August 14, 2005
Marseille
By JULIA CHAPLIN

WHY GO NOW Marseille is the only city in the South of France where it's possible to dance to live Algerian dancehall into the wee hours, snooze in a 1950's utopian housing project of Le Corbusier and swim among schools of bouillabaisse-pedigreed rockfish in the clear waters of the Mediterranean - and to do so while avoiding the summer hordes descending on Provence and the Riviera.

France's second largest city, the entry point for immigrants from such varied places as Italy, Armenia, North Africa, the sub-Sahara and China, Marseille is an eclectic's dream and something of a well-kept secret. That's mainly because most tourists still imagine it as it was: a seedy, drug-riddled underworld with its ancient alleyways strewn with gangsters and garbage. (Think of the gritty 1970's film "The French Connection," based on a true story about Marseille's international heroin ring.) And while unemployment and crime are still looming social ills, now, thanks in part to government reforms and investment, the laid-back, working-class city has parlayed much of its foreboding gritiness into a raw, quaint-free street culture with a new, multiethnic generation of graffiti artists, musicians and filmmakers.

WHERE TO STAY Marseille is centered on the Vieux Port (Old Port) along with the city's oldest hotel, the Grand Mercure Marseille Beauvau Vieux Port, (1) 4, rue Beauvau, (33-4) 91.54.91.00, www.mercure.com, where such arty types as Chopin and George Sand stayed in the 1800's. Doubles start at $179, at $1.24 to the euro. Breakfast is $16.

In the postwar outskirts is the Hôtel Le Courbusier, (2) (33-4) 91.16.78.00, www.hotellecorbusier.com, in the third floor of the Unité d'Habitation, Le Corbusier's experimental concrete housing project. When it was completed in 1952 horrified locals nicknamed it the Maison du Fada (House of the Crazy) because they thought it so ugly. It has the original restaurant and bar and no-frills guest suites with door-free bathrooms and Charlotte Perrian furniture. Elsewhere in this time capsule are cutely naïve details like seashell indentations in the walls, stained-glass sculptures and, on the roof, a wading pool and giant rock forms for sunbathing. Double rooms start at $112 for a studio with sea view. Breakfast is $10.

For a more aristocratic experience the New Hôtel Bompard, (3) 2, rue des Flots Bleus, (33-4) 91.99.22.22; www.new-hotel.com/bompard, off a boulevard that winds along the coast, has 49 rooms, most housed in a grand villa with a pool and lush gardens. Doubles start at $174. Breakfast $14.

WHERE TO EAT Clusters of small ethnic restaurants, marked by colorful facades with signs in various languages, line the winding streets. (In one evening I spotted Vietnamese, Lebanese, Moroccan, Chinese, Swiss, Portuguese, Italian and Ethiopian.) Make sure to order a bottle of crisp rosé from the region of nearby Aix-en-Provence.

One afternoon we climbed the stairs from the Old Port up to Le Panier, the recently spruced-up ancient quarter dotted with small markets and galleries, and lunched at Au Lamparo, (4) 4, place de Lenche, (33 4) 91.90.90.29, an Italian restaurant on a sleepy square. Despite the divey, run-down facade, the Napoli antipasti (grilled vegetables drizzled with olive oil and fresh cheeses, $12) were palate-blowing. Lunch for two with wine, about $35.

Nearby is Pizzaria Étienne, (5) 43, rue Lorette (no phone), which opened in 1943 in its now-dilapidated stucco house. Locals swear it's the best pizza in the world. It was packed and raucous even at 11 p.m. on a weeknight, the waiters all seemed to have tattoos, and there were old photos of famous footballers covering the walls. It was worth waiting for a table in an awkward line by the bathroom. The pizza ($9), which comes with either cheese or anchovies, ranked high on my best-ever list. (Dinner for two with wine was $75; cash only.)

Up the hill by Cours Julien, known as the "tagger area" because it's practically wallpapered with bright graffiti, is Restaurant du Tagine, (6) 5, rue Crudère, (33-4) 91.48.08.47, with Arabian tiles and with John Coltrane lilting off the stereo. The owners, a husband and wife from Tunisia, whipped up a delicious "sucre" chicken tagine ($17) stewed with raisins and walnuts in a thick honey broth with couscous on the side. (Dinner for two with wine, about $50.)

Marseille is the birthplace of bouillabaisse (French for "boil down"), and a handful of purist restaurants take the matter very seriously. The thick fisherman's soup, according to Michel, the grandson of the original owner of Restaurant Michel, (7) 6, rue des Catalans, (33-4) 91.52.30.63, must contain the original four types of rockfish that live among the crags by the shore here and are hard to catch, which accounts, I guess, for the exorbitant cost. Dressed in pressed jeans and a fisherman's cap, Michel greets customers at the door of the restaurant, perched on the corniche with a view of the old harbor. (In order not to distract there is no music and the room is well lighted.) The formally dressed waiters present the raw fish on ice and give etiquette tips on consuming the stew. (It's considered déclassé to share the giant portions, so save yourself the disparaging looks from Michel and don't even try it.) Bouillabaisse for two ($135), grilled calamari appetizer ($25) and a bottle of Domaine Ott rosé ($74) and a bottle of water came to $234.

