Improbable Walks, Season 5, Episode 2: In honor of the rains of spring, let's stroll into the magical world of the covered arcade. In this episode, we focus on the Passage des Panoramas & the Passage Jouffroy. So let's talk history! First, this is how the entrance to the Passage des Panoramas looks today, from the Boulevard. Next, a view of the circular turret Panoramas, back in their heyday--along with the theatre belonging to La Montansier. Yes, Madame looks pretty & blond & silly, but she managed theatre troops, directed sold-out shows on the front lines, and survived censorship, prison, and four different political systems. What's more, her Théâtre des Variétés is still running strong, more than 200 years later. This is how the theatre looked in 1900; really, the scene hasn't changed much at all! This is Marie Bashkirtseff's depiction of the painting school Julien in 1881, upstairs in the Passage des Panoramas ("In the Studio", 1881)
Finally, a photo of me, walking in the Jouffroy, which I think is the most evocative of the Paris arcades.
Here is a website where you can sharpen your appetite for pastry at the Valentin tea room (I promise it is worth the trip to Paris to spend an hour here there!) If you want a wonderful slow-browse compendium book about Paris, you'll enjoy Walter Benjamin's brilliant unfinished oeuvre, The Arcades Project.
