Evening view on the Mediterranean Sea from Juan-Les-Pins

Juan-les-Pins is a town in the commune of Antibes, in the Alpes-Maritimes, in southeastern France, on the Côte d'Azur. It is situated between Nice and Cannes, at 13 km of the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport.

It is a major holiday destination popular with the international jet-set, with casino, nightclubs and beaches, which are made of fine grained sand, and are not straight, but instead are cut with small inlets.

[edit] History

Situated west of the town of Antibes on the western slope of the ridge, halfway to the old fishery village of Golfe-Juan (where Napoleon landed in 1815), it had been an area with lots of stone pine trees (pins in French), where the inhabitants of Antibes used to go for a promenade, for a picnic in the shadow of the stone pine trees or to collect tree branches and cones for their stoves.

The village was given the name Juan-les-Pins on 12 March 1882. It is unclear why the Spanish spelling of "Jean" was chosen. Other names had been discussed, such as Héliopolis, Antibes-les-Pins and Albany-les-Pins (after the Duke of Albany, the son of Queen Victoria).

The following year, 1883, it was decided to build a railroad station in Juan-les-Pins on the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée (PLM) line that had been there since 1863.

[edit] Jazz à Juan

Juan-les-Pins is famous for its annual jazz festival in July. New Orleans is a sister city, something which for a series of years was manifested with carnival festivities in the streets of Juan-les-Pins, with both local and New Orleans jazz bands parading. Along the street behind the seaside stage where the annual jazz festival "Jazz à Juan" is held, one will find ceramic tiles laid into the pavement with handprints of more than 50 jazz musicians who have played at this festival, among those Al Jarreau, B. B. King, Chick Corea, Clark Terry, Dave Brubeck, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eddy Louiss, Elvin Jones, Fats Waller, George Benson, Hank Jones, Jack DeJohnette, Joshua Redman, Little Richard, Milt Jackson, Oscar Peterson, Pat Metheny, Ravi Coltrane, Ray Charles, Richard Galliano, Roy Haynes, Shirley Horn, Sonny Rollins, Stéphane Grappelli and Wynton Marsalis.

[edit] Cultural references

Peter Sarstedt famously mentions Juan-les-Pins in his 1969 UK number one hit, "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)"; a portrait of a girl who becomes a member of the Euro jet-set. In the song, the girl is mentioned to spend her summer vacations in Juan-les-Pins. Golfe Juan is the name of a pointillist painting done by Paul Signac, a French neo-impressionist in 1896. Juan-les-Pins is prominent in Sartre's The Reprieve, the second volume of his Roads to Freedom trilogy.

[edit] Points of interest

• Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret
• Aujourd'hui, curvy modernistic seaside former beach house of movie mogul Jack Warner
• Home of the 6 Jours d'Antibes, the Antibes 6 Day Race.

[edit] External links

• Festivals Internationaux de Bridge d'Antibes en Juan-les-Pins
• Photos of Juan-les-Pins
• Official tourist guide

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Coordinates: 43°34′16″N 7°06′34″E / 43.57111°N 7.10944°E / 43.57111; 7.10944