoods, being a traditional bastion of working-class socialism (the last and bloodiest fighting in the Paris Commune of 1871 occurred there), as well as being an immigrant neighbourhood for decades, attracting refugees from the Russian Revolution, Germans fleeing Hitler and, more recently, Maghrebins and Chinese. My last night out in the neighbourhood was in 2006 to see a concert in a seedy basement bar by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, but that's another story. This time I was here for the tiki bar, which had popped up a few years ago.

Having walked all the way from the Seine, I was parched and was looking somewhat incongruous in spite of my black Hawaiian shirt, as it was only 5 in the afternoon and there was no one there but the owner and the barman. Some confusion ensued over my arrival, as they had only just opened up the place themselves, but a Mai Tai was granted and I settled in, chatting with the owner for a while until a neighbour turned up for a drink. It was her first time there but there turned out to be a South Pacific link - she was in the film business and one of her friends had worked on Mathieu Kassovitz's film "L'ordre et la morale" ("Rebellion" in English), about the Ouvéa hostage incident in New Caledonia in 1988. This prompted my reminiscences about my first visit to New Caledonia shortly after the events in the film, when the place was an armed camp, with Puma military helicopters patrolling continuously overhead, and the morning wake-up call at my hotel being provided by the squealing of military radios being tuned in as a mobile command post in the car park set up for another day's activities.

After the neighbour left, the place was still quiet, so I got the opportunity to have a look around and take some photos:

These stairs lead down to a basement:

I was to return several times, later in the evening, when there was more of a crowd, and the atmosphere was always welcoming, to the extent where the place came to feel like a home away from home.

The drinks were very good, while the music was great. Lounge music purists may wince, but the soundtrack of Le Tiki Lounge is 50s and 60s rock and roll. I have been collecting that stuff for over 30 years now but was still only recognising about one in every six or seven of the songs that were being played. It was a welcome change from the usual suspects you tend to hear in retro bars. Various interesting conversations were had with the resident DJs, including one who had been stationed with the Foreign Legion in Tahiti. I took the opportunity to quizz him on various French performers that had always puzzled me: why were these names I kept hearing considered to be so important in the Pantheon of French popular music? To my relief, among other things it was confirmed that Telephone really were just another really bad 80s band and yes, Renaud is naff after all.

The conversation was interesting at the bar and I met all sorts of people. Every night was different.... Topics of discussion ranged far and wide, and were always stimulating.

So I kept coming back, met more people, and even got coaxed out onto the dance floor one night by a couple of lovely Parisian ladies (the one on the right had purloined my hat for that purpose), dancing to the likes of Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and The Sorrows' "Take A Heart".

I will always have fond memories of the three Métro station changes from Montparnasse to get to Place de la République, then wending my way through the crowds in that busy square, and walking up the Rue du Faubourg du Temple, ignoring the curious looks at my tapa-patterned South Pacific shirt, all the way from Auckland circa 1970, until I finally got to the one spot in Paris where it did not look out of place: Le Tiki Lounge.

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

[ Edited by: Club Nouméa 2015-08-19 06:48 ]

Post #749444 by Club Nouméa on Wed, Aug 19, 2015 6:36 AM