Pigalle as we knew it...

Pigalle is known as the sex quarter of Paris (see my blog entry on Pigalle). But these days the places that have made Pigalle as it was are slowly disappearing. In their place, like in many other quarters of Paris are standard shops, cafés that you find everywhere else or even in other cities in the world.

One of these Pigalle ‘institutions’ is the Chao Ba in Place Pigalle (I wrote about this place in another entry). Chao Ba had a club, café, tea house and colonial atmospheres rolled into one. You could lounge in modern couches downstairs on one side or wicker chairs on the other side and upstairs. You could order any alcoholic drinks while munching on traditional Asian bites like spring rolls. Well, Chao Ba is no more. It was, suddenly, closed and boarded up. It reopened as Indiana Café, another café that you could find all over Paris and the world.

Another institution that is still there (but for how much longer?) is the sex cinema (ciné x) on the same Place Pigalle. This is a unique institution for transvestites, gays, straight men who like gays or transvestites or just horny men and couples. You walk in a fairly standard entrance (except for the sign outside, see photo, that will be recognizable as it has been shown in many photos of Pigalle), and enter the movie halls (they have two). These halls are dark, dirty and anything goes in there. Married and macho men could be seen chasing transvestites while gay men run after these macho men. The place stinks of sex. Yet, despite the fact that it is dirty (there are cleaner sex theatres all around Pigalle), full of pick pockets and all, it is probably the most popular sex place in Pigalle and could surprisingly grow on you. The ambiance in this theatre has changed with the gentrification of Pigalle that surrounds it…It is like the last bastion that is resisting fully aware that it is fighting a losing battle.