The Catherinettes, Lorettes and redlights in Pigalle

Yesterday was St. Catherine's Day - a day once widely celebrated by young women ' the Catherinettes'.  These were single ladies over 25 afraid of becoming 'old maids' who would attend church and pray to St. Catherine for husbands.  And they wore amazing hats. They had a lot of fun doing this, rumor goes.  Few ladies celebrate this anymore but there's always a wink and nod from the old timers. Karl Lagerfeld, supposedly gives his 'midinettes' seamstresses little Chanel gifts and probably a lot of companies celebrate with joke gifts and the ladies use it as an excuse for drinks after work.
In Pigalle just up from the Square Montholon with the Catherinettes you'll find the area of former 'Lorettes'. The 'Loretttes' were the kept ladies installed by their patrons in the area surrounding the church Notre Dame de Lorette. The 'Lorettes,' with their apartments, were a step up from the ladies who walked the streets a few blocks up on boulevard de Clichy the hub of red-light Pigalle.

Pigalle is back in the news after a op-ed piece in the NYtimes titled 'How Hipsters Ruined Paris'. This caused a big houha and raised controversy in the blog world - there were some great counter argument blogs - but this op-ed hit me differently than others. For one, the author titled the piece 'How Hipsters Ruined Paris' when he wrote specifically of Pigalle in the 9th arrondissement - the setting of my next book - not 'Paris'. He mentions running out for a bottle of Pouilly something - and he's not a hipster?  He can't figure out the Asian massage parlor across the street from him is a brothel. He likens Pigalle to being Brooklynized - with kale chips.  No local life or colorful red-light ambiance to speak of  since it's being ruined by hipster expats who've taken over the food scene and brought about upmarket clothing shops.

Puhleeezee. S'il vous plaît.
Some say seedy Pigalle area has been transformed into one of the hippest spots in the city. Located on the border of the 9th and 18th arrondissements, the capital’s red light district is dotted with sex shops, topless cabarets - including the famous Moulin Rouge - and euphemistically named “hostess” bars. But recently, its southern area, which some are dubbing SoPi - South Pigalle - has seen an influx of trendy cocktail bars that are making this neighbourhood a hot nightlife destination in Paris. 
Le Carmen started this trend. Opened a few years ago in the decadent Baroque setting of composer Bizet’s former residence - and from whose famous opera it gets its name - the bar comes complete with Neoclassical columns and sparkling chandeliers – but with a rock and roll vibe. Its eclectic programme features music ranging from 1960s to electro, and events such as fashion week parties and live tattooing draw in a boho clientele.
But Paris travels on it's stomach, as Napoleon said of armies. The Mairie of the 9th arrondisement spearheaded a campaign this year to bring a fishmonger back to rue des Martyrs - a shopping street -- after the former retired and closed down. The residents wanted fresh fish. It's all about food in the quartiers and below Pigalle, long in a downturn until the 90's when French Bobo's - bourgeous boheme's moved in because it was central and then cheap with big apartments - formerly the abode of the 'Lorettes'.

This was years before some foodie expats moved in. To me the 9th not only has a history of painters - Toulouse Lautrec, Degas, Vuillard - who all lived on rue de Douai 

but the classical music composers Berlioz, Chopin, Lizst who lived there as well. 
While it rubs me the wrong way that this writer has only lived in Pigalle since 2011 and sprouts off in a NYT op-ed - that's his opinion. My friends Annie-Laure and Claude her partner would roll up their eyes and ask 'has he been on our street, rue Chaptal, hasn't he seen the other side of Pigalle - the daytime family scene until the night world of Pigalle descends at dark?' Or visited the guitar stores on the infamous rue Victor Masse, a musician's valhalla, or attended one of the 13 thriving theatres ( from tiny, to small to mega seating like Casino de Paris) playing stage pieces every night? No kale chips here.
Cara - Tuesday

the Gallic Elvis

In the US we have Elvis impersonators. In France they have Johnny Hallyday impersonators...les Johnnys. If you don't know Johnny Hallyday, and most of the world outside France except Quebec doesn't, he's now an aging French rockstar beloved by many in the land of 354 cheeses.

Johnny, like Elvis, came from humble beginnings. In Johnny's case, unlike the rural South, he was born in the center of Paris (one reason he's beloved - the French see him as a true Paris gamin) lived on rue Clauzel around the corner from where Francois Truffaut spent his childhood. If you watch the classic film 'The Four Hundred Blows' you'll see the postwar Paris streets of Johnny's and Truffaut's childhood which Truffaut used in his semi-autobiographical film. At the time the quartier was working class, full of small shops, theatres and bordered Pigalle.

Johnny's father wasn't in the picture and he was raised by his aunt, a dancer and uncle, an MC at the Cafe de Paris where Johnny got his first singing gig.
Growing up, Johnny was influenced by Elvis and the 1950s rock revolution, and became famous in the 1960s for singing rock and roll in French. The Gallic Elvis. He's still hugely popular after all this time - albeit the fans who fill the stadium are his age, he supported Sarkozy and he's got tax problems which stimulated his move to establish a residence in Switzerland.  Apart from singing Johnny, like Elvis, forayed into films and some of his films in the last decade show a man who took quiet, thoughtful roles and can act, unlike Elvis.
Johnny, like Elvis, no matter what you think of his persona, outfits or antics of driving his motorcycle onstage (and my French neighbor will attest to this) has a good voice.  Johnny still sells out regional stadiums and performed in a packed Stade de France a few years ago on his farewell tour. One of his several farewell tours.
But a faux Johnny got into trouble recently with an impersonator of the late Serge Gainsbourg (the cigarette smoking, iconic composer and singer who sang Je T'aime with Jane Birkin, that one and who is also an icon in France.) Below the real Johnny and Serge.

Who were friends in real-life.

Yet, in one of the more surreal cases seen in a French court, the faux Johnny was stabbed by the faux Serge who viewed him as a rival. This is from the Telegraph:
Denis Colnot, a 48-year-old fan/impersonator of singer-songwriter Gainsbourg, faces a lengthy prison term after being charged with the attack on his Johnny-loving-impersonator neighbour that was allegedly triggered by a long-running feud over the quality of their respective acts.The two men knew each other for years, but their competitiveness is thought to have got the better of them in July 2011 when 'Gainsbourg' decided he could no longer tolerate his rivals insults and allegedly attacked 'Johnny' with a kitchen knife, stabbing him in the neck.
Johnny, identified as Michel Pacchiana, survived and made a full recovery. He described his neighbour as a "cabbage head" driven by jealousy born of constantly losing to him in impersonation contests.
"It's a miracle I'm alive, I thought I was going to join my mother in heaven."
In court, Mr Colnot's lawyer said he "never intended to kill". He faces up to 30 years in prison.
Here's more background from the RFI: The two impersonators who were bitter rivals, entered the same competitions and lived in the same block of flats in the Vosges region. In July 2011 'Gainsbourg' saw 'Johnny' mowing the lawn in front of the building where they both live, hurled insults at him from his balcony and then, grabbing a kitchen knife, ran down and stabbed him in the neck within millimetres of the carotid artery.
He could no longer bear his rival's sneers, he told police, explaining that 'Johnny' had called him a "loser" and other insulting names.
The judge is due to deliver his verdict on Monday.
PS Another similarity Johnny's living and we in American know Elvis is alive, non?
Cara - Tuesday