Friday, November 19, 2010

Paris et San Francisco

So lately my friends and I have been trying to come up with analogues to San Francisco and various cities (mainly New York). Then, idly, I thought: What parts of San Francisco can correspond to parts of Paris? Of course, every town is different, so one will never completely and perfectly overlap with another. But San Francisco is always being called the most "European" city in America America meaning, of course, the most the U.S.; the residents of Buenos Aires, however, would probably argue with me over that claim and often, indeed, "The Paris of the West." Does this hold up? Having spent time around both cities, there are parallels but each city is near and dear to my heart for different reasons. Still, here's some matches I tried to make. Also, do note that Paris and San Francisco are sister cities.

The analogues are listed by Parisian arrondissement (and neighbourhood/landmark, if necessary) and San Francisco neighbourhood/landmark (or other Bay Area communities as needed)

This is definitely a work in progress.

1e - Downtown
- Chatelet - 5th and Market (SF Shopping Centre/Westfield, Powell Station, Cable Car Turnaround)


2e - Geary Street + Civic Center
- Pyramides - Japantown
- Opera - Theatre District + Civic Center
- Palais Garnier - War Memorial Opera House

3e -

4e - The Mission/Castro, but with a little bit of the Civic Center
- Le Marais (Jewish part): Mission
- Le Marais (Gay part): Castro
- Notre Dame - Mission Dolores
- Hotel de Ville - City Hall


5e - Berkeley (not in SF, yes, but much more suited to St. Germain/the Latin Quarter than Anza Vista/USF)
- Sorbonne - UC Berkeley

6e -

7e (I went to school here!) -
- Eiffel Tower - Golden Gate Bridge
- Champ de Mars - Alamo Square (which is nowhere near the Golden Gate, but they are analogous for the postcard-pic factor)

8e - Downtown
- Boulevard des Champs-Elysees - Market Street

9e -

10e -

11e - Bernal Heights
- Oberkampf - Hipster Mission, bordering Bernal Heights

12e - Hayes Valley
- Opera Bastille - Davies Symphony Hall

13e - Chinatown/the Sunset
- Les Olympiades - the Sunset (except Les Olympiades rises up where the Sunset spreads out)

14e - Haight-Ashbury
- Montparnasse - Haight-Ashbury

15e - Dogpatch/Potrero/SoMa
- Javel - industrial parts of SF (Dogpatch, Potrero, SoMa)

16e (I lived here!!) - Pacific Heights/Nob Hill
- Auteuil (more densely populated with homes) - Nob Hill
- Passy (mansions) - Pacific Heights
- Bois de Boulogne - Golden Gate Park (even if Pac Heights is nowhere near GGP)

17e - Seacliff (quieter and lesser-known than the 16th but still rich)

18e - North Beach + Fisherman's Wharf + the Tenderloin
- Montmartre - North Beach-Fisherman's Wharf
- Pigalle - the Tenderloin + 6th st (red light district)
- Goutte D'Or - the Tenderloin (large concentration of working-class immigrants)
- Boulevard de Clichy - Broadway (through North Beach, i.e. the part with the strip clubs)

19e

20e - Colma (what? SF has no cemeteries within city limits lol)

Neuilly-sur-Seine - Marin
La Defense - Financial District
Seine-Saint-Denis - Bayview/Hunters Point