by A visit to the fifth arrondissement in Paris can make you unusually nostalgic in the current climate. Home to the Sorbonne, student-filled cafes and the cool Rive Gauche all round, it’s a world away from a France on the brink of change. Also known as the Latin Quarter, with cinquième retro charm supplies and specialized shops are ready to browse and lose yourself in.
On an early night walk, I came across a shop on rue des Écoles that sells mandolins and a rare book shop on rue du Cardinal-Lemoine with a window display of ironic protest material, including a copy of The Watergate Cookbook. Near the Seine, you’ll find the Jardin des Plantes botanical gardens and the Natural History Museum, all just a stone’s throw away.
For the most part, the area is comfortably solid and unchanged, with its elegant 19th century buildings and Emily in Paris-style boulangeries – until, that is, you reach rue de Poissy, facing the Brutalist concrete facade of the new Hôtel Pilgrim. Once garaged, it is now ready to take guests on a different kind of nostalgia trip: back to the 1970s.
If you’re old enough to remember it, that particular decade comes into every view. But most agree that it was a great era for furniture, focusing on homely comfort with graceful curves rather than sharp elegance – an aspect that Hôtel Pilgrim resolutely celebrates.
Downstairs, the sofas, including a modular version by Mario Bellini in fat blue corduroy, are sharp rather than sleek. There are also appropriate 70s batiks. Having grown up in this era, it feels like I’m coming home, but in a completely more stylish version.
Of course there is plenty of orange. I was part of the least hip family in the universe, but even we had orange plastic Habitat kitchen chairs when I was growing up. The Pilgrim has adopted orange, but the general tone is sweeter, less citrusy, more like the terracotta hues of the chicken brick, which was my father’s pride and joy.
I can’t help but wonder if the Pilgrim designers were old enough to have experienced the 70s in its original format but, nevertheless, the mood is fresh. Colorful and comfortable, it’s a welcome change from mid-century with its steady diet of tapered chair legs and geometric-minded minimalism. As hotel design goes, this is much more relaxed and friendly.
And it seems to work. The Pilgrim is the nicest hotel in Paris I have ever stayed in; The guests chat with each other while drinking cocktails and playing the board games provided. There is no restaurant, but opposite the mandolin shop is Bonvivant, which lives up to its name as a proper neighborhood wine bar.
Another plus is the basement – which has a guest pool that needs to be reserved (at no extra cost), so it’s never crowded. There are massage beds and wall tiles from the 70s in popular scrap orange and brown.
The next morning I visit the Center Pompidou, built by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, which opened in 1977. It has been a piece of architecture ever since, but if you find the Louvre oppressive (and I do), the light-. filled Pompidou and its connection with its surroundings is a joy. Make the most of it now, as it is due to close from the end of 2024 for a lengthy refurbishment.
The city’s other statement architecture in the 70s, Les Halles, quickly became a rendezvous for drug dealing and edgy fashion shoots. It was demolished in 2010, and is now a Westfield shopping centre, which makes me feel that the Pompidou Center – and the Pilgrim – should be more respected.
The Hôtel Pilgrim, 11 rue de Poissy, Paris, has double rooms from £175 (hotelpilgrim.paris)
The big sleep: three great European hotels enjoying the 70s
The Standard, London
This library and office building opposite King’s Cross station, with its distinctive egg box design, was built by Camden council in 1979. Now the ground floor Library bar celebrates the era with a glorious mix of authentically sourced furniture, overgrown houseplants and a collection a book that takes. both in the kitsch and the thoughtful.
Single double room from £192 (standardhotels.com)
Brussels Hoxton
Housed in the former IBM headquarters, Victoria Tower’s Brutalist exterior gives way to Mike Leigh’s early 1970s exuberance, with pink bathrooms, vintage furniture, velvet sofas and rotary phones. However, away from the retro rooms and retro rooms things get more 2020s with Peruvian inspired food at the cool Cantina Valentina.
Single double rooms from £168 (thehoxton.com/brussels)
Oddsson Hotel, Reykjavík
Exposed ducts (installed for Iceland’s geothermal heating), textured wallpaper, modular sofas by Mario Bellini, pink bathroom sinks and a belief in balanced and affordable hotels for all. Rooms at this Icelandic hotel come in all configurations, and all have direct access to the groovy area of Grensásvegur Reykjavík.
Double bed and breakfast from £139 (oddsson.is)
