Les Frigos

From an e-mail listserv I'm on, I found out about the free admission to Les Frigos last weekend. According to the information posted therein:

This building was constructed in 1921, and was built by the Paris-Orléans train company as a giant refrigeration unit into which trains could enter. This use ended in the 1960s.

In the 1980s, SNCF (the modern French train company), as proprietor of the building, decided to rent it out to artists and artisans to give them a workspace that inspired creativity and production. Since 2004, the City of Paris has been the proprietor.

It's completely covered in graffiti and drawings.

The circular hallway/turret that contains the old freight elevator is completely covered in writing. It looks really cool.

There are enormous, old doors that have been painted to match each artist's style, and the whole converted industial space gives a really cool ambiance.

You can tell the refrigerators of the time meant business.

This was in one workshop -- art for the hood of your car? The motorcycle made me laugh.

This was one of the hallways.

I didn't get to wander a lot more than this one wing because I went to see the Youngblood Brass band in concert that night, so I had to get going (if you don't know them, check out this video, they're great), but the building is enormous.