Y is for Yesteryear. In this week’s episode, we spoke with two long-time Paris residents about their first impressions of the city.
First, music journalist Valli talked about life in Paris in the early 1980s. (Valli was first on the Earful Tower in 2019: “Famous in France: Meet American singer Valli“). Then it’s Englishman Jim Bane who arrived in Paris in 1963. (Jim was first on the Earful Tower in 2017: “Paris expat for 50 years“.)
The Earful Tower podcast episode
You can listen to the episode below, or wherever you get podcasts.
What was Paris like in the 1980s
American Valli recounted her first impressions of Paris in 1981. She spoke about the change in government, artistic inspiration, style, and – although many years have past – how Paris remains the same.
Valli explained how she arrived in May 1981, when Francois Mitterand was elected – the first time a socialist was elected in this country. “It was a pretty big deal for French people at the time – especially people I was hanging out with. There was a big effervescence, a festive mood, people were thinking ‘okay – things are going to change.’ People were in such a good mood.”
She also shared some of her first impressions of the city, which, incidentally, included impressionist art.
“My studies were in art history, so when I came into the Gare Saint-Lazare and I’m thinking Monet painted this! At the time is was still black with the mental structure and it looked like a Monet painting.”
“There are places that don’t change and where I feel that the most is when I’m in the Tuileries, near le Louvre. It’s probably one of my favourite parks and if you look above the trees and you see those Mansard roofs that are made out of zinc. I think to myself – this is exactly what it looked like. I love to think that for people in the Belle Époque at the turn of the twentieth century, it looked exactly the same.”
Paris in the 1960s and 70s according to a local
Parisian expat Jim Bane arrived in Paris in 1963 in his late teens. Listen to the episode for his vivid description of the police officers he encountered, and his first night sleeping rough on the banks of the Seine. He added that with his London-in-the-60s style long hair, he stuck out in Paris like a pimple on a nose.
By the 70s, Paris had caught up with his previous hometown in some ways, but remained worlds apart from anywhere else.
“In the 1970s Paris was different, it was still French but it was not international, there were not many tourists. Ordinary people were wearing berets, had little moustaches, they were on mopeds. It was not cosmopolitain,” he said.
Jim closed the interview by talking about his approach to daily life in Paris over the decades, calling himself “an addict for the open door”.
“If there’s an open door in Paris, I have to go and have a look. Everywhere, there are things hidden behind that you just don’t suspect. How wonderful! I’ve lived 40 years next to this place and I never knew it was there.”
The Earful Tower podcast episode
Here’s The Earful Tower’s podcast episode again in case you missed it, with new episodes every Monday. The next is our season finale “Z is for…”. You’ll have to tune in next week to find out what it is.
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Want to do a tour? Get in touch on The Earful Tower’s social media or book directly here. The music in this episode is from Pres Maxson, find his Substack here. Photography by Augusta Sagnelli, find her on Substack here. Additional reporting by Charlotte Pleasants.
