From the pages of the No Worries Paris guidebook: “The restaurants and bistros amplify on Rue de la Roquette. But in the 17C, Roquette was but a rural road leading to the large domain of a convent of the same name—which derives from a pale yellow flower, “the rocket,” that thrived in the rubble beside the road. At the time of the Revolution and for a century thereafter, Roquette was known as the “Sinister Way,” or “Sorrowful Road.” It connected the prison at Bastille to the new cemetery at Pere Lachaise, passing two other prisons, both a men’s and women’s. Funerals and bawdy public executions by guillotine were frequent. To your right as you reach the Roquette, at #76, is Theatre de La Bastille, where the quarter’s new vibe is apparent in dance and drama performances that warp and create trends.”