Friday, October 13, 2006

Remains of the past


Today I was driving down the rue de la Gaité (14th arrondissement) and I came across this old advertisement that probably re-appeared because they are doing some work on the facade. It says something like "The sales king is here!" Really outdated. Nowadays, it is strictly forbidden to use the word "sale" outside the official, legal sales period.

22 comments:

  1. I'm number one to post a comment today!
    I think you told us before about the law that controls sales periods. It's a good idea. In Chile for example, big department stores have a lot of different sales. They only change the name they use throughout the year.
    The building looks very old!

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  2. I'm a big fan of old buildings with brickwork in them. This building with the advertisement has a lot of character to it. Great photo.

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  3. My gosh...it looks like it has been bombed! It definitely looks like it has history. I love it. What is it now? A business? An apartment building?

    I may have to check it out because we leave for Paris tomorrow! Au revoir mes amis d'international! Maybe I will have my own pictures when we return.

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  4. great found, amazing it's still there.

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  5. Ah... I'm a big fan of all these "leftovers" from the past. And the shape of the building, seen from the side, totally spells "Paris" to me.

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  6. huge wall..??
    hee hee..realy looks so huge!!
    and i like the colour of it,representing the footstep of the time.

    like an artwork.
    ..Jing

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  7. Les vieilles publicités sur les murs parisiens, elles avaient du charmes

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  8. I love these old advertisements. In the U.S. there are a lot for the original coca-cola brand, soap powder, and the like.

    Tomate said, "And the shape of the building, seen from the side, totally spells 'Paris' to me." I agree, but oftentimes I then wonder if all of the old buildings in Paris are about to crumble one day.

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  9. I love this look. I also enjoy seeing glimpses of the past. I am unfamiliar with restrictions on sales periods though.

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  10. Love these ads on walls, Eric. I have a few photos taken in various French towns - usually ads for cognac or pernod. sadly they are not digital so can't post them on my blog. I did post a great plaque Michelin recently (19 Aug)
    http://wind-sand-and-stars.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_wind-sand-and-stars_archive.html
    scroll right down to the bottom to see it - can't give the direct link but if you click on the photo you'll find out why.

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  11. I love these old remnants of the days gone by. I wonder who was the King of Sales? Whatever in the world was sold at the magazin? Yesterday I posted a bit of an old building from the 4th arrondissement on Johnnysarc. Quelle coincidence!

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  12. That wall look like very old. What kind of product their sale?

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  13. I met a traveller from an antique land,
    Who said - "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
    Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
    Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
    And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
    Tell that its sculpter well those passions read
    Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
    The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
    And on the pedestal, these words appear:
    'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
    Nothing besides remains. Round the decay of that collossal wreck, boundless and bare,
    The lone and level lands stretch far away."

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  14. This very much remindes me of a building in Indy...I will have to post it. Great photo!

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  15. Echoing what Michael wrote above, there are quite a few remnants of painted-brick advertisements here in the States. One of my favorites lasted well into the 1980s in Cleveland, Ohio (my home town), where a faded sign proclaimed "Elliot Ness for Mayor." Fans of early American TV will recognize this name as the FBI agent whose 1930s exploits in that law enforcement agency were dramatized in a 1960s series called, "The Untouchables." BTW, he lost the election.

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  16. Michael: you might be right. Many of the pre-wars buildings have already been destroyed, though. In a way, it's kind of a shame, but on the other hand, they were really lacking in comfort, didn't have bathrooms indoors... You can see some of these buildings and the old Paris in some 40's and 50's movies.

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  17. ouf amazing shot... I've got one quite most recently for the ad here : http://instantane.blogspot.com/2006/09/taille-mammouth.html

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  18. The past is like a memorable museum in which one finds oneself practically alone to marvel at the wonders.

    I suppose that's the joy of being an archealogist... and being the first to uncover a long hidden treasure.

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