Paris - Northeastern inner suburbs : From Le Bourget to Les Lilas

[Minato Ku]

Some pictures taken in summer 2020 with my phone.

A walk from Le Bourget to Les Lilas in the infamous Seine Saint Denis department (93).
We will visit, Le Bourget, Drancy, Bobigny, Pantin, Le Pre Saint-Gervais and Les Lilas.


1. We begin our trip in the eastern edge of le Bourget near Le Bourget the RER station.

Avenue Jean Jaurès, Le Bourget by Minato ku, sur Flickr
2.

Avenue Jean Jaurès, Le Bourget by Minato ku, sur Flickr
3. After crossing the tracks of the RER B, welcome in Drancy

Avenue Marceau, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
4.

Avenue Marceau, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
5.

Rue Sadi Carnot, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
6.Some of social housing architectural experimentation from the 80s, early 90s.

Rue Sadi Carnot, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
7.

Rue Sadi Carnot, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
8. A little pedestrian street, an attempt to create a town center

Rue de la Haute Borne, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
10. A bit further away, this street is the road linking the municipalities of Tremblay en France and Aulnay-sous-Bois to Inner Paris.
It's a commercial road surrounded by an urban fabric of little detached and semi-detached houses.

Avenue Henri Barbusse, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
11.

Avenue Henri Barbusse, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
12.

Avenue Henri Barbusse, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
13.

Avenue Henri Barbusse, Drancy by Minato ku, sur Flickr
14. An housing project in Bobigny.
Bobigny is the seat of the Seine-Saint-Denis departement (equivalent of county).

Place de l'Escadrille-Normandie-Niémen, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
15. Opiste side of the plaza. A more recent housing development with a supermarket on the ground floor. Nothing unusual in Paris

Place de l'Escadrille-Normandie-Niémen, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
16. Tram T1, This opened in 1992 and is the oldest line in Paris (the former tram network of Paris was dismentled in 1937).
The Bobigny section was closed for renovation during summer.
Why ? Because this line has been severely undersized. Planned to carry less than 50,000 daily passengers, its ridership is above 200,000.

Rue de Stalingrad, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
17.

Avenue Jean Jaurès, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
18. A sikh gurdwara

Rue de la Gaité, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
19.

Avenue Jean Jaurès, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
20.

Avenue Jean Jaurès, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
21. The town center of Bobigny is being redeveloped.
They want to replace the town planning of the 60s and 70s with a more traditional streets pattern.

Boulevard Lénine, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
22.

Avenue Pierre Semard, Bobigny, by Minato ku, sur Flickr
23. Bobigny 2 shopping mall, this aging mall is being demolished with the redevelopment of Bobigny town center.
Instead of the former mall, there will be pedestrian shopping streets bordered with residential buildings

Rue Carnot, Bobigny by Minato ku, sur Flickr
24. Bobigny Pablo Picasso metro station.
I cheated a bit to avoid the industrial areas along the Ourcq canal between Bobigny and Pantin.

Bobigny - Pablo Picasso by Minato ku, sur Flickr
25. Eglise de Pantin metro station, two stops away.
This station opened in 1942. It was the eastern terminal stop of line 5 until 1985 and the extension to Bobigny.

Eglise de Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
26. Pantin has a more urban setting. The municipality is bordering the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
An urban renewal operation from the 1950s.

Avenue Jean Lolive, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
27. This is the former National road N3, linking Paris to Lorraine region and Germany.

Avenue Jean Lolive, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
28.

Avenue Jean Lolive, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
29. On this backstreet, some reconverted industrial plants.

Rue de la Paix, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
30.

Rue Jules Auffret, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
31. A manson next to an old factory.
Was it the home of the factory owner ?

Rue Jules Auffret, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
32.

Avenue Jean Lolive, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
33.

Rue Hoche, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
34. Old small decaying buildings are being replaced. Other are being renovated. Pantin a former very working class area is gentrifying.

Rue Hoche, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
35.

Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
36.

Avenue du Général Leclerc, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
37.

Rue du Pré Saint-Gervais, Pantin by Minato ku, sur Flickr
38. Le Pre Saint Gervais, it's the smallest muncipality in Paris area with only 0.27 sq mi.
This is explained by the fact that most of the former municipal territory has been annexed by the City of Paris in 1860 and is now part of the 19th arrondissement.

Rue André Joineau, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
39. It's also one of the densest with more than 64,759 per sqm.

Rue André Joineau, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
40.

Rue André Joineau, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
41.

