With the tourist experience becoming more and more sanitised, the gamble of the Mama Shelter creators has been to predict a desire in visitors to base themselves in a more working class, post-industrial landscape. Opened principally as a hotel, the Mama Shelter also operates as a bar, café and restaurant.
Designed in part by Philippe Starck, the curiosity of this discrete, black and white establishment is that it has been built in the footprint of a car-park, overlooking the disused Petite Ceinture railway line. It is in a fact a twin-establishment to an older East Paris icon, the Fleche d'Or café, which is situated opposite the hotel.
With 172 rooms, this is far from being a boutique hotel, but it does mean that very attractive prices are possible. As each room also features an iMac, a fridge and basic cooking facilities, it can be used as the base for a very reasonable stay in Paris. For more casual visitors, it will be the long terrace overlooking the railway line, or the sleek café/restaurant that will be the principal attractions.
Seeing itself as a beacon for a new bohemia, the establishment is a success despite this rather artificial concept. In reality, the east of Paris has shifted upmarket in the last 20 years, so what exactly the hotel is providing shelter from is not clear. It does however offer reasonable prices and a pinch of something different, and that's already not a bad thing in any city.
Find your way with 168 Insider Tips from our Local Spotters
Music Avenue Paris is my local soul/funk/hip-hop specialist. The place has been going since 1995 and every year they really celebrate record store day!
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Entering "Le Silence de La Rue" in Paris you fall silent yourself, in awe of the copious racks of cataloged vinyl & merchandise from indie to rock...
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Les Brutalists is where you'll find a leather maker's workshop that produces customized leather belts and unique, edgy accessories!
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The records sitting in the racks at Vinyl Office make it seem like someone's prized personal collection, with a special focus on black music!
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Cafe "Nomade" is based in an ex-tapissier. It's a perfect morning stop-off ofr a combo of filter coffee, pressed juice and a croissant or pain du chocolat.
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"Jardin Nelson Mandela" in Paris is a new public garden. What's remarkable is the number of shadows to be found there -- useful to remember in the summer.
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"Fontaine de La Croix" in Paris is a folie that's a street relic of a roundabout with many bizarre details that make it very attractive to me...
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"Musée de l'histoire d'immigration" Paris started off as a small museum on ex-French colonies; now it celebrates immigration into France. Lovely terrace
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"Rue du Pelican" in Paris has an isolated space that feels like a time capsule. One can build tall stories of what shady goings-on must've gone on here...
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"Charonne" Paris is an area that in my opinion has been the area which has managed to keep its original identity the most. I love the benches here...
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"Les Douches Gallery" Paris is situated in what was once a public bath built in the 1930s. The gallery itself is fascinating, but the building is better!
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