The Ninth Arrondissement: Diverse & Inviting

For me the Ninth arrondissement starts at the great Opera Garnier, a place for the world’s best in music and opera, and now the home of a momentous ballet and dance center.  It is also the setting for Gaston Leroux’s “Phantom of the Opera”, and the site of Chagall’s colossal ceiling in the main hall.  No tour of Paris is complete without a visit to L’Opera for it is one of the city’s prime symbols.  Charles Garnier, an unknown at the time, designed the building – a fanciful wedding cake – for a competition in the days of Napoleon III.  It was the site of an attempted assassination of the Emperor by Orsini in 1858.  Decorated with bronze, stone and marble, this multi-style building took thirteen years to complete, partly because of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune that followed. 

When you enter the building you see the museum that was originally the Emperor’s entrance hall.  Here you can trace the building’s history through manuscripts, memorabilia and music scores.  There are models of set designs, busts of famous composers and even the great Nijinsky’s ballet slippers.  The library displays books and manuscripts about theater, music and dance.

The public is welcome to walk around the building.  It is a thrill to walk up the white marble grand staircase and admire the domed ceiling with its intricate mosaics. The auditorium has five tiers in gold leaf and a wonderfully colorful false ceiling designed by Marc Chagall.  If you choose to walk around without a tour guide, make sure you sit in one of the boxes and look down over the fabled concert hall.  Of course, the best way to appreciate the building is to attend an event, but if you are unable to get a ticket or there is nothing of interest to you to attend while you are in Paris, a tour of this fairytale building has rewards of its own.  And be sure to visit the souvenir shop in the main lobby, where there is always something new and enticing to add to one’s collection.

Just behind the Opera, through place Diaghilev (named for the great Russian impresario) is the beginning of the eight Grand Boulevards of Baron Haussmann (these go all the way to the Place de la Republic).   Along these elegant promenades you will find the Galleries Lafayette at number 40, and Au Printemps at number 64, as well as other glitzy-chic shops, and theatres.  One shares these wide streets with other ‘boulevardiers’ who frequent the shops and cafes as they have since Haussmann’s time.

If you return to the Opera and look to the left of the main entrance, you will see rue Scribe, with its famous hotels, and the Café de la Paix at 12, blvd des Capucines, which you may recognize from sketches and photographs of old Paris.  It was once said that if you sit at one of the tables long enough, everyone you have ever known will pass by!

And to the right of the Opera, at the end of the blvd des Italiens where it meets blvd Montmartre, is the Musée Grévin, a fascinating wax museum built in 1882.  On a par with Madame Tussaud’s in London, this museum displays figures of artists, politicians and sports figures, and scenes such as the arrest of Louis XVI after his flight from Paris with his wife, Marie Antoinette.  If you want more, there is a branch of the museum nearby at 1, Forum des Halles where Jules Verne, Gustave Eiffel and Toulouse-Lautrec (in a Montmartre club setting) are gathered in waxed splendor.  The address of the main museum is 10, blvd Montmartre, and you can call for information at 47 70 85 05.

If you happen to be an antiques lover, the top French auction house, Hotel des Ventes Drouot, is at 9, rue Drouot, just a short walk from the Opera.  Named after an aide to Napoleon, this auction house opened in 1858.  A new building replaced the original in the 1950’s, and it is now referred to as the “Nouveau Drouot.”  The surrounding streets, filled with antique shops and stamp shops, are a collector’s paradise.

All of this is in the southern part of the Ninth.  As you go farther towards Montmartre, the ambiance changes.  In the northern section, around Pigalle, there are seedy bars, cheap hotels and unsavory characters.  By the time you get to blvd de Clichy, you encounter a more international population and lines of tour buses along blvd de Rochechouart.  The tourists come here to visit the Moulin Rouge or to ascend the hill around Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre. 

As for me, I usually head to the area around the oldest music hall in Paris, the Folies-Bergères.  At 7, rue du Faubourg Montmartre, I like to dine at the legendary Chartier, set inside a tiny courtyard where two brothers opened a family restaurant in a building once owned by the poet Isadore Ducasse, Comte de Lautremont.  Following the tradition established in France in the late 1890’s, people eat heartily at marble topped tables or simply stand around talking to friends and neighbors.  This is a bourgeois eatery with no class distinctions!   It offers beef and vegetable bouillons for starters and the specialties are daube de boeuf (beef stew), tete de veau (a jellied terrine of veal parts), boeuf bourguignon, white stews (such as blanquette de veau) and mutton. The stars of yesteryear all ate here, including Edith Piaf, Tino Rossi and Maurice Chavalier.  Films have been shot here with Romy Schneider, Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.  The atmosphere is perfect for a rousing night and great food with friends. The restaurant can be reached at 47 70 86 29, but since the restaurant is huge – they serve over 1,200 meals a day, reservations are not really necessary. So famous is this old eatery, it appears in every guidebook on Paris I can find!

If you are budget conscious, Le Bistro des Deux Theatres at 18, rue Blanche (Tel: 01 45 26 4143), offers a good cheese, a bottle of wine and duck foie gras or smoked salmon with blinis for a reasonable price.  While you are in the area, be sure to visit Ste Trinity and the synagogue at 17, rue St Georges.

There are hotels from which to choose throughout the Ninth, near the Gare St Lazare further north, and near Place de Clichy, near the Opera back in the south.  I prefer a hotel close to the Opera; try the Hotel Ambassador at 16, blvd Haussmann, (Tel: 01 42 46 92 63). This 298-room hotel has class.  I confess, my favorite remains the elegant Westminster at 13, rue Paix (Tel: 01 42 61 57 46), between the Ritz and the Tuileries.  I thoroughly enjoy this old-style hotel, although I tend to eat elsewhere.  For those who are willing to sample some of France’s more exotic delicacies, Au Petit Riche at 25, rue Le Peletier (Tel: 01 47 70 68 68), near the Drouot auction house offers boudin blanc (white sausage, sometimes with truffles), boudin noir (blood sausage), and andouilette (a sausage made of tripe). It is not for everyone, but the wine list will please all comers.  And after dinner, try the music at the old Olympia near the Opera metro station on blvd des Capucines. You are likely to hear aspiring young singers whose names have not quite reached the big time.

The Ninth arrondissement runs the gamut from chic to colorful.  While all of it is fun, it is best to avoid the seedier parts after dark.  Yet, I find the glamour of the Ninth irresistible with its beautiful broad boulevards, its diversity and, of course, the Opera.  As always in Paris, there is something for everyone here:  It is old and new Paris living side by side.