Robert Fripp's Diary

Hotel Acceptable Well Located By

Hotel Acceptable, Well Located By L'Opera, Paris.

This morning, following cafÈ au lait sans feeding trough, an adventure: as an hommage to the Fripp Family, I set off to find the Family Hotel, rue Capron, Place Clichy, where the Fripp family stayed in 1959.

The hotel receptionist suggested a bus rather than the Metro. I accepted her advice. When I arrived at Place Clichy, in need of some relief from the morning coffee, I found but couldn't operate the modern Parisian pissoir: the instructions for operation were only in French. This is another example of a Gallic plot to discomfort the English. Once upon a time (for example 1959), if taken short, the gutter would be sufficient. Today, a urinary practice of this kind might (probably) be de trop, even for the French, even in rue Capron.

Eventually I found rue Capron after asking directions in a modest hotel, then a pharmacy. There is no visible trace of the Family Hotel, although I found the building. There is a large development underway right opposite, of apartmentes horrides, cheap & nasty housing.

Next door to the hotel, in 1959, was a brothel. Our Mother Edie was very amused at how they dealt with their clients: an attractive woman at the front door chatted up potential punters and, once they were over the doorstep, they were pushed out the back to be met by someone the establishment didn't want on display at the front.

Coffee on Avenue Clichy, then a bus back. The visit was very moving in a gentle way, a celebration of our Parents & the Fripp kids, and a family adventure abroad in 1959. My Father was then 8 years younger than I am now.

Now, practising.