SOVINT: Marseille "La Joliette" And The "Hangar J4" Before The Gentrification

Marseille, La Joliette, Hangars J1 to J4, in 1980s or 1990s

Recently I had to realize that I witnessed in September 1997 the last days of a part of Marseille before its irrecoverable change: The so called "Hangar J4", at that time a ferry terminal in Marseille's harbour at the J4 mole/quay. That part of the harbour was located in the La Joliette neighbourhood (hence the J in the name), and most of the buildings of that ferry terminal were about to be demolished over the coming years.

I have neither taken any images there, nor have I been able to keep any of my images from that holiday in France (both of which I highly regret), so I searched for what was available on the Web: Unfortunately images and information are scarce, all the more astonishing as the new (and beautiful) buildings have retained the "J4" name. That area of Marseille must have been a bit of sore site for the people of Marseille, yet now that it is gone they seem to hold the name in fond memory. The only remaining building seems to be J1, and even its future is uncertain today – the other building have been destroyed, with the Hangar J4 being the first to vanish in 1997 without much fanfare.

Verfeuil

View Larger Map

How did I happen to see the last days of "old" La Joliette? In September 1997 my girlfriend and I made a vacation in the south-east of France: we stayed in a tiny tiny apartment, in the tiny tiny and picturesque village called Montèze, near the small commune Verfeuil, located in the beautiful department Gard, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, part of "Le Midi" – The South – and more or less the "Mediterranean". We went to typical tourist sites in the Gard department, and a bit in the neighbouring Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. We went where all the tourists went, like Aviginon (with its bridge and papal palace), the Pont du Gard and Nimes with its arena. Plus we went to smaller and less known, but still very beautiful towns in the vicinity, like Pont-Saint-Esprit (once home to Michel Bouvier, ancestor of Jacqueline Kennedy) and Bagnols-sur-Cèze. So how did we turn up in pre-gentrification La Joliette?

From the Provence to Marseille

View Larger Map

I had the urge to see the sea, to see a big town in a foreign land, to see the harbour. So I persuaded my (somewhat unwilling) girlfriend to drive to Marseille, without much information on how to get there or what to see. If my memory serves me right it had been Sunday, 7th September, 1997, when we travelled to Marseille.

We drove down via Remoulins, Beaucaire (unknowingly crossing the Roman Via Domitia) and Arles, via the RN568 past the Camargue, past Martigues and over the "Viaduc de Caronte" (with its beautiful overlook over the Étang de Berre), and then over the A55 (and unknowingly over the Tunnel du Rove) to arrive via the Autoroute du Littoral in Marseille.

In hindsight the "easier" route would have probably been down the Route Nationale, first the N7, then the A51 and then on the last bit of the A7. But we did not realize back then that the autoroute was free (and not "peage"), and neither that the N7/A51/A7 was simpler to drive. As our choosen route was shorter we drove what was the "complicated" one (and had slight trouble north of Arles). But had we chosen otherwise, I would probably not have seen so much of the harbour – which would have been a pity.

Marseille – La Joliette Viaduc

View Larger Map

I seem to remember that we left the viaduc one exit early (exit 2, while the end of the viaduct was "exit" 1) and drove a little bit underneath on the south-western side the viaduct, between the viaduct and the harbour – but I could be wrong.

J4 Hangar

View Larger Map

Let me open with the five (!) images I found of the Hangar J4:

Hangar J4 (various images) – Personally I find the font for HANGAR J4 in the second image interesting, it is probably Eurostile

Hangars J1 to J4

The original images are here:

Furthermore I found this video: "Plateau: Spécial Marseille" by ina.fr. From the opening of the video I created a panorama of Hangar J4:

A panorama created from screencaptures of the "Plateau: Spécial Marseille" film.

While obviously the coast did continue, and the coastal road did continue (more or less close to the coast, around the harbour or through the Vieux Port tunnel, snaking further towards Italy) it seemed to me we had reached an "endpoint": behind us the road, ahead the Mediterranean. It is places like these which have a certain allure to me: The possibilities, the choice one faces: Do we take the ferry to Algiers, or do we drive home again? (I am paraphrasing an short piece of prose by someone whose name I have unfortunately forgotten.)

