Parisist has said before that the Champs-Élysées is for chumps. And though we enjoy poking a bit of fun, we still must admit that the historic avenue is mostly a playground for tourists and for media-circus events: shirtless men, long gamer lines at midnight, and guys on bikes who ride in circles on cobblestones...

When we asked you if you thought the Champs-Élysées was either a representation of Paris Life or a Tourist Mall in December, you agreed with us and chorus'd in unison, "MALL!" (Well, alright, three of you agreed, but we're guessing those three represented a large silent majority.)

Well, now an article in the International Herald Tribune is asking the same thing. Why? Because one month later, there are reports that Paris is reportedly pushing back on the 'banalization' of the Champs-Élysées.

Following up on a Clipperton Developpement study of the grand avenue -- in which the consultancy recommended that Paris immediately "ensure the avenue stays what the mayor's office called 'a symbol throughout the world of the Parisian art of living,'" -- Paris is taking action:

The first step was a decision last month to ban the Swedish clothing giant H&M from opening a megastore on the avenue. The decision is intended to slow the invasion of retail stores and to preserve what is left of the diverse character of the most visited site in France after the Eiffel Tower.

Though we fear that it may be too late to change the course of Champs-Élysées' over-commercialization (Gap, the Disney Store, McDonald's, Nike, the Virgin Megastore and Sephora are already well-entrenched,) Parisist was amazed at some of the real estate numbers that were included in the piece. Jean-Jacques Schpoliansky, whose Cinema le Balzac is around the corner from the famous strip, said that his rent is 15 times what it was in 1973. (We're curious as to what the rent was in in 1935 when his grandfather opened the theater.)

In fact, the Champs- Élysées is "the most expensive strip of real estate in Europe and the third most expensive in the world, after Fifth Avenue in New York and Causeway Bay in Hong Kong." The price? A high of "$1.2 million a year for 93 square meters."

With such daunting real estate costs, we can hardly imagine anyone other than large retail corporations with the pocketbook to rent space along the Champs- Élysées. But only time will tell if Paris' new attempts to protect the "soul" of one of its historic districts will have any effect.

Photo of Louis Vuitton's Disneyland-proportioned storefronts in 2004 by Half Crazy Girl on flickr. Photo of the Champs-Élysées crowds in December, 2006 by Palagret on flickr.

1. Need help shopping for last minute gifts? We've got you hooked up with our Parisist Shopping Guide to the Marais. Superfuture also has some suggestions in their neighborhood shoplist.
2. L'artiste Bellevillois ZOX expose à l'Espace Blancs Manteaux [fr] at BelleVille Blogue.
3. Paris8Info [fr] reminds us about Paris illumine Paris [fr], which has a list of all of the wonderful light displays in the neighborhoods of Paris. Our pick: Rue de Rivoli (1er et 4ème) : les flammes de Rivoli.
4. From GoGo and the Oberkampf area: Keny Arkana at Nouveau Casino [sound] tonight.
5. Paris XIV has put out the call that Saint Joseph's hospital is looking for volunteers [fr].

6. And from earlier in the week, two T3 tramway-related items: 13 Esprit Village [fr] was looking for petition signers for the creation of a Damesme stop. (We wonder how that turned out.)
   

   And Paris XIV has a video report of the new tramway:
   

   
   

Video via Paris XIV on Daily Motion.
Top photo of the violin concert under the arcades of the Marais' Place des Vosges by phil h on flickr.

Si vous n’avez pas encore eu l’occasion de visiter la nef du Grand Palais après les travaux, cette semaine peut être l’occasion de le faire et de découvrir quatre salons d'art.

Il s'agit de l’Art en Capital qui regroupe 4 salons : Artistes Français, Comparaisons, Indépendants et Dessin et Peinture à l’eau.

Des nombreux artistes y exposent (ça tombe bien, Parisist et ses lecteurs aiment la variété). Des œuvres que l’on a envie d’emporter à la maison et d’autres que l’on ne comprend pas trop comment on a imaginé une chose pareille.
Ils sont tous là : des beaux objets, des moches, des grands, des petits, des monochromes, de polychromes, avec cadre, sans cadre, carrés, rectangulaires, ronds, figuratifs, abstraits, indéfinis.

Belles peintures, photos, sculptures et quelques spécimens difficiles de comprendre (et d’apprécier). Dans tous les cas, c’est à voir.

Courrez!
Vous n’avez que jusqu’au 19 novembre (dimanche prochain) pour tout voir (les salons finissent à cette date, mais la nef reste!).

Art en Capital au Grand Palais
Porte Principale, Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
9 au 19 novembre 2006
Tous les jours de 11h à 19h
Tarif : 10 €
Métro : Champs Elysées Clemenceau ( ligne 1, 13)

Photos : Jussara

We're thinking of a four-letter acronym that begins with F and ends with AC. No, not that four-letter acronym. We have in mind the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, a major annual art trade show in its 33rd year, taking place today through Monday at the Grand Palais and in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre (yes, that's what all those tents are for).

We hate to point out to the organizers that, strictly speaking, Chagall, Dalì, Haring, and Basquiat aren't exactly "contemporary," but we'll give them a pass on that one, as non-dead artists are also well-represented.

The price is 20€ (or 10€ if you are an art student or have a Carte Louvre Jeunes). A bit steep, if you ask us. An alternative for the budget-minded is the Grand Marché d'Art Contemporain, the next Parisian installment of which takes place from October 31st to November 5th at the Place de la Bastille. That will only set you back 7€, it seems, not that their, ahem, budget-minded website bothers to tell you that. We could only find the admission price listed at this site, which then purports to get you in for free. Anyway, not bad, though we bet there won't be any Chagalls there.

Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain
October 26-30
hours 12h - 21h
métro Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre/Champs-Élysées Clemenceau
entrance 20€, 10€ for art students/Carte Louvre Jeunes

Grand Marché d'Art Contemporain
October 31-November 5
hours 11h - ?
métro Bastille
entrance 7€

Yongban Li, Face, 2004
Photo from the FIAC website