Ménilmontant

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Rue de Ménilmontant, the main street of Ménilmontant, with central Paris and the Centre Georges Pompidou in the distance.

Ménilmontant is a neighborhood of Paris, France, located in the XXe arrondissement.

[edit] History

Anciently, Ménilmontant was a hamlet within the independent commune (municipality) of Belleville, which was annexed to the City of Paris in 1860 like the other suburban communes surrounding Paris. The name is said to come from Mesnil Mautemps, meaning "the bad weather house", "the bad weather settlement". Mautemps was corrupted into Montant (meaning "upward") in the 16th century probably due to the location of Ménilmontant on a hill overlooking Paris.

Before the 1860 annexation, Ménilmontant was beyond the octroi (tax border) of Paris, and so wine was cheaper there, which is why numerous guinguettes (pubs) developed in the 18th century.

After the 1860 annexation, Ménilmontant remained a working-class neighborhood, nicknamed Ménilmuche in French slang.

[edit] Transportation

Ménilmontant is served by the Métro station Ménilmontant.

[edit] Arts

Ménilmontant was the theme of several French songs:

Ménilmontant by Charles Trénet in 1938 (re-recorded by Patrick Bruel in 2002)
La marche de Ménilmontant by Maurice Chevalier in 1942
"Rue de Ménilmontant" by Camille Dalmais in 2005

Ménilmontant was the set of classic French movie Casque d'or (1952) starring Simone Signoret, as well as the film The Red Balloon in (1956), and the short experimental film Ménilmontant (1926) directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff.

The chase-scene in the 2002 film The Bourne Identity, where Franca Potente and Matt Damon tear around Paris in a mini, was partly filmed in Ménilmontant.