Beach Bums Throng Banks of Seine: No G-Strings Please
Kids cool off under water sprinklers during "Paris Plage" in Paris, France. The two-kilometer stretch of concrete quay is carpeted with 2,000 tons of sand and 3,000 potted palm trees. Photographer: Sophie Robichon/Mairie de Paris via Bloomberg
A promenade with chairs and umbrellas celebrates "Paris Plage." The two-kilometer area was created for Parisians who cannot afford to leave the city on a summer vacation. Photographer: Sophie Robichon/Mairie de Paris via Bloomberg
"Paris Plage"
Sophie Robichon/Mairie de Paris via Bloomberg
Chairs and umbrellas are set up beside the Seine River during "Paris Plage." Pedestrians and cyclists will also enjoy special activities organized along the Left Bank.
Chairs and umbrellas are set up beside the Seine River during "Paris Plage." Pedestrians and cyclists will also enjoy special activities organized along the Left Bank. Photographer: Sophie Robichon/Mairie de Paris via Bloomberg
An opportunity to relax and cool off under water sprinklers during "Paris Plage." A dozen hammocks and 450 deck chairs are available, under a sponsorship deal with cement maker LaFarge SA. . Photographer: Sophie Robichon/Mairie de Paris via Bloomberg
People cool off under water sprinklers during "Paris Plage" in Paris. It is hoped that the urban beach will provide relief during the August "canicule," or heat wave. Photographer: Sophie Robichon/Mairie de Paris via Bloomberg
Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, whose sumptuous offices are located a short walk from the Seine River, officially opened the eighth “Paris Plage” on July 20.
The two-kilometer stretch of concrete quay is carpeted with 2,000 tons of sand, 3,000 potted palm trees and homeless Parisians living in tents provided by the charity Medecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World.
As Delanoe, 60, declared when he inaugurated the ersatz beach -- which laps water that the Ministry of Health says is unfit for swimming -- the “raison d’etre” for the $2.7 million, monthlong attraction remains the same.
“It’s a gesture of solidarity with Parisians who cannot afford to go on vacation,” said the socialist mayor, the first to lead a left-wing alliance in Paris since the 1871 Commune.
Call it the New Luxury.
France is lumbered with a 9.9 percent unemployment rate that’s higher in predominantly Muslim suburbs lacerated with unrest. Paris Beach has become a release valve for metropolitan tensions during the August “canicule,” or heat wave.
For those Parisians unable to make the yearly exodus to the real Paris Plage in Le Touquet, Normandy, or rush to the southern coast flush with glamour, politically correct summer elegance is no longer sipping cocktails at the Ritz Hotel before a Michelin three-star dinner at Alain Ducasse.
Topless Crackdown
Instead, City of Light officials are urging tourists to relax on one of the 450 deck chairs plopped on the sand provided under a sponsorship agreement with the cement maker Lafarge SA. Expect a rush for the few dozen hammocks. About 3 million people last year flocked to Paris Beach. They played hide-and-seek with police handing out $48 fines for topless sunbathing, which risked riling Islamic sensibilities, and ate sandwiches sold by project underwriter Monoprix SA, a grocery chain.
Shortly after the mock beach was closed for the 2002 season, Delanoe, Paris’s first openly gay mayor, was stabbed in the stomach during the all-night “Nuit Blanche” (Sleepless Night) festival. Police said the would-be assassin was Azedine Berkane, a homophobic 39-year-old Muslim from the suburb of Bobigny with a record of violence and drug dealing.
“People must behave according to good standards to maintain tranquility, security and public order,” reads now the city ordinance on Paris Beach. “Notably indecent attire (nude sunbathing, G-strings and toplessness) is forbidden.”
Urban Spectacle
Paris Beach, designed by “urban scenographer” Jean- Christophe Choblet, is a requiem for a city in which self- indulgence is no longer fashionable. The New Luxury is organized on other lines. Indeed, the New York-based Project for Public Spaces, a non-profit group that supports revitalization projects, cheers Choblet’s extravaganza of volleyball nets and temporary swimming pools as an urban marvel.
“There are no outrageous logos on display, and the experience never feels overwhelmed by commercialism,” PPS said in a statement.
Still, it’s often difficult to see anything through the smoke from hundreds of outdoor barbeques grilling lamb sausages along the 20,000-square-foot sand strip open between 8 a.m. and midnight. Yet the global reach of Paris Beach can’t be underestimated. Similarly gritty urban-coastal theme parks, which also feature daily concerts and atomizers spraying water to keep the crowds cool, are now the summer-season rage in Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, Budapest, Munich and Brussels.
“The economy and social discontent have devalued summer vacations,” says Liliane Muller, manager of the luxury Paris tourist consultant company Seatem Group. “Elegance is now a government product.”
For more information about Paris Plage, go to http://en.parisinfo.com/show-exhibition/1198779/paris-plages.
Paris Plage
The eighth edition of “Paris Plage,” reserved for pedestrians and cyclists on the banks of the river Seine, will run through Aug. 20 under the following conditions:
Right Bank -- Every day during the above dates in the direction west to east from the entrance to the Tuileries underpass to the exit of the Henri IV underpass (protected lane to the Pont Charles de Gaulle exit).
Left Bank -- Every Sunday during the above dates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on July 25 due to the Tour de France arriving through the east of Paris. Heading east to west, Voie Expresse Rive Gauche (entrance Quai Anatole France to the exit Quai Branly).
As in previous years, activities will be organized on the lower left bank, between Port de la Gare and Pont de Tolbiac, and an annex of Paris Plage will also be installed at the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement.
To contact the writer on the story: Craig Copetas in Paris at ccopetas@bloomberg.net.
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