Located near Les Halles, the Montorgueil district can be reached via the Passage du Grand Cerf. At the time, it was at the heart of a working-class district with many factories and workshops. Even today, there are many second-hand furniture and craftsmen’s shops.

At 51 rue Montorgueil, in a sumptuous setting designed by Paul Baudry (decorator of the Opéra Garnier), is the Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Stohrer. Founded in 1730, it is the oldest pastry shop in Paris. At 78, the listed building Au Rocher de Cancale opened in 1848 when the street was just a succession of caterers specialising in the sale of oysters.

The heterogeneous population of this district changes according to the time of day: sometimes visited by tourists during the day who find the Paris of the postcards, by bankers and start uppers of the area who come to eat there at midday and by a clientele of young active people at the beginning of the evening who come to benefit from the many trendy bars.

t has in fact lost none of its atmosphere which was so popular with artists of the 19th and 20th centuries: Toulouse-Lautrec, Dalida, Picasso, Modigliani, Barbara, etc. Its steep streets and long staircases, its colorful facades around the Place du Tertre and its vineyards immortalize the memory of the district’s rural past.

In terms of architecture, Montmartre has a lot to offer: artists’ studios, mansions, villas with gardens, apartments with terraces. While some residents have been living in Montmartre for a long time and would not move for the world, the district also attracts nostalgics and lovers of the picturesque. Some streets hide real pearls, such as Villa Léandre or the passage at number 45 rue Lepic.

Rather than large retailers, the district can boast of having retained its small food shops and a wide choice of restaurants, bars and performance venues. Enough to perfect the postcard image!