I'm sure more – much more – images of J4 exist. But alas, they are not easily accessible. Lingering in shoe-boxes and archives, they pre-date our current time in which digital cameras are everywhere, and digital images can be uploaded "to the web" instantly.

The layout of the harbour had been different in 1997: There had been four quays (all parallel) with ferry docks at the end, and four adjacent "Hangars" – and I think it were the quays that had the names J1 to J4, which gave the names to the hangars (but I could be mistaken). Half of quay J3 had been removed since, with part of the J4 mole filled in.

Now I must say I am not 100% sure whether we stood exactly there, and whether the building I remember had been Hangar J4 – but I distinctly remember a ramp leading up to the upper floor of a two-storey building, with signs labelled with destinations. And I remember that outside of the areal there were two rows of parking cars on the "esplanade" – one along the water, a "street" in the middle and one row of cars on the opposite side of that "street" (at the fence). And I am not quite sure, but an pedestrian walkway along the water had been cordoned off with some rough stones improvisationally laid there. And I remember that there were enough cars, but enough free spaces – and that we parked at the side away from the water (probably close to where the ramp started). "Where did I park my car?" An important question in a foreign city, and I seem to be cursed to still remember that spot some 16 years later… Despite the time, some "memory fragments" are present to me with surreal clarity, as if I had parked there yesterday (and while I had been to the nearby Vieux Port a few years later, I had never revisited that place except through the internet).

I further remember that there were no signs or regulations whatsoever with regards to parking – which was odd, considering the location so close to the port and the limited space there (and this added to an "in-between worlds" feeling that place had). It was as if no bureaucratic apparatus felt responsible or was interested in "enforcing order" at that place, nor was there anybody willing to spent his time to charge parking fees – but despite the lack of enforced order (that some bureaucrat might perceive), the people organized themselves to some parking spaces, and everything seemed fine.

There were quite a few people strolling around – not too many, but a few – coming from the Vieux Port and going to the end of the pier on a nice Sunday afternoon.

And it was not quite clear to me whether the building has been abandoned, or whether it had recently been reclaimed from the scrapheap – it surely had some sort of "in-between" appearance. I think I remember the building was covered with white metal sheet (unlike the photos), which gave it the "recently reclaimed" look, but alas, I'm not sure I can trust my memory here – though it might have been the covers for striping the interior before the demolition. How I wish I had taken an photo! One photo! Sadly my girlfriend was afraid and Marseille had a very bad reputation back then, so unfortunately we both were infected with fear, and I was too afraid take out my precious SLR camera, so I left it in the glove compartment – boo! A valuable lesson, always have an camera with you that you don't mind loosing!

I think I remember that we took a brief walk towards the pier – but again our fear made us leave after a rather short time. I wish I had gone to the end of the pier, and had gone to the other end and taken a look of the Vieux Port of Marseille, if only briefly, to soak in the atmosphere, to look at the people and the buildings.

I wonder how much was publicly accessible in the port back than? After all, this was pre-9/11 and the main worry were that nobody stole anything, and that nobody would stowe away on a ferry.

If I could, I would do more research – but my energy is limited. So I publish what I have researched so far, so others can pick up on this feeble work.

I found those images from 1998, after J4 had been destroyed: Looking toward Vieux Port, and toward Cathedrale Major.

Here is an artist depiction I found how Joliette looked after the piers J1 to J4 were build.

One more thing I found that the J4 seemed to have once been a quay with water on both sides, and that the the eastern side had been filled in long ago, and that once train tracks were laid there.

Another thing I found is that there quite extensive viaducs on the Joliette areal (most in parallel to the public Viaduc du Joliette), even connected by two bridges to the place in front of the Marseille Cathedral. What was still there in 1997 is difficult to find out. It sure would have been interesting for me to explore all the viaducs and ramps and hangars, how they connected, what purpose they served – today very little has remained, but one can find traces here and there.

While arriving at J4, and while leaving J4, we surely drove by the "station sanitaire", but if I took notice, then I failed to have retained memory of that building. A functional post-war building, simple and devoid of embellishment, with a beauty of its own. Thankfully the Marseillais have preserved that building and added it to their new gentrified and lick-clean world of wonders.

