Set back from the road with a courtyard entrance, this pleasant shop is based in a former wallpaper factory. With a cafe, canteen and three floors of goods it’s easy to while away the hours browsing items ranging from light bulb fixtures to clothing by French favourite Isabel Marant. There’s a rotating “exhibit” of items on the ground floor, occasionally in collaboration with brands or artists, making the space feel new upon each visit.

On one side of the street you will find a wall of boxes of buttons, velvet ribbons, coloured leathers, pins, colourful threads, while the other side of the street is devoted to supplies for making hats. Amazingly enough the shop still has a feel of stepping back into the 19th century. Ribbon-only shop Mokuba is just around the corner at 19 Rue Montmartre.

It’s not just old shops that have an individual, focussed approach: Papier Tigre is run by three designers who develop new product lines which often feature bright colours and geometric patterns and a creative use of paper – all of it printed in France. There are also regularly changing collaborations with other brands which can be seen at the back right corner of the space.

Inside the most colourful passage in Paris is Pep’s umbrella repair shop – the only dedicated such one in Europe. Thierry Millet is the man behind the counter, and he keeps busy repairing umbrellas, parasols and canes, as well as creating his own designs, including an umbrella shaped like the Eiffel Tower.

Opened in the 1950s as a restaurant serving hungry longshoremen off the docks at the end of the avenue, the Long Island stood shuttered for years awaiting its rebirth in 2013 as a fashionable cocktail bar and restaurant. Thankfully no major changes were made, everything has just been buffed up to a gloss; the booths, the Formica walls, even the myriad cigarette burns in the woodwork have been preserved, and the result is a handsome time capsule. Expect a polished cocktail to complement the interior.

A favorite location of local college students that look like they sneaked in with fake ids. Among period portraits displayed is one of local newspaperman/poet Walt Whitman. A zinc bar, plank floors, enameled walls salvaged from an upstate butcher, wooden booths and fireplace all add up to a warm, inviting temporary respite from the tumult of our present era. The evident care and attention to detail extend to the drink offerings, and both the oysters and turkey leg sandwich earn their reputations as first-rate. No television, no nonsense, and the music can range from country to soul to jump blues.