Paris - La Samaritaine, love locks, graffiti and more (part I)

When I started my blog, in March 2009, I wrote in the "Introduction" that it was mostly intended for my grandchildren (then aged 2 years+ and 9 months) and would contain my recollections of my past in Paris and my travels.  Now, in 2015, we have four grandchildren aged 8, 6, 3 and 1 1/2 years old.  I have not reminisced much about my childhood so far, so I'll try to include some more recollections in my future posts.  Today I'll start with some remembrances of Paris.

Growing up in Paris as a child, and even during my teenage years, my mother and I would often visit the department stores in the city.  When the weather was pleasant we liked to have a pastry and a refreshment in the cafe of the rooftop terraces which could be found in the Galeries Lafayette, the Printemps, the Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville and La Samaritaine department stores.  We liked the terrace of La Samaritaine because of the panoramic view of the river Seine, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and on the other side, the Sacre Coeur de Montmartre and more.  I cannot count the times we went there but I never took photographs.  (Click on collages and/or photos to enlarge.)

My mother, who in later years developed Parkinson's disease, entered an assisted living establishment in the fall of 2000.  After visiting her there from the US a couple of times I realized, in 2001, that she had no pictures on her walls.  I went back to the terrace of the Samaritaine department store and took photos with my film camera, set on "panorama."  The pictures were not very good, but I had them developed and placed them on her bedroom walls so she could still see Paris around her (she was born in Paris and lived there all her life.)  I found these pictures in a box a few days ago and scanned them - see some of them below.

From then on, whenever I went to Paris I took pictures.  Two famous bridges are close to the Samaritaine, le Pont Neuf (the New Bridge) and Le Pont des Arts (the Bridge of the Arts.)

The Pont Neuf, or new bridge, is the oldest bridge in Paris.  It was started in 1578 under King Henry III and finished under King Henry IV in 1604.  In 1607 it was named Pont Neuf, or New Bridge by King Henry IV as it was a new bridge in comparison to the other old Paris bridges that were lined on both sides with houses.  It connects the Right Bank to the Left Bank of the river, going through the Island of the City.  It was renovated in 1994 and completed in 2007 for its 400th anniversary.  Below are some postcards of the Pont Neuf.

I also took a photo of it last May 2011.

Le Pont Neuf has been an inspiration for many artists.  Below on top is the Pont Neuf in 1940 by Gustave Cariot, French, 1872-1959.  Below on the right is the Pont Neuf in 1872 painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French, 1841-1919 next to the Pont Neuf in the Snow by Camille Pissaro, French, 1830-1903.

Below is a print by French photographer Noel Paymal Lerebourg (1807-1873) from a daguerreotype taken in 1842 from the Pont Neuf near the statue of King Henry IV and looking toward the Pont des Arts.

From the top of the Samaritaine there was a good view of the Pont des Arts (Bridge of the Arts.)  I took this photo for my mother in 2001.  Even from this distance you can see how lovely this bridge is, so light and airy.

The Pont des Arts was built between 1802 and 1804 under the reign of Napoleon I (Napoleon Bonaparte) to link the Institut de France and the central square of the Louvre Palace which, at the time, was called the Palace of the Arts, hence the name of this bridge.  This was the first metal bridge built in Paris and it served pedestrians, only.  It was a very advanced design for the time and used light materials.  From the start Parisians loved this bridge even though, when it opened in 1804, you had to pay a toll to cross it - 64,000 people paid the toll to cross it in 1804.  Below are some vintage postcards of this bridge.

From the beginning the Pont des Arts attracted local, tourists, and famous photographers, such as Charles Augustin Lhermitte, French, 1881-1945, Andor Kertesz, Hungarian, 1894-1985, Brassai, Hungarian, 1899-1984, Marcel Bovis, French, 1904-1997, Robert Doisneau, French, 1912-1994 and Edouard Boubat, French 1923-1999 - see their photographs below.

There are so many paintings of the Pont des Arts that it was difficult to chose just a few.  Below are paintings from Edward Hopper, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Bernard Buffet and Stanislas Lepine.

In 1976 the Paris city government made a study of the bridge and determined that it was no longer safe for pedestrians.  After two wars and collisions with ships, etc., the bridge had been weakened and was dismantled in 1980.  It was rebuilt to the same design and inaugurated by then Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac on June 27, 1984.

My mother and I did love to look at the Seine and the Paris bridges from the rooftop cafe of the Samaritaine.  We went there many, many times.  Ernest Cognacq and his wife Louise Jay opened a small shop in 1869 which they called La Samaritaine after a hydraulic water pump near the  Pont Neuf.  They enticed customers with their new selling methods - the display of fixed prices and the opportunity to try clothes.  The store expanded in 1883 and 1933.  They also sold items through mail order (with a low margin of profit.)  Below are a 1927 postcard of Les Grands Magasins de la Samaritaine and some advertisements.

In 1904 the buildings were renovated in the Art Nouveau style.

The interior of the stores had beautiful mosaics and decorative steel work.

The last time I shopped at La Samaritaine must have been in 2004 when I purchased some soap from Provence and a French CD.  The stores were closed in 2005 after it was found that buildings nos. 2 and 4 were not up to fire safety standards.  A French Luxury Group had purchased the buildings and obtained a permit to upgrade them to a new Japanese architectural plan.  But in December 2012 the Society for the Protection of Landscapes and Aesthetics of Paris filed a complaint over the plans arguing that the modern design would not fit within historical Paris and would distort the charm of the area.  The Japanese plans anticipated a 470 million Euros ($535 million) renovation with a massive undulating glass facade over the building.

The Luxury Group owners wanted to transform this historic landmark into a luxury hotel, high end restaurants, designer stores, duty-free shops and other luxury shops (intended mostly for Chinese tourists) and office space.  After numerous complaints by environmental and historical societies as well as from Paris citizens who said it would be an "eyesore" the Court of Appeal revoked the planning commission in January 2015 and halted further renovation.  Who knows what will happen now.  As for the Parisians (who compared the new facade to a shower curtain,) they feel that they gained a victory and hope that a new plan may be proposed that will retain more of the 18th and 19th century Haussmann style buildings.  As for me, I hope the Samaritaine will not end up looking like another super modern shopping center that can be found in Dubai or Los Angeles.  (Below postcard of one of the buildings of La Samaritaine in the 1950s.)

I wish that I had taken photos when we shopped in Paris.  I had a small box camera but I used it mainly during vacations.  It was not like now with digital cameras, cell phones, iPads and more, photos had to be developed and this was expensive for my student budget.  I looked at my old albums to see if I had a photo from my teenage years in the 1950s.  I found one taken during vacations at Courseulles sur Mer in Normandy in the summer of 1954 when I was 14.  It was taken on the beach.  I used to like walking behind the sand dunes and look at the German WWII bunkers.  This beach had been called "Juno Beach" during the Normandy landing of World War II.  In fact, this is where, on June 6, 1944, 14,000 Canadian soldiers landed.  Ten year later, spending a month by the beach on holiday was not so long after the war - 2005 was ten years ago and it seems close, no?  (The other pictures in the collage courtesy Wikipedia, click on collage to read better.)

This post is getting long, so I'll call it part one and finish in part two.  Tomorrow, Saturday 14 February is Valentine Day, so I'll stop with a couple of vintage postcard greeting this happy day.