On the Old Port, much of which was rebuilt after bombs destroyed many buildings during World War II, is Le Crystal, (8) 148, quai du Port, (33-4) 91.91.57.96, where members of a burgeoning film industry can be found lunching in the afternoon sun on 1940's red vinyl banquettes shaded by bamboo fronds and potted palms. (Lunch for two with wine $45.)

WHAT TO DO DURING THE DAY The streets are a pop culture aficionado's dream. Old colonial buildings with chipped wooden shutters are mixed with storefronts covered with 3-D graffiti murals (the latest trend in tagging here) signs from the 60's and 70's, groovy midcentury high rises and old dive bars with unrenovated interiors that would make trendy boutique hotel designers swoon. (My favorite was ne called Le Source, in the red light district around the opera, with gold-painted silhouettes of busty women that looked like vintage Russ Meyer.)

Friche la Belle de Mai, (9) 41, rue Jobin 13003, (33-4) 95.04.95.04, is a government-sponsored artist squatters' building in a converted tobacco factory by the train tracks 10 minutes by cab from the city center. Wander the art-covered corridors - if you want to tag, and evidently many do, you can buy a marker for $3.50 at Sound Kartel, 2, rue Berlioz, (33-4) 91.47.98.49 - and the cavernous exhibition spaces. There's also a nomadic cafe set up in the parking lot on a flatbed truck with tarps and corrugated aluminum siding.

For a late afternoon sugar fix, hit Plauchut, (10) 168, la Canebière, (33-4) 91.48.06.67, a patisserie that opened in 1820, with inlaid ceilings painted with angels, gold vines and clouds. The obscenely decadent tarte au poires Bourdalou, a pear tart with a meringue topping, is eight inches high.

WHAT TO DO AT NIGHT The trendies hang out in the open-air bars on the Old Port like Bar de la Marine, (11) 15, quai de Rive Neuve, (33-4) 91.54.95.42, with a jumped-up D.J. But the Cours Julien area, anchored by a park with laurel, cypress and olive trees and groups hanging out on benches, is the best sample of Marseille's youthful street culture.

At Le Rosly, (12) 47, cours Julien, (33-4) 91.42.59.46, sip a pint of beer at a table outside. For live music Au Café Julien, (13) 39, cours Julien, (33-4) 91.53.25.89, is where dancehall artists rap to D.J.'s spinning "Smells Like Teen Spirit." The pocket-size Balthazar, 14 3, place Paul Cézanne, (33-4) 91.42.59.57, has local and touring acts performing such cross-cultural genres as Brazilian reggae and Cape Verdian ragga.

Most bars and clubs close at 2 a.m., but there are a handful of after-hours bars including L'Art haché, (15) 14, rue de l'Olivier, (33-4) 96.12.45.89. Marked by a battered metal door, the speakeasy-like basement has lots of chairs, cold beer and an eccentric cast of characters that gets stranger as the night wears on; open midnight to 6 a.m.

WHERE TO SHOP The crop of young, local fashion designers and their one-of-a-kind creations can be found at Palma, (16) 10, rue Corneille; (33-4) 91.33.76.58. The two young designers at Pomponette, (17) 2, rue Breteuil, (33-4) 91.53.34.26, stitch up women's fashions like tulle prairie skirts and tunics on sewing machines behind the counter.

In the souklike African market district L'Univers Aliemelaire, (18) 36, rue d'Aubagne, sells everything from two-foot-high hookah pipes, loose tea and Marseille's famous square soap bars.

YOUR FIRST VISIT OR YOUR 10TH Hire a taxi, roll down the windows and breeze along the rocky, galactic-looking coast up the Corniche Président Kennedy (where Hitchcock shot many of his famed South of France road scenes). Laze away the afternoon at Les Goudes, (19) a fishing village where a rocky path leads to la Baie des Singes, Les Goudes, (33- 4) 91.73.68.87, a family-run restaurant tucked into a jagged cove where groups at long tables on the terrace feast on bouillabaisse ($55) and fresh daurade ($27). Afterward dive in the clear Mediterranean, sunbathe on the rocks, and watch the fishing boats putt slowly past.

HOW TO GET THERE From Paris the high-speed T.G.V. covers the 417 miles in only three hours, with stress-free views of Provence and the changing terrain ($74 round trip advance purchase; several trains per day). Air France runs hourly shuttles from Orly and several flights daily from Charles de Gaulle (each $144 if bought in advance) The least expensive round-trip flight from New York in early September, was on Lufthansa out of Kennedy International via Frankfurt (and back via Munich), for $555.

GETTING AROUND The old part of the city, the most interesting, is best seen on foot. But it's hilly with lots of steps, which explains why the locals favor sneakers and flip-flops (high heels are a bad idea). Taxis are expensive but recommended late at night when the streets are empty, and in certain neighborhoods, potentially dangerous.

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