Bienvenue à Rue Daguerre
The amazing market street that was home to Agnès Varda
A few years ago, I found a documentary on the Criterion Channel (a streaming service I highly, highly recommend if you’re into film, especially classics, independents, foreign and other) and started watching.
It was a documentary by the female filmmaker Agnès Varda called ‘Daguerréotypes’. It’s about the people living on her street, rue Daguerre. She filmed vignettes of the notions shop owner and his wife, who clearly suffered from dementia; the local hairdresser; the woman who sold table coverings; the boulanger; the men having their coffee or glass of wine at the bar.
Upon doing a little research, I discovered that Varda, who did a number of feature films by this time, took a few years off to care for her baby and couldn’t stray far from home. She lived at number 86 and limited her filming to 70-90 rue Daguerre. The project was commissioned by a German TV channel, allowing her to keep her creative momentum while showcasing local life. It’s a fascinating little look into the lives of her neighbors in the mid-1970s.
Fast forward to this year, and it was time to search for places to stay in Paris during my spring visit. Incredibly, anything in central Paris was insanely priced. Read: insanely priced. Then I spotted a place that was a little further south than I’m familiar with, roughly in the Montparnasse area (where many of the classic old bars and restaurants from the Roaring Twenties still exist). It was (more) affordable, so I reserved it.
Once they sent me the exact location of the apartment, I saw that it was a tiny street off rue Daguerre. Coincidence?
I arrived about two and a half weeks ago, and let me tell you, it’s probably the best neighborhood I’ve ever stayed in. Rue Daguerre is mostly pedestrian street, though cars can drive through. Some of the old storefronts still exist, which is something I love about Paris even when the original shops are long gone.
Rue Daguerre is located in the 14th arrondisement and was named after the famous photographic inventor, Louis Daguerre. Now, I happen to love daguerreotype photos, so I have to ask again: coincidence? (I think not!)
Rue Daguerre isn’t a terribly long street, but it’s in a great location. It has a stop on the RER B regional train, and several different access points to the metro. You can walk easily to the Cimetière du Montparnasse (stay tuned for an article about the cemeteries of Paris), or if you’re on your way to Montparnasse, you can walk down a beautiful, tree-lined street that divides the cemetery. You can also walk easily to Parc Montsouris in the 13th arrondisement.
In the early 1900s, rue Daguerre was known as an artists’ haven - featuring a number of sculptures, painters, and photographers, and still carries a sense of that today. Considering I’m writing a book at the moment, I don’t think I could have found a better place to feel inspired.
Sources:
Varda, Daguerréotypes (1975), and Women Respond (1975) Charles Musser
Daguerréotypes (téléfilm) — Wikipédia
Petite histoire de la rue Daguerre, le quartier général des artistes – Paris ZigZag
I love your openness to discovery. We’ve found over the years that the places not in the guide books or on others’ lists, but rather the ones you happen upon through one’s own unique perspective and curiosity about life, are the most special to us. We’ve “discovered” galleries, shops, churches, museums, restaurants, cafes, bars, music venues and more this way. And we sometimes return to them, sometimes tell friends about them, and sometimes not. To quote a 1960s British Pathé short about life in Paris, it’s “where lovers of life feel they are at home.”