Take a look around-this is Boulevard Pereire, the kind of place where stories linger in the brickwork and the trees seem to stand with a little extra pride. Now, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill Parisian avenue. It’s a grand, tree-lined sweep that stretches out for about two and a half kilometers-give or take a few enthusiastic steps-and it’s packed on both sides with layers of modern Parisian life.
Let’s go back to the mid-1800s for a moment. Imagine this whole area as wide-open countryside-fields, maybe a lone cow or two giving you the side-eye-until a pair of ambitious brothers named Pereire came along. They wanted to run a railway, and the city said, “Sure, but build us a fancy boulevard on both sides first.” Deal struck, they laid rails for the Auteuil line down the center, with leafy lanes branching out on either side. It was all wild grass and stubborn shrubs before then, but this was the launching pad for the elegant neighborhood you see today.
The boulevards’ birth is still marked in the old legal documents: August 2nd, 1855, thanks to the city council of Neuilly. There’s a bit of intrigue to the naming-fast forward to World War II, and someone actually proposed to erase the Pereire name because of the brothers’ Jewish background, swapping it for something more “acceptable” to the occupying forces. Thankfully, that awful idea never made it past the brainstorming phase.
Notice how the two sides of the boulevard are separated by green stretches and the trace of old railway lines, which are mostly gone now-except for the piece that’s become a kind of secret garden, the Petite Ceinture. If you listen closely, you might hear the ghostly echo of steam trains from a different century. Since the ‘80s, much of the old line has been covered up and turned into promenades, gardens, and even tennis courts instead of rails. Not a bad upgrade, right?
Now, let’s talk about the neighbors. This boulevard isn’t just pretty, it’s got a serious artistic pedigree. Composer Maurice Ravel called number 19 home for a while-yes, the same guy behind "Boléro,” which you probably recognize even if you can’t place the name. Sarah Bernhardt, the most famous French actress of her day, spent her final years at number 56. She paid a cool 11,000 francs a year for her digs back then-today, that’s enough to make your wallet sweat; we’re talking about roughly 50,000 USD, just for a year’s rent.
Keep walking and you’ll pass addresses where artists, composers, actors, and even Michelin (the tire company and map-maker) worked and lived. In fact, during the Liberation of Paris, American troops stopped off here at number 97 to load up on thousands of those famous Michelin maps-nothing says "victory march" like a good road map.
Even the buildings themselves tell a story. The earliest were big villas, replaced by elegant Haussmannian apartment blocks, and later by Art Deco facades. A keen eye might still spot a surviving old house clinging to its plot, refusing to let all those new kids on the block steal the show.
This boulevard has seen it all-rural emptiness, bohemian glory, war, transformation, and now, everyday Parisian bustle. And if you dig into local literature, you’ll find novels like "Cri des profondeurs" set right here, capturing the drama of occupied Paris.
Not bad for a stretch of road that started off as farmland and ended up as the home turf for musicians, actors, generals, and, yes, even a few friendly cows.
When you’re ready for something a little more spiritual, head northeast for about 9 minutes-Sainte-Odile Church in Paris is waiting.
