La Bellevilloise: Music, Art, Food and a Huge Terrace in Paris’ Trendy Menilmontant

July 22, 2011  by Eric Goldschein

La Bellevilloise – Terrace (Jerome Seillier)

A typical Parisian night out can mean any number of things. Some people like the club scene, while others prefer a quiet drink along the Seine. Some can knock back shots at the bar, and others look for a cultural infusions via acoustic guitar sets or art gallery openings. To accomplish all of these things in one night would, at the very least, tax your Navigo pass as you zig zag across town. Most likely, it would drive you crazy.

However, Hip Paris readers, I recently visited a place that is so all-encompassing, so varied in its vibe, décor and mission, that you and any number of your difficult-to-please friends can enjoy yourself, no matter what you’re looking for that night — or even that moment.

Entrance to La Halle Aux Oliviers (Kygp)

La Bellevilloise is an expansive, multi-tiered space in the hills of Belleville that, with seeming ease, incorporates every type of good time to be had under one roof. It is a jack-of-all-trades, where bar meets restaurant meets dance floor meets performance space meets brunch spot. Walking into each different area of the space brings a new experience, and I was drawn from doorway to doorway in a pleasant yet mildly schizophrenic frenzy of entertainment.

Kygp

Le Forum

Entering from the street into the Forum drops you into a cavern-like club, dark and inviting. It’s like an Art Deco museum with a pulse. It’s a casual setting, and the various, mostly acoustic sets trade places up on the center stage for a packed room. Multiple floors of seating on both sides of the room allow patrons to watch the staff move with symphonic rhythm through the space, delivering tapas (the salmon wraps caught my eye more than once) and strong mojitos out from behind the imposing bar. The mood, despite the low lighting, is vibrant, cheery and unpretentious. On my last visit, I saw trenchcoats mixing with Nikes and flannels and fitted caps bumping hips with mom jeans…

La Terrasse (Jason Whittaker)

La Terrassee

After the cavernous Forum, emerging onto the Terrace, with its relaxed atmosphere among the Belleville rooftops, is a breath of fresh air. Gorgeous evening light is the setting for another bar, a partially covered deck, abundant greenery and wheelbarrow tables. Reminiscent of a Brooklyn beer garden, this space offers a reprieve from the energy and intensity of the other rooms. The rumblings of upright bass from the Forum are just a whisper out here. Everything about this cozy balcony says: take your time, have a drink. So I did. Continue Reading »

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Behind the Scenes in Paris: Portes Ouvertes de Belleville

June 14, 2010  by Tory Hoen

It’s funny to think how my first visit to Paris involved the requisite art stops (the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay), and how I now get my artistic thrills by lurking in the dark doorways of artist ateliers in Paris’ fringy Belleville neighborhood. But as my relationship with the city has evolved, my understanding of the “real” Paris has evolved as well. I’m not knocking the d’Orsay (it’s worth it every time), but today’s contemporary art scene often happens behind closed doors. A few times a year, these doors open up, and I was lucky enough to be in Paris last week for the Portes Ouvertes de Belleville.

Having lived in this neighborhood this winter, I suspected that there was either some crazy drug trafficking or crazy art-making (or maybe both) going on in the ateliers that lined the rue de Belleville, rue Denoyez and rue Ramponeau. I really wanted to learn more about the scene but—because I am not cool by nature—I figured this was a dynamic subculture that was inaccessible to me. No longer!

My first stop the other week was at “Frichez Nous La Paix,” an artistic collaborative that is responsible for much of the incredible street art in Belleville. I had watched the evolving graffiti on rue Denoyez all winter, and meeting the artists responsible for it felt kind of like discovering that Santa Claus does, in fact, exist.

Continue Reading »

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