Ménilmontant
Ménilmontant (French pronunciation: [menilmɔ̃tɑ̃] ) is a neighbourhood of Paris, situated in the city's 20th arrondissement. It is roughly defined as the area north of the Père Lachaise Cemetery, south of Parc de Belleville, and between Avenue Jean-Aicard on the west and Rue Pelleport on the east. The neighborhood includes an 87 m (285.4 ft) high hill, making it the third-highest neighborhood in Paris (after Montmartre and neighboring Belleville).
Throughout much of the Middle Ages, what is now known as Ménilmontant was a rural hilltop hamlet within the independent commune (municipality) of Belleville, where wealthy Parisians vacationed. By the 19th century, as a result of the Industrial Revolution and urbanization, Ménilmontant quickly grew to include a large immigrant and working-class population, and in 1860, it was, like other suburbs surrounding the French capital, annexed into the city of Paris. By the mid-late 20th century, many artists, musicians, students, and hippies began to move into the area, giving the neighborhood a distinctively bohemian, left-wing and counterculture identity.
Today, old factory buildings have been repurposed to house hip live music venues such as fr:La Bellevilloise and fr:La Maroquinerie, while grungy bars along hilly fr:Rue de Ménilmontant lead to warrens of narrow, cobblestone streets and artists’ studios.
The neighborhood is served by metro, with line 2 stations at Ménilmontant, Couronnes, and Père Lachaise, and line 3 stations at Père Lachaise, and Gambetta.
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