Until 1870, the carriage ruled the streets. On the narrow sidewalks, the pedestrian was extremely cramped, and so strolling took place principally in the arcades, which offered protection from bad weather and traffic. “Our larger streets and our wider sidewalks are suited to the sweet flanerie was impossible except in the arcades.” Flaneur, Edmond Beaurepaire, Paris d’hier et d’aujourd’hui: La Chronique de rues (Paris 1900), p.67.

– Quoted in Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, Harvard University Press