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  #1  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2020, 3:07 AM
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Snapshots of Paris Dating Back To 1979

Some shots of Paris dating back to July of 1979 scanned from prints or negatives. Nothing great...you've been warned!


Place de la Concorde - Paris, July 1979
by bill barfield, on Flickr
Those cars are not driving through, people actually parked in the middle of Place de la Concorde in those days.



Tuileries, Paris. 1984.
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Fontaine de Jarente, rue de la Poissonnerie. Le Marais, Paris. 1984.
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Place de la Concorde 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Rue Berthe. Montmartre 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Montmartre 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Montmartre 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Rue Houdon 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr
I spent a week in a 6th floor walk-up hotel with a freezing bathroom down the hall on this street. I was also accosted by a Brazilian transsexual prostitute one evening
walking down this street. Gotta love Paris!



Rue de Sévigné, le Marais. Paris. 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Passage du Cheval Blanc, Quartier Bastille, 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Place des Vosges 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Between Pigalle and Abbesses 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Rue de la Huchette 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



At that very moment she believed that all of Paris belonged to her 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Le Hairdoo Atomique 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr




I've Been seen! 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Rue de la Huchette 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Rue de la Huchette 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



St-Sulpice 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Les Halles to Beaubourg 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Défense D'Afficher 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Cimetière du Père Lachaise 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



When Worlds Collide 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Place de la Concorde 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Place de la Concorde 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Place de la Concorde, Paris 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Shakespeare & Company 1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



L'Institut de France
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Passage des Abbesses 1984
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Rue Saint-Dominique...1991
by bill barfield, on Flickr



Fontaine de Jarente, rue de la Poissonnerie. Le Marais, Paris. 1984.
by bill barfield, on Flickr
As you can see from this, and some of the other photos, le Marais was pretty rough in 1984.



224 Days...1999
by bill barfield, on Flickr
This was 224 days to Y2K. I went back for that...I just said "to hell with the Millennium Bug! There are worse places to be stuck if society collapses.
As soon as I saw Sydney's celebration on TV I knew there was nothing to worry about.



American in Paris 1999
by bill barfield, on Flickr
This was in the Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen area.



American in Paris 1999
by bill barfield, on Flickr

Last edited by bilbao58; Jun 15, 2020 at 3:03 AM.
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  #2  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2020, 3:15 AM
OhioGuy OhioGuy is offline
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Great scenes!
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  #3  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2020, 3:52 AM
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Great scenes!
Merci bien!
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Old Posted Jun 12, 2020, 4:16 AM
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Doady Doady is offline
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Interesting variety of perspectives, and from a different time too. My favourite is the one looking down from the balcony or window, with the hand on the railing. I also really like the "I've Been Seen" one.

Very nice pictures overall, and without digital as a crutch either. To make photographs like this with film is probably not something many people would be able to do, including myself. Just a lot more skill required back then.
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Old Posted Jun 12, 2020, 4:27 AM
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Very nice pictures overall, and without digital as a crutch either. To make photographs like this with film is probably not something many people would be able to do, including myself. Just a lot more skill required back then.

You forget that prints and negatives can be scanned and then edited in photoshop!

You should have seen my first snapshots of Chicago taken in 1978. Some of them were spectacular. I wish I still had them.
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Old Posted Jun 12, 2020, 4:46 PM
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On the contrary, these are beautiful! Thank you for sharing them.
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Old Posted Jun 13, 2020, 1:18 AM
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Thanks!
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  #8  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2020, 2:48 AM
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On the contrary, these are beautiful! Thank you for sharing them.
Thank you!


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Thanks!
No, thank you for the comment.
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  #9  
Old Posted Jun 15, 2020, 12:58 PM
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As you can see from this, and some of the other photos, le Marais was pretty rough in 1984.
Incredible. Le Marais is high-end and ultra bourgeois nowadays. It is some kind of trendy spot for fashion and related lifestyle. For instance, that's where some Scandinavian luxury fashion houses would settle down.
When I was younger, it also was known as a shelter for the local gay community, but since homophobia has significantly decreased in society, they no longer need any particular district to hide.

I was born on Oct. 27 of 1977 and always lived here, so I've actually known the Paris you're showing in your pictures. But when you're only a little kid, you don't look at things the same way as adults do and I've completely forgotten how gritty the city was back then. These pictures look like it was completely refurbished since then.

