NY Post Travel, April 6, 2004

PARIS just isn’t what it used to be. It’s been a while since the Seine separated the radicals (students and intellectuals) from the seat of power (royalty and the merchant class). No longer does a Left or Right Bank address indicate one’s distance from the status quo.

The city’s bohemians long ago abandoned their berets in the Latin Quarter in search of cheaper pastures, rents and wine bars. They tended to settle east, spreading to both banks of the river encompassing the 10th through 13th arrondissements, and parts of the 19th and 20th.

These working-class neighborhoods far from the Louvre/Eiffel/Notre Dame cattle drives lack the traditional museums and monuments many travelers seek. But this deficit is more than compensated for by their increasing vibrancy.

It’s here you’ll find distressed-chic bars and cafés, myriad ethnic shops and eateries, and an energizing, pulse-of-the-street voltage associated with New York or Lon-don, not the once-stuffy French capital.

CANAL SAINT MARTIN
The vibe: Water world
Arrondissement: 10th
Mètro: Bonsergent

Just beyond the Place de la Bastille, the point at which most travelers turn around and head back to more central pursuits, the Canal St-Martin sheds its subterranean passageway and breathes the fresh air. It’s here that the canal, built in 1825 so cargo boats could head from the Seine to north Paris and beyond, becomes plied by pleasure boats that pass under iron footbridges. Take a ride (book passage with Canauxrama; canauxrama.com).

Besides just being a great trip/tour, the waterway creates a tranquil setting for fishermen, cyclists and café life.

Chez Prune is a popular canal-side drinking spot (no. 71 quai Valmy), next to Antoine et Lili, a great home-design shop (no. 95). Further inland, try Le Cambodge for inexpensive Cambodian dishes (10 Avenue Richerand).

RUE OBERKAMPF
The vibe: Immigrant chic
Arrondissement: 11th
Mètro: Parmentier

The streets of the upper 11th arrondissement are a schizophrenic mix of artistic and immigrant life. On Oberkampf west of avenue Parmentier, you’ll mostly encounter bare necessities shopping, but eastwards is a concentration of clubs and creperies.

For shopping, there are knick-knacks at L’Autoécole (no. 101) and handmade jewellery at A La Boule Magique (no. 98).

For drinks, Le Mecano Bar is one of several great watering holes (no. 99). Boogie to techno at Le Nouveau Casino (no. 109), then cool off with ice cream at Special Comptoir (no. 123; it’s open late).

Make sure to detour up the side streets. Les Couleurs is a popular shabby-chic bar (117 Rue St. Maur); next door, try Algerian pastries at La Bague de Kenza (no. 106). On rue Timbaud, you’ll also find Senegalese restaurant Ile de Gorée (no. 70).

VIADUC DES ARTS/ PLACE D’ALIGRE
The vibe: Les artistes
Arrondissement: 12th

Mètro: Ledru Rollin

Shadowing avenue Daumesnil is the Viaduc des Arts, a 19th-century elevated train track whose brick arcades have been converted into high-end artisan showrooms (www.viaduc-des-arts.com).

 In an inspired bit of urban planning (attention, New York City), up top, where the tracks used to be, the Promenade Plantée is a three-mile-long garden leading to the Bois de Vincennes.

Just north is the buzzing Place d’Aligre and its Beauvau market, which combines outdoor produce vendors, a flea market, a covered gourmet market and specialty food shops (Tuesday-Sunday until 1 p.m.). Soothe your shopper’s legs with a cocktail at China Club, a dreamy Jazz Age restaurant/bar (50 rue de Charenton). The Viaduc Cafe is open until 3 a.m. (43 Avenue Daumesnil).

BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE (BNF)/BERCY
The vibe: Modern times
Arrondissement: 12th and 13th
Mètro: Bibliotheque

A vast construction site around the National Library of France (BNF) is transforming a rail yard and warehouse district into a steel-and-glass wonderland (or hell, depending on your opinion of contemporary French architecture) of office buildings, apartments and shops.

The library looms menacingly over the Seine, though the recent MK2 Bibliothèque cineplex, shops and cafés humanizes the environs (128-162 Avenue de France), as does the organic restaurant BioArt (3 quai Francois Mauriac).

Two cool watercraft-cum-nightclubs are moored here: the Batofar, a red lighthouse tug, and a Chinese junk, La Guinguette Pirate, both facing 11 quai Francois Mauriac.

Just upstream at 91 quai Panhard et Levas-sor, two art-squat holdovers, Les Voutes (lesvoutes.org) and Les Frigos (lesfrigos.com), sponsor experimental events and performances.

West of the BNF are great art galleries like Galerie AlmineRech (127 rue du Chevaleret).

IVRY
The vibe: Wonton behavior
Arrondissement: 13th
Mètro: Porte d’Ivry

Few people know that Paris hosts Europe’s largest Chinatown — an exciting and exotic contrast to traditional French life.

A quarter of a million Asians live around this area and the result is just about everything you could wish to find from China, Vietnam and most of South East Asia.

The quartier Chinois is a five-minute walk away from the Place d’ Italie, centered around the avenue d’ Ivry, and is lined with colorful food stores and Asian restaurants. The area’s epicenter is Tang Frères, Europe’s largest Asian food market.

The rows of teas and spices straight from China and the fresh noodles are mouth-watering (48 Avenue d’Ivry).

Or, head to Paris Store in the Olympiades shopping mall next door. The shop is packed with teapots, cooking utensils, plastic fans and all kinds of knick knacks (no. 44).

La Mer de Chine makes some of the best Cantonese food in town (159,rue Chateau des Rentiers). And Xinh Xinh, a Vietnamese restaurant, is the closest you’ll get to being in Saigon (6-8, rue des Wallons).

with Emilie Boyer King

MENILMONTANT/ BELLEVILLE
The vibe: Tower of Babel
Arrondissement: 19th and 20th
Mètro: Belleville/Menilmontant

This hilltop quarter — two former villages annexed in 1860 — is best known for the Cimetière du Père Lachaise, where the faithful pay homage to Chopin, Proust and Jim Morrison.

 But wandering the narrow streets between the cemetery and the 19th arrondissement’s magical Parc des Buttes Chaumont (off Avenue Simon Bolivar) is like visiting Tunis, Hanoi and Istanbul, all in one afternoon. That’s why some call it "Babelville."

The tree-studded boulevard is chock full of grocers selling olives and spices, and boho poetry-music bars like Les Lucioles (102 Boulevard de Ménilmontant). Try Restaurant des Quatres Frères for cheap couscous (127 Boulevard de Menilmontant) or a bistro like La Boulangerie (15 rue des Panoyaux).

A hike up either rue de Belleville (Edith Piaf’s ’hood, now all Asian markets and eateries) or rue de Ménilmontant (souklike bazaars and vintage clothing vendors) becomes a bargain shoppers’ paradise. At the top, Parc de Belleville has a city view rivaling Montmartre’s (off Rue des Couronnes).