Saturday, July 23, 2005
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A one-man band
under the Pont des Arts. He was so
good that Tom put some money in his tophat. Fuzzy deutzia. Gift shop for
the Tour d’Argent (extremely expensive and old restaurant). A large sign
being put up on the |
The leadership
of Now the French
are losing their old National Printing House (l’Imprimerie Nationale) and
maybe Taittinger First, let me
clear up a few misconceptions about Danone.
While the French consider it to be a French company, and a leader in
“innovation,” the historical facts paint another picture. The company was founded in 1919 in In 1929, his
son, Daniel Carasso, moved to Daniel finally
felt safe enough to return to So, with this
history and with 80 percent of its operations now conducted outside of The fear that
PepsiCo may acquire Danone is based solely on rumors. Danone’s stock has gone up as a result,
even though its profits are declining.
Let’s watch to see who might try to benefit from the current situation
by selling their stock . . . . On to the next
loss – the Imprimerie nationale, or National Printing House. It is a huge 38,000 square meter brick
building here in the 15th arrondissement on the rue de la
Convention. I’d say it was built in
the early 20th century.
There is a nice garden in front, with a fine statue of Guttenberg in
the middle. The Imprimerie used to
print documents such as fiduciaries, drivers licenses, identity cards,
examinations, and something important called “l’annuaire,” which also happens
to be what the phone book (white pages) is called. Maybe it is the same thing, I’m not
sure. The Imprimerie
still prints art books, art prints, special stamps, etc. There are a few newer outposts of the
Imprimerie near the banlieue, and I believe those will remain in operation. Only the old central Imprimerie has been
sold. Here’s the
worst: It has been sold to an AMERICAN
investment company that will turn the structure into an office building! The essential part of the building will
remain because it is classed as a historic monument. Le
Parisien states, “But its life will disappear. The blue shirts will be replaced by
neckties, and the odor of ink will be replaced by computer screens.” They still use
Linotype machines with real lead type at the Imprimerie! Up until July 30, that is. The Imprimerie
was started by Francois the 1st.
Back then, 230,000 engravers made deluxe works using French, Greek,
Hebrew, Tibetan, and other alphabets – 64 languages in all. After the Revolution, the Imprimerie was
used as a communication tool to publish all the new rules and
regulations. By 1904, all the
government printing and the printing for government-owned operations (such as
the utility Electricité de France) came from the Imprimerie. “It was a real monopoly,” recalls Loïc de
la Cochetière, the CEO of the Imprimerie. On to the next loss. The Taittinger family, of champagne fame,
needs to sell its company for tax reasons.
It is probably going to be sold to an AMERICAN investment company, Starwood
Capital, which is mainly interested in the chain of economy hotels that
Taittinger owns. There is a
possibility that the champagne part of the company will be sold back to a
French company. Stay tuned . . . . We dined at
La Petite Ferme last night at 8:30 (32 rue Fremicourt, Telephone 01-53-69-01-09). It is such a good value – a three course
fixed price dinner for only 18 euros, and the wine is reasonable, too. The fare is hearty, country-style food –
too copious for me to finish everything on the plate. We were almost finished with dessert when
what was to be a group of 7 young people turned suddenly into a group of 18
at 10PM. Instead of lingering, we left
so they’d have enough room. They were
having a great time, and one of them was trying in vain to get his friends to
be quieter. An older couple who are
friends of the chef were not amused at all with their noise and
conviviality. But we were. There was another table of 5 young men who
also came in to dine fairly late. It
is great to see so many 20-somethings interested in eating “correctly” at a
proper French restaurant. I’d say the
future |