LABALEINE

La Baleine rises above the surrounding neighborhood with a facade covered in distinctive whale-scale tiles, a clear nod to its name. Built in the nineteen thirties, the structure originally functioned as a cinema, serving as a social heart for Bagnolet. Workers once gathered here for screenings after long shifts at the nearby factories. While the screen eventually went dark and the building transitioned through various uses, the theater still retains that cinematic silhouette, grounding the street in its industrial past.