Paris has quite a few unusual street names, often reflecting events of the past, heroes and just occasionally some less than savory characters. Yes, that’s right, the sign is from a shop that once stood on the ‘Street of Bad Boys’ in the Marais.
Photo: Rui Omelas/Wikimedia
These days it lives in the city’s history museum, the Musee Carnavalet, not all that far from its original home. Most of the street disappeared during the reconstruction of Paris by Baron Haussmann, though a one-block remnant can still be found just off Rue de Rivoli.
The sign hangs in a gallery at the museum devoted to historic signs of Paris, especially the trade signs that once identified for the illiterate where to find a locksmith, a butcher, a wine merchant.
Oh, and about those ‘bad boys.’ No one really knows. The street has existed since the 12th century, the name came into common use in the early 16th century and became official in 1541. The best two guesses are that the butchers who worked in the street were quick with their knives, or that there were actual bands of bad boys preying on passersby.
