European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 23, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The arc Detriomphe shares the champs-�lys4es with fast food advertisements and a changing  Chic to cheap by Richard o Mara the Baltimore Sun if you sit in Fouquet s on Paris champs a Lys Ltd is sheltered beneath its thick red awning you can see through the Bare Winter Trees across the Street to the Burger King. It is a Long Way from one to the other from $5 for a tiny cup of Coffee in Fouquet s to less than that for a whole meal in the fast food joint. They Are Chisling up the Concrete at the entry to Fouquet s snug Terrace to Lay a new line of brass plaques for the names of future movie stars. The Burger King also decorates with movie stars old Black and White photos of the likes of Robert Mitchum James Dean and Catherine Deneuve. No one would be surprised if Deneuve walked into Fouquet s. Should she Ever appear in the Burger King customers would probably fall Over. Still the distance Between Fouquet s and be restaurant do whopper grows Shorter and Shorter a process for which the French have found a word. It is  it is on everybody s lips. Jacques Chirac the mayor of Paris used it to describe the champs Lily sees slow descent into the realm of the commonplace. Commonplace banal they Are hardly words associated with the champs ulysees that Beautiful Avenue lined with sycamores that sweeps Down from the Majestic arc Detriomphe to its culmination in the immense Plaza at the place de la concorde. It was created in the heart of the French capital in 1667 on the order of Louis Xiv a 11/4-mile Extension of the Vista from the louvre Palace through the Tuil eries gardens up to what is now the place Charles de Gaulle. The champs i by amp yes was a Magnet from the Start for the fashionable people of Paris and for tourists foreign and French. It was a venue for the wealthy aristocratic and artistic for Slinky women and men who wore their Coats As capes. It is the Street Down which Many a victorious army has marched in Pride and splendor not All of them French. Chic. That is the More familiar adjective one thinks of in connection with this Street. But Chic no More. The champs ulysees Over the past 10 years or so simply became too popular. Too Many people not Chic by anybody s definition have been drawn to the glittery artery through Paris eighth arrondissement. The neighbors have complained. Abdo be Mehdi the Earnest Young Deputy manager of the Burger King is not at All unhappy about the Way things have gone. Change he says philosophically is everywhere. It s the same Over on the Boulevard san Michel the left Bank it s the same All Over  he looks out of his shop across toward Fouquet s. Quot All kinds of people come Here now a he said. Quot they say that this is canalization. The people who live near the champs Don t like the change. They have something in their Heads an image of 10 years ago. But it is different n0w-&Quot. L a but for some there Are too Many leather jackets around late at night too Many motorcycles too Many teen agers too Many Garish signs on the buildings too Many tawdry shops too Many Street vendors and far far too Many cars. There Are no longer any top ranked hotels on the Street since the sumptuous Claridge closed in 11977, a place Cole Porter celebrated in an unpublished song that building there upon the right is the famous hotel Claridge. It s where the ladies go at night when they get fed up with marriage. Now the Claridge has a shopping Arcade on the ground floor and offers furnished rooms in the upper stories. And there Are on the Avenue More airline offices than one would think there Are airlines and automobile dealerships pizza places movies video arcades and fast food restaurants. If the champs-elys6es was Ever about something it was t fast food. How did it happen there Are various answers to that. One is the special subway service that opened about 10 years ago into the suburbs. It gave fast efficient commuter service a As Well As ready Access to the City Center a to tens of thousands of suburban youths looking for a place to hang out. Where better than the champs-elys6es? tourists came As they always did. But the big package Tours of the late 1970s and 1980s brought millions of foreigners without too much Money to spend and americans with weak dollars. They and the suburban youngsters were the perfect clientele for Mcdonald a Burger King and various French imitators. All of this coincided with the withdrawal in the late 1980s of the prodigal Arab Prince Lings who used to come to squander their Oil Money in the designer shops such As Vuitton for Luggage and Guerlain for perfume and All the other shops adorned by the pricey product logos of our times. With All these forces working on it the old champs-�lys6es just went Down Market As they say. So what is being done the Man with the answer to that is Patrick Pognant a serious dark haired Young architect with a thin face and a tight smile. He agrees with be Mehdi that change is evident everywhere in Paris. But the champs-tlys6es? it was special from the Start he Hopes to make it so again Quot to bring the prestige  Pognant runs project champs-elys6es, the $35 million plan to return the Street to its former glory. It started at the end of last year and will finish if All goes Well by 1994. The heavy equipment is already deployed planting Trees scooping out Chambers for some 850 underground parking spaces nearly 500 More than the allowable number above ground today. The Din where the Crews Are at work is unbearable. Project champs a lyse is will sweep away most of the cars. Parking will be banned on the Avenue and on the parallel roads. These will be repaved for pedestrians. About 250 Trees Are being planted two rows of them running Down from the arc Detriomphe. The exquisite gardens beyond which go Down to the place de la concorde will be dressed up. New Street furniture will be put in benches kiosks Morris columns those tubular billboards probably As emblematic of Paris As the Eiffel Tower. New building codes Are ready. The famous outdoor cafes the terraces will be Quot homogenized Quot As Pognant put it. They All have to come Down for the sidewalk to be repaved. When they go Back up they will be in the traditional parisian store Banne style with slanting awnings. The Garish signs that detract from the architectural style of the champs i lys6es buildings will not be allowed. And a number of the buildings will be declared historic monuments. Among them will be the old Guerlain building what remains of the Claridge hotel and even an exquisite stairway at 79 champs-elys6es. Not included is 92 champs lyse is a remnant of a Fine old House ruined by the installation of a Cinema on the ground floor. Thomas Jefferson lived there when he was the . Minister of state in France from 1 785 to 1 789. And fast food restaurants suddenly Pognant s face is full of pain. Quot we do not have the Power to close them Quot he said adding quickly that they Don t really want to do that and Don t have to because the restaurants Are not increasing. But he left the impression without saying it that their future on the champs ulysees is limited. April 23, 1992 stripes Magazine 11