Rue André Joineau, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
42. Despite the density, it never feels crowded unlike the neighbouring Pantin and Les Lilas.

Rue Danton, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
43.

Rue Anatole France, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
44. Despite its density, le Pre Saint Gervais manages to have small streets like that.

Grande Avenue, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
45.

Grande Avenue, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
46.

Avenue des Soupirs, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
47.

Grande Avenue, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
48.

Grande Avenue, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
49.

Avenue des Sycomores, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
50.

Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
51.

Avenue Edouard Vaillant, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
52. Pre Saint Gervais garden city. An housing project from the 1930s.

Place Séverine, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
53.

Rue Jules Jacquemin, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
54. Le Pre Saint Gervais is located on Belleville hill.

Sente des Cornettes, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
55. Les Lilas.
Les Lilas is quite popular. Well served by transport, quite active, safe.
It's the most expenvise town in Seine Saint-Denis.
You can found wealthier areas in Seine Saint-Denis (like le Raincy) but those are more peripheral.

Avenue Faidherbe, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais by Minato ku, sur Flickr
56. The inhabitants of those towers have a fantastic view over Paris.

Rue de l'Égalité, Les Lilas, by Minato ku, sur Flickr
57. A cemetary overlooking Paris

Cimetière, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
58. Rue de Paris, the main street of Les Lilas

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
59.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
60. Mairie des Lilas, metro station.
The line 11 is the shortest metro line in Paris (excluding two small branch lines). It's currently being extended eastward, this will almost double its length.
Part of this extension have been planned since the 1930s.
Mairie des Lilas is the currently eastern terminus and a new entrance with lifts is being built.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
61.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
62. The western side of Rue de Paris toward central Paris is commercial but

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
63. Romainville telecommunication tower.
Being on the top of the hill, it overlooks all the east side of Paris.

Avenue Paul de Kock, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
64.

Place Charles de Gaulle, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
65. Small alley.

Rue Jacques Catric, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
66. The eastern side of Rue de Paris is quieter, more residential.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
67.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
68.

Rue Leon Renault, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
69.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
70.

Allée des Hortensias, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr
71.

Rue de Paris, Les Lilas by Minato ku, sur Flickr

A little bonus.
After I took a bus to reach Noisy-le-Sec town center and take the RER E
72.

Rue Adrien Damoiselet, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
73.

Rue Jean Jaurès, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
74.

Rue Jean Jaurès, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
75.

Rue Jean Jaurès, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
76.

Rue Jean Jaurès, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
77. Small town houses in the surrounding streets

Boulevard Gambetta, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
78. Because it's next to a large railway yard, Noisy le Sec has been bombed during WW2. What you see is typical post war reconstructions.

Rue Jean Jaurès, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
79.

Rue de l'Union, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
80.

Boulevard de la République, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr
81. Noisy le Sec RER, the current eastern terminus of the Tram T1.
Its extension has long been fight by the conservative mayor of Noisy-le-Sec who didn't want to have a tram on its main street. It is currently underway.

Rue Jean Jaurès, Noisy-le-Sec by Minato ku, sur Flickr

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

18. A sikh gurdwara

Rare! Probably one of the very, very few in France. They must have more of these in England.

Oh well, that's a change from churches, synagogues and mosques.

[MplsTodd]

This is a great tour of a place most visitors don’t get to see. I envy how walkable the Parisian suburbs are. It’s great to see many people out & about.

[mousquet]

^ These are the inner suburbs. They're neighboring Central Paris.
The suburbs sprawl way further in all directions, with a lot of actual suburban environment (single family homes, more or less large yards) as soon as you get 5 miles away from the districts of the central city.

Much of the Paris region area is even semi-rural or simply rural, cause it's kinda large and diverse.

Some of these areas are protected from urbanization, like what they call Vexin for instance, that borders the Paris region to Normandy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexin

The Vexin area actually sprawls over both administrative regions.

There's a bunch of quaint villages with old mansions and very nice properties. It is quite an atmosphere and feels pretty good. You'd feel like you're in some better-off countryside out there.
And it's not too far from the inner metro area, like 20 to 30 miles or something away, but you'd absolutely need a car to move around over there, cause population density is way lower, so it is not served by the inner mass transit system.

[EastSideHBG]

Very cool!

[LSyd]

excellent tour, thank you for posting.

-

[OhioGuy]

Interesting to see. Thanks for sharing these!

[geomorph]

Quite a selection of streetscapes with variety!