The personal story of a Paris guide who fell in love with France from New York, long before ever living in Paris.
If I haven’t made it abundantly clear already, Paris changed my life. For me, it was a place where people would sit down for coffee and, as we say in French, “refaire le monde” on a café terrasse. It was a place with beautiful architecture and gardens where people could just linger outside instead of just running from place to place like in suburban New Jersey. It was a place so far from everything that I knew, with an infinite amount of things to discover. Luckily, I am still discovering, and I have a job that allows me to discover and impart what I learn. Back then, the US felt like something that I had to endure. After almost eleven years of living in Paris, I have a lot of nostalgia for this period of my life. These years shaped me, and thus Paris With Frank, in very profound ways. New York was my little French/Francophone world before I got to live in Paris. Now, I am so thankful that I had this experience.
A Hidden French World on the Upper East Side
There is a French community hidden in plain sight on the Upper East Side of New York. It was more discreet back in 2009, a year after I started studying French. I wanted to access it more than anything, so I would constantly be on the lookout for spoken French in a crowd, French words written on storefronts, and aspects of French architecture woven into the New York architecture. There is more than you think when you are paying attention. My first experience with this secret world was the Librairie de France, which was right in Rockefeller Center and closed in 2009. I bought two books that I still have: Antigone and a slang dictionary that I used for my homework in French class, and got an earful from my teacher at the Alliance Française.
Chasing French Architecture Through Manhattan
Walking through the city was like looking for hidden treasure, so I would look at everything. Any small moment could transport me to Paris — a mansarde rooftop on the Martinique near Herald Square, which is in midtown. Closer to home, 521 Park Avenue would always be waiting for me to come out of French class and, for a few seconds, would let me dream with its wrought-iron balconies.
The Alliance Française: A Home Away From Home
The Alliance Française — now just called L’Alliance — was truly a home away from home for me. I was there every weekend; I practically lived there. Every Tuesday, they would show French films. We could go to a French conversation event called the Rendez-vous, which would take place with a panoramic view of the Upper East Side. It was where I learned of Lara Fabian, my favorite singer, and met people from all over the Francophone world. The Alliance is still the heart of East 60th Street; everything seems to beat around it. It is also a stone’s throw away from the famous cinema “The Paris,” which was seen on Sex and the City.
My Prête-Moi Paris Years
My Prête-Moi Paris years, which felt like a lifetime, are some of my fondest memories in New York. Melissa gave me a purpose to run around New York looking for French things to see, do, and taste. My mom and I made a pilgrimage up to Ladurée, so I could write my article on macarons in New York. I found the Amélie wine bar. I saw a truly historic exhibit, Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity, at the Met — organized jointly with the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the Art Institute of Chicago, on view in New York from February 26 to May 27, 2013. I love reading those articles now. It is a snapshot of where I was at that point in my life, and it is very rare that we have opportunities to see that.
Why I Built Paris With Frank
That version of me is what I would like to dedicate Paris With Frank to. He nagged at me for years to keep dreaming, continue trying, keep going forward in love and in passion. I lost him for a while, but I now feel like a more mature and more French version of him. There is a part of me, however, that will never lose him — I will make sure of that.
Now, I am going to take all of that passion and put it into guiding you through Paris — on a private walking tour that carries the same curiosity that once sent me chasing mansard roofs across Manhattan, now walking the real streets of the city that inspired them.
