Steep climbs up the hillock of Menilmontant, characteristic narrow winding streets such as Passage de la Duée, concrete buildings standing side by side with old, low-rise houses and superb views over Paris from the Parc de Belleville and Rue des Cascades - this old working-class district, birthplace of Maurice Chevalier and Edith Piaf, is unusual and anachronistic. A melting pot of North African, Chinese and Vietnamese communities, it has of late found favour with a youthful, artistic crowd, won over by its nostalgic charm.