Cathédrale de la Major

View Larger Map

We then drove by Marseille Cathedral. The church is quite distinctive, and I have seen it as we drove to J4, and I was happy to get a better look once we drove back.

I think back then the road did lead around the western side – however I am not sure (it is possible the two direction were split, with north-bound traffic on the eastern side).

It was strange, this church being surrounded by traffic and roads, the church forming some kind of "traffic island". (BTW: In older Google Earth images you can make out where the two bridges were that connected he place west of the Cathedral with the harbour.)

And here on the western edge were the two (pedestrian) bridges, possibly called passerelle, that connected the place west of the church to the Joliette hangars – one at the north-end, and one halfway between the north- and south-end. One could drive from the Cathedral to all four Hangars.

In 2002 one could see the rest of the elevated driveways – on the lower left there is the Hangar J1, and on the lower centre is the Hangar J2. Between J1 and J2 there is a elevated driveway – this driveway used to continue to J3 and J4 as well

The remains of the passerelle connecting the place west of the cathedral with the elevated driveway could still be seen

A Google 3D view from 2010.

The western side of the Cathedral

Here once was the "centre" bridge

And here once was the "northern" bridge

Avenue Robert Schuman and Place de la Joliette

View Larger Map

We drove by a small grocery shop in the Avenue Robert Schuman (probably the one that is today in the 35 av. Robert Schuman), and as we needed some food we decided to stop nearby.

I turned left into Boulevard des Dames and found a parking spot on the right – back then there were some parking spots perpendicular to the street. A man approached us immediately and told us something about parking and money. We didn't know if he demanded money, or if he warned us that we needed to pay for the parking spot, but as we had little money we decided to look for another parking spot.

So I returned to Avenue Robert Schuman and we drove on to the Place de la Joliette, where there were plenty of parking spaces. I don't remember the exact layout of the place back then, but I think there were perpendicular parking spots back then. I think there was already some form of newfangled decoration ("urban furniture"), but the "wedge" on the south-eastern side was build the next year (as far as I can see, that wedge was dismantled somewhere around the end of the first decade of the 21st century, so it enjoyed a lifespan of only about decade).

My girlfriend went to buy some food, while I waited in the car to "guard" it from anyone wanting to vandalize or steal an old and underpowered VW Golf II (Diesel) – not that I would have been able to stop any people with ill intentions… And in hindsight it would have been better to guard my girlfriend, who was much more "valued" to me (if it is even permissible to use such a word in the context of a fellow and loved human being).

There was some life on the place, but it was not too busy. I think I remember some mattress lying around, with some other furniture, and it wasn't clear to me whether this stuff was discarded or moved…

After an agonizing time my girlfriend returned with some grocery and we drove off, back to our vacation home in Verfeuil.

In front of the "Docks" and underneath the Viaduc

View Larger Map

We then drove off to leave the city, in front of the "Docks", but stopped near the north-western end of The Docks, underneath the viaduct. I was hungry and wanted something to eat, and it seemed like a better spot to eat in the car than the Place de la Joliette. (I think back then this was one-way street going north, and we parked on the left, underneath the viaduc – again, I could be wrong).

Unfortunately these images are no longer available via Google Streetview – I am glad I made these two snapshots. The viaduc has been shortened and the Streetview images have been replaced with more recent ones.

I remember sitting in the car, looking at the Docks, wondering what history they might have seen. It was very nice, a late-summer day, not to warm, with the viaduc offering shade. It was a really unique atmosphere, and I can't say why, but I really liked it there.

Today, the viaduc has been shortened, and a new tunnel build now – there is no more viaduc in front of the Docks.

What remains

View Larger Map

Today, the rich, the investors and banks, the bigwig politicians have swallowed La Joliette, they have digested it into something shiny, beautiful and new – and have spit out those who lived there. The ferry terminals served for decades the needs of those who visit their families and trade with goods – they are destined to be replaced with cruise terminals. The storage buildings are turned into offices, cafés, restaurants and other better paying venues. What remains are a some of the old stones and an old name: La Joliette.

I wish I could write more (and better!), rescue more from my fading memory, have more illustrations, paint a fuller picture – but alas, this has to suffice.

SOVINT

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Marseille "La Joliette" And The "Hangar J4" Before The Gentrification