Letter From Paris
Paris Kiosque - May 2008 - Volume 15, Number 5
Copyright © 2008 Harriet Welty-Rochefort - Used with permission.
Sometimes a cold impersonal city becomes a village - thanks to one single soul.
In the former working class neighborhood in the east of Paris that spawned Maurice Chevalier
and Edith Piaf, Ali's « the one ».
His storefront near the lively Place de Gambetta announces « Librairie »
(bookstore) « Mercerie » (sewing goods) « Papeterie » (paper
goods ) and « Journaux » (newspapers) - all of which he sells in
what I've dubbed the cavern of Ali Baba. Sometimes, I think he should
add « une sourire » (a smile) to his list of wares. The latter is the reason people
go - not just to buy a paper but to linger to talk to Ali - or
sometimes, even to each other. The tiny quarters form one of the last good spots to meet
new people and shoot the breeze.
Most people know him simply as Ali, but for those who cherish him, he is the Calife of Gambetta.
So it's not surprising that when Ali's asked about the
positive and negative points of his job, he starts with the positive : « Contact with the
clients ».
We're seated on the terrace of a café facing his boutique rue des
Pyrénées while customers and other neighborhood types keep strolling by and
saluting him.
« Did you get your blood test done ? » his doctor ribs him as he passes by.
« Can we buy a paper ? » one fellow jokes, eyeing the closed store, our relaxed
demeanor, and our coffee cups.
Now it's Ali's turn. « And
how's the baby ? » he asks the pregnant boulangère
as she too slows down to greet him. After the doctor and the boulangère,
there's the pretty young woman who recently opened an eyeglass store
down the street, a sociology professor who teaches in Caen, and then I stopped counting the
number of clients and friends who clap him on the back, shake hands or embrace him.
Ali knows everyone. He's the calife of Gambetta !
After eight years in the neighborhood his place is the place to go. Sure, the neighborhood has
changed. « It's become a bit « BOBO », »
he says, using the expression for BOurgeois BOhemians. « Before there were a lot of
older people who, unfortunately, have since passed away. But now I have their children and
their children's children. » Not to mention the children of the
pregnant women who came into his store when he first arrived. « The kids are now 7 or
8 years old and there's not a one that doesn't want to
come into the store to say hello to Ali, » he tells me proudly.
In fact his favorite anecdote is of a young couple and their child who moved from the
neighborhood to the country. The mother told Ali that when her child accompanied her to the
local newspaper store the first time, he said « Bonjour Ali » to the owner !
It's not just the children who don't forget Ali.
« Many of the young people who lived here but moved away to have more space either
come back to see me or slip a piece of paper under the door, » he says.
Why am I not surprised ? Ali's a big bear of a man, tall, bordering on
heavy, with a full head of curly black hair, mischievous black eyes, and a mustache that turns
up slightly at the corners. Born in Tunisia of Andalousian, Egyptian descent, he lost his
parents when he was very young and came to France at age 16 because his grandparents
didn't want him to end up as one of the « enfants de
Bourguiba », a term given to orphans taken in charge by the government.
Although he's been in France ever since, he's never
taken French nationality, not because he was against the idea, but because « I just never
had the time ». Not being French never bothered him in France, but when traveling,
even with a group of French people, he's been asked to stand aside because
he looks (and is) Arab. He recounts this factually as just one of those things that happen.
Maybe this lack of exasperation and irritation is what endears him to all those
stressed-out Parisians. In any event, if the people who enter his store learn
things like patience and politeness from him, he says he's learned many
things from his clients.
For example, from listening to their conversations, he says he learned French words he
didn't know. As far as Arabic is concerned, he says he hardly speaks it any
longer other than with Sylvain, the Jewish Tunisian fellow who runs a mirror shop down the
street, and who likes to remind him of - and tease him about -
Arabic words he's forgotten.
Three years ago, some of Ali's customers decided to meet elsewhere than
the store. They formed a luncheon club they call the Cercle de Gambetta ; their purpose is
simply to get together for lunch two Thursdays a month and « talk about everything and
nothing ». The club consists of Ali, a well-known philosopher, a retired
general, a journalist, the former head of a company, a professor of literature, and four others
for a total of ten. On those Thursdays, Ali closes the shop at 12 :30 and returns at 3, having
discussed the state of the world and anything else the cohorts, all of whom have differing
viewpoints on life and politics, feel like waxing on about over a good meal.
« We've done every restaurant in the neighborhood ! » he
says.
And the work in all this ? Ali opens the shop every morning at 6 :30 a.m. receiving the
day's load of newspapers and magazines - 1470 titles in all
- and selecting the returns. It's a physical job -
all that bending down and shuffling of papers - and there's not
much vacation because « if you close, you lose money ».
In only four years Ali will retire. He's already thinking about what
he'll do - travel and discover parts of France he
doesn't know, play basketball, and get back to some serious chess (he was
an ace chess player in Tunisia - a « vice champion », he says
modestly).
Given the tiny proportions of his shop, there's a good chance it will remain
a newspaper store rather than metamorphose into a real estate agency or a bank. That would
be fine.
But what will the cavern of Ali Baba be like without Ali, the calife of Gambetta ?
Just a plain old store.
Quel dommage ...
Harriet Welty Rochefort is the author of
French Toast: An American in
Paris Ce
leb
rates the Maddening Mysteries of the French and French Fried: The Culinary Capers of an American in Paris.
French Toast was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "wise and devastatingly
funny". For world-famous chef Alain Ducasse, her second book French Fried
"in a lively and hilarious style ... gives an inside look at the world of
French cuisine and wine." Both books are published by St. Martin's Press.
She is currently working on her third book about the French.
Coming to Paris? Harriet gives
tailormade wine and cheese tastings to individuals as well as to university
groups. For more information, visit her webpages:
www.frenchfolio.com and
www.understandfrance.com .
If you've had some funny, startling, satisfying, or dismaying
food experiences in France you'd like to share,
you may contact Harriet directly at
harriet.welty@hwelty.com.
Editor's Note:
Dear Readers, while our writers are always
delighted to hear and to receive comments, both about their columns in the The Paris Kiosque,
as well as your experiences in Paris,
they are unable to answer requests for travel information.
Thank you for your understanding.
