Mama Shelter

Hotel description

There’s a widening gap between the picture-book Paris and the real one. As with many great cities, New York and London among them, the center has a tendency towards preciousness, a sort of theme-park quality, a nostalgic romance, which the travel industry trades on heavily. You have to get all the way out to the 20th to find new ground being broken, at Mama Shelter.

It’s a motley crew behind this place: owners include some Club Med co-founders, as well as a French philosopher; the banlieue activist-architect Roland Castro reclaimed the space from a former life as a parking garage; and the one and only Philippe Starck lent his own inimitable brand of design sense to the interiors.

This is actually a pretty inspired setting for Starck’s whimsical approach — the bare concrete could get a bit grim, but a couple of superhero-mask reading lamps go a long way. And in this neighborhood, which is not exactly a brisk stroll from the cafés and bakeries of postcard Paris, you’ll need all of Mama Shelter’s apartment-style amenities, from the iMac that doubles as the TV and entertainment center to the microwave and kitchenette — not just a convenience but a necessity as well, since Mama Shelter is zoned as a residence rather than a hotel.

Paris newbies be warned: this is absolutely the wild frontier, when it comes to tourism, and Mama Shelter is best suited to adventurous types. You’re out on the far side of the Père Lachaise cemetery, and several minutes’ walk from the nearest Métro station. Most of your dining and drinking will be done in Mama’s restaurant and lounge, both of which, fortunately, are exemplary.