"Django Tour" of Paris? Itinerary / suggestions pl

La Gitane

Hi all

I'm planning to go to Samois next year :-)

I thought I'd spend a couple of days in Paris en route, and was thinking of devising a tour of some of the places that Django used to play or live whilst in the city.

I guess most of the original buildings have been demolished or changed beyond all recognition; but I was wondering whether anything worth seeing still survives, and if anyone on the forum has done something similar and could suggest an itinerary.

Would be grateful for your advice / suggestions.

Thanks in anticipation

crookedpinky

:?: Hi there, I was at Samois last year and had planned to go up to Paris for a day to do the Flea Market at St Ouen, visit the nearby Chope De Puces and Guitar Village in Domont north of Paris. I know these are not particlulary Django-focussed - more guitar focussed.

Anyway I think you may be right about buildings having gone etc. but I'll have a look though the books - biographies etc. and see if anything is still there.

I had planned to have a Samois page on our club website but haven't got round to it yet maybe it should have a suggested Django tour of Paris.

Enjoy Samois and maybe we could catch up at the festival

Alan

La Gitane

Thanks Alan

Would be keen to see any info that you could find on buildings, venues etc that are still in existence - if your research turns up anything please post it on this thread.

Flea Market sounds fun...

See ya in Samois!

Best wishes

crookedpinky

Just a quick update, I am working on the "tour" - you'll be pleased to know there are still on or two places to see but a lot of the locations seem to have changed or been demolished as expected.

Anyway I will post to this forum when finished
Alan

BluesBop Harry

La Gitane,
It's gonna be tough to find places still standing where Django hung out in Paris... You can visit his house and his grave at Samois.
If you have enough time to spend in Paris I'd suggest devising a "Gypsy jazz tour" instead. La Chope des puces (on sunday), L' atelier Charonne, R&F Charle, and things like that, the places where jazz manouche is kept alive. There are jams and concerts every night and there's talented players and legends almost everywhere you turn to.

See you at the festival!

For the jams and concerts:
http://www.djangostation.com/Boeufs-et- ... a,291.html
http://www.djangostation.com/agenda.php ... 2009-01-01

crookedpinky

Hi all, here's my first stab at a "Django" tour or at least some of the places to go as a starter for 10. Time constraints don't let me present anything more than a quick list.

I took Michael Dregnis book Django Reinhardt and the Illustrated History of Gypsy Jazz as my starting point and trawled through it for addresses and locations etc. I don't have access to other books, M Dregnis Django biog for example which might give more exact details of street numbers etc.

Anyway, compiling a list of locations I tried to "visit" them using Google maps and with varying degrees of success found that a lot of the locations are still in existence though sometimes changed a great deal.

I've tried to summarise the information as briefly as possible for the moment until I can construct something more visual and interactive and have checked out some of the other locations.

I've tried to list the location, adress and why it's relevant. The hospital for example is where Django recuperated after the fire and - incidentally - was where Stephane Grapelli was born.

Here's what I've got so far, will do my best to add/refine soon.

François RAVEZ

Hi,

Just a few remarks and adresses you could try.

First sadly 'La Roulotte' no longer exists.

Django lived a while at the 'Hôtel Crystal' 24, boulevard St Germain.

In Pigalle he lived at n°6 avenue Frochot (a private avenue closed to the visitors, except for a few guided visits see Pariscope a local equivalent of Timeout).

One of the few places which did not change a lot is 'La Cloche d'Or' a restaurant in Pigalle where Django used to eat with Oscar Aleman.

The "Salle Pleyel" at 252 rue du Faubourg St Honoré has been heavily modernized. But the salle Gaveau (45 rue de la Boëtie) has been recently refurbished, but strictly as it was in the 30's. This is a place where you can find a remote echoe of the time of Django.

Best

François RAVEZ

MichaelHorowitz

Here's a virtual tour with Google Street Map!

The Hot Club Office

Favino Workshop

Busato Cite Griset Shop

Busato Boulevard de Ménilmontant Shop

I actually can't confirm the Busato locations...theoretically those are the correct addresses but the streets and/or street numbers may have changed. I had heard these streets didn't even exist anymore but here they are....and the Cite Griset address really looks like it could have been a workshop.

sockeye

Balajo

La Chope de Puces

If I'm not mistaken, former site of the Vacher-owned Bal de la Montagne Sainte-Genevieve, now Le Violon Dingue; I've actually been in this place I admit sheepishly as it's home to drunken American college kids in Paris.

Approx site of Di Mauro workshop

La Gitane

Dear all

Many thanks for your helpful suggestions.

That's a really good list of things to see.

Will try to make it to as many of these as possible this summer - might even try to post a few photos to the forum.

Best wishes