In praise of dirty, sexy cities: the urban world according to Walter Benjamin | Cities | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/21/walter-benjamin-marseille-moscow-cities?CMP=share_btn_tw
via @isskein c’est un chouette texte !
Marseille isn’t as wicked as it used to be. In 1929, the playwright and travel writer Basil Woon wrote From Deauville to Monte Carlo: a Guide to the Gay World of France, warning his respectable readers that, whatever they do, they should on no account visit France’s second city. “Thieves, cut-throats and other undesirables throng the narrow alleys and sisters of scarlet sit in the doorways of their places of business, catching you by the sleeve as you pass by. The dregs of the world are here unsifted … Marseille is the world’s wickedest port.”