When you come back, you'll probably have a hard time recognizing the things you've known by that time. Even the eastern arrondissements are massively gentrifying these days, so grit has gradually disappeared. There's nothing affordable left either. Everywhere in the central city is pretty expensive, hence the need for subsidized housing to maintain a bit of social diversity.
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Old Posted Jun 15, 2020, 6:49 PM
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The lady with the hair! She caught you.
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Old Posted Jun 16, 2020, 12:11 AM
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When you come back, you'll probably have a hard time recognizing the things you've known by that time. Even the eastern arrondissements are massively gentrifying these days, so grit has gradually disappeared. There's nothing affordable left either. Everywhere in the central city is pretty expensive, hence the need for subsidized housing to maintain a bit of social diversity.

Paris, like every other desirable city, has become the playground for the super rich.

There were things I saw in '79 and '84 that were definitely gone even by 1989, when I spent a month there for the Bicentenaire.

In 1979 there were men with pushcarts on the streets who sold "limonade" in glasses...made from glass...that you had to give back to them when you finished drinking. Also, they still had the "Première Classe" Métro cars in the middle of the trains and the seats in all the cars were made from wooden slats.

In 1984, there was a dark, scary slum area just southwest of Tour Montparnasse that was filled with squatters and Nigerian drug dealers and no electricity so it was pitch black at night. I believe Place de Séoul and surroundings replaced that. La Villete was still a mercantile center. Bastille was pretty rough. Parc des Buttes-Chaumont was a beautiful park even then. Canal Saint-Martin was charming but not yet trendy. Les Entrepôts de Bercy was still active with giant barrels of wine.

Also, in 1984, the only place to find a public phone that hadn't been smashed for the coins inside was at the PTT offices.

There was no graffiti yet inside the Abbesses Métro stop spiral staircase.

Oh, yeah, the Boulogne-Billancourt area still produced films and Renaults!

I could go on and on. I haven't been in almost 20 years.
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Old Posted Jun 16, 2020, 12:42 AM
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The lady with the hair! She caught you.
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Old Posted Jun 16, 2020, 5:30 AM
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Originally Posted by bilbao58 View Post
You forget that prints and negatives can be scanned and then edited in photoshop!

You should have seen my first snapshots of Chicago taken in 1978. Some of them were spectacular. I wish I still had them.
It's not just about editing but also getting live preview on LCD before taking picture and being able to review the photos on LCD after taking them. No more having to pay for film either.

Chicago in 1978 would have been interesting for sure. One of my favourite films ever is The Blues Brothers and part of the reason is Chicago, and it would have been nice to get a more in-depth look. No doubt the city has changed a lot since then too.
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 2:47 AM
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It's not just about editing but also getting live preview on LCD before taking picture and being able to review the photos on LCD after taking them. No more having to pay for film either.

Chicago in 1978 would have been interesting for sure. One of my favourite films ever is The Blues Brothers and part of the reason is Chicago, and it would have been nice to get a more in-depth look. No doubt the city has changed a lot since then too.
Well, you're right that there was an element of surprise with film...that is, you never knew exactly what you got until it was developed. To be honest, only in hindsight is it a "thing." It's just the way things were back then. I prefer not having to wait.
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 5:45 AM
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Very interesting. I keep forgetting Paris has hilly spots. Overall a very great and beautiful city, even in those rough times.


Thanks for giving us this perspective.
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 4:18 PM
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Such a cool thread. Love it all.
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 5:52 PM
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i wonder when that giant digital display was added to (and removed from) the eiffel tower. i don't remember seeing that before. was it just used as a y2k countdown?


these are such a cool snapshot in time. thanks for sharing.
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 6:47 PM
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Amazing time-bending shots!
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hmmm....
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Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 7:53 PM
Encolpius Encolpius is offline
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I really enjoyed these.
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  #20  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2020, 8:20 PM
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I keep forgetting Paris has hilly spots.
Montmartre is the highest hill within the central city, but there's another noticeable one, Sainte-Geneviève in the 5th arrondissement. That's where they built the Panthéon to bury and honor a number of important persons.

Otherwise, Mont Valérien is another well known hill in the western inner suburbs. It is in Suresnes, slightly higher than Montmartre and offers some cool views over La Défense and Central Paris. That view over there has been causing some NIMBYism, incidentally. A couple of residential skyscrapers in Suresnes was rejected because of it. They would obstructed some views from up there.
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