Boulevard

A boulevard (French, from Dutch: Bolwerk – bulwark, meaning bastion), often abbreviated Blvd, is a type of large road, usually running through a city. These roads often replaced obsolete fortifications, hence the name.

In modern American usage it often means a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and perhaps with roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery.

Larger and busier boulevards usually feature a median or central reservation. In some countries, the term boulevard is rarely encountered; the term avenue is often used instead.

International usage

Asia

Cambodia

Phnom Penh has numerous boulevards scattered throughout the city. Norodom Boulevard, Sisowath Boulevard, Monivong Boulevard, and Sothearos Boulevard are the most famous.

India

Åboulevard

Åboulevard (lit. "River Boulevard") is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Together with H. C. Andersens Boulevard in the city centre and Borups Allé, it forms a major artery in and out of the city. The road is built over Ladegårds Å, a canal originally built to supply Copenhagen with water, which still runs in a pipe under it, feeding water into Peblinge Lake.

History

The canal was dug during the late Middle Ages to supply Copenhagen with drinking water from Damhus Lake and from about 1550 also Lundehus Lake. The name Ladegårdså (Ladegårds Å, Ladegårdsåen) originates from Ladegården, a farm under Copenhagen Castle which was located on the south bank of the stream, roughly where the Radio House is today. It was built in 1623 to provide produce for the royal household and feed for the royal mews but was never a success. The complex was later converted into first a military hospice and later a poorhouse with an associated textile manufactory.

A road on the south side of the stream was called Ladegårdsvej ("Ladegård Road") while the north side was called Agade ("River Street"). The lower part of the stream, from Brohusgade to Peblinge Lake, was covered in 1897 to allow for an expansion of the road. Agade was renamed Åboulevard ("River Boulevard") while Ladegårdsvej continued to run parallel to it. Ladegården closed as a poorhouse in 1908 and was replaced by Sundholm on Amager.

Boulevard (1960 film)

Boulevard is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in 1960, and set in the Quartier Pigalle. It focuses on Georges 'Jojo' Castagnier (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an adolescent who lives in a poor room under the roof of a block of apartments in the Pigalle section of Paris. He ran away from home when he realized that his step-mother hated him from day-one. Among Jojo's many neighbors is the gorgeous Jenny Dorr (Magali Noël), a nightclub dancer, whose lover he dreams of being. But, to Jojo's disappointment, Jenny becomes the lover of Dicky (Pierre Mondy), a former boxer, who spends his time loafing about the Pigalle cafés.

Jojo lacks for steady work, but manages to make ends meet with a series of odd jobs. He tries selling magazines, which is a success for a while, though posing as Narcissus for two gay artists proves to be something of a disaster. Eventually, he woos Marietta (Monique Brienne), one of his other neighbors and a girl more suited to his age. But when things go really awry, Jojo becomes desperate and tries to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of his building.