Does anyone know the exact location of this house?

Has anyone visited it?

Is it currently owned?

Who has an update?

PECMAN

yes to the first three, and what kind of update are you seeking -
the current weekly rent? :E



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-20 20:22 by with sssoul.

there was a video on youtube recently that someone had made. Music was one of the Exile songs, I think maybe Torn & Frayed. Showed a googleearth type zoom in. And then video shots of Nellcote and its ocean views. I had not realized that this was right on the coast.

livewithme Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> there was a video on youtube recently that someone
> had made. Music was one of the Exile songs, I
> think maybe Torn & Frayed. Showed a googleearth
> type zoom in. And then video shots of Nellcote
> and its ocean views. I had not realized that this
> was right on the coast.

It would have been quite difficult for Keith to board the Mandrax from the jetty in the back garden if it had not been on the coast... (:



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-20 21:23 by Lightnin'.

I was there twice. You go straight through Villlefranche sur Mer direction to Monaco. You leave the small city, have the sea to the right and when you come to the next junction turn right and then right again. It's then about 200m on the left - black door with golden sign.

I was there this summer during our family vacation at the Cote de' Azur. I am going to upload a short video about it on youtube within the next days. As soon as I can get a little technical help from my friend. The village of Villefranche sur Mer is located between Nice and Cap Ferrat. The street where the villa is located is not easy to find without a navigation system. The perfect preparation for me was to read the new book by Robert Greenfield which gives a perfect impression of the crazy summer of 1971. And listening to the whole Exile album real loud while we were driving the 120 km to this place. That was a little hard for the rest of my family but I enjoyed it very much.

django Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was there this summer during our family vacation
> at the Cote de' Azur. I am going to upload a short
> video about it on youtube within the next days. As
> soon as I can get a little technical help from my
> friend. The village of Villefranche sur Mer is
> located between Nice and Cap Ferrat. The street
> where the villa is located is not easy to find
> without a navigation system. The perfect
> preparation for me was to read the new book by
> Robert Greenfield which gives a perfect impression
> of the crazy summer of 1971. And listening to the
> whole Exile album real loud while we were driving
> the 120 km to this place. That was a little hard
> for the rest of my family but I enjoyed it very
> much.


Go to google earth! Type Villa Nellcote, Villefranche sur Mer, France and just zoom it in. Very easy to find. There's even this little piece written about the Villa...

Untitled Map - 1 Placemark
bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/placemarks/cl-04-08-06-439784762.kmz - 1k

Built in 1899, the Villa Nellcote was rented by Keith Richards in 1971, who had fled England, in response to the large amount of taxes the government wanted from members of the band. The Stones had to be out of the country by April 5, or the British government would have confiscated their funds. Nellcote became the unlikely refuge for the group. As a result of the legendary Exile On Main Street, Nellcote has become like a monument, a monument to rock and roll."

Visited the place a few times. Very easy to find. When driving from Nice in the direction of Monaco on the "coast line road", take to the right when you see a sign: Cap Ferat. Then after 12 meters or so, turn right again. And just continue, driving parallell to the railroad for about 300 meters. If you see a sign saying: Avenue Louise Bordes, you're in the right place. Look to your left, and there's the sign. Then have someone take your photograph at the gate! There are always Stones fans present, like on a pilgrimage. Sweet! Enjoy the journey!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-21 01:02 by gstone.

Pecman.It seems as if nobody has a clue in Nice where it is when it's right in their backyard practically.My daughter took a trip to Nice last month. I jumped on the opportunity right away and asked her to get me a picture of Nellcote if she could and some current up to date info about it.Strange....even the tourist bureau in Nice didn't have a clue about it.When my daughter mentioned the history the folks at the bureau said Wow.They seemed completely oblivious to it considering it was Gestapo headquarters for that area during the war.Its almost as if they want nobody to know about it or find it!

[iduneau.club.fr]



ROCKMAN

It's the white square house in the middle next to the two swimmingpools:

[maps.google.com]

livewithme Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> there was a video on youtube recently that someone
> had made. Music was one of the Exile songs, I
> think maybe Torn & Frayed. Showed a googleearth
> type zoom in. And then video shots of Nellcote
> and its ocean views. I had not realized that this
> was right on the coast.

yeah, it was a tough exile... south of France. Have pity on the poor lads.

actually, "home of Exile" nicely captures the counterfactual nature of this myth.

the place after undergoing a refurb (it has had several) is available for rent - short-term lease business deals i expect.

OLDKR

>> yeah, it was a tough exile. <<

smile: exile isn't a synonym for material hardship, even if lots of people use the word as if it were.
i know only part of the album was recorded at Nellcote, but calling Nellcote "the home of Exile"
isn't counterfactual; it's just not 100% accurate.

with sssoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i know only part of the album was recorded at
> Nellcote, but calling Nellcote "the home of Exile"
> isn't counterfactual; it's just not 100% accurate.

my point was less about the history than the phrase, which is oxymoronical in a revealing way: "home" and "exile" don't belong together, except for spoiled "tax exiles" like our heroes, who use the substantial coupon they've clipped by choosing to go into "exile" to acquire new homes. oh, Life on the Run...

huh?! exiles don't have to be homeless. even refugees can have homes.
sorry, it's not worth quibbling about - but the meanings of those words
really have nothing to do with being poverty-stricken, even if people often associate them that way.

The way the English tax system worked in '71, they could have been poverty stricken... If they'd stayed. The tax authorities wanted the Stones to pay more tax than what they actually earned. On a long term, that definitely leads to bankrupcy. And they had also been ripped off by managers, remember. They were not at all as waealthy as people thought at the time. And KR did not buy Nellcote - he rented it.
Exile - well, royalty, former heads of state etc , are known to have gone into exile after dramatic events in their home countries. I believe the former king of Greece still lives in exile in the UK, King Constantin and Queen Anne Sophie.
Refugees and asylum seekers is a different story. That's connected with poverty in quite a different way, cc.
As far as I know, only Bill actually bought a home in France during this period. In Vence. And he still owns it.
I think it would be wrong not to call "Exile" a product of Nellcote. OK, mixed in LA, among other places, but the main work was done at Nellcote. And the atmosphere of the place definitely marked the entire album. So, for someone who thinks "Exile" is the best Stones album in history - so far - (like myself), Nellcote will always be the home of "Exile". (During WWII it was also the head quarters of Gestapo in France.)

Thanks for some accurate facts gstone.

The villa needed work before KR ever rented it. Magnificent views.

smile: i dreamed this question, so i reckon i'd better post it:
the word exile can refer to a person who is in exile, or to the state of being in exile -
which of those is it to you in the title of the album?

and that in turn leads to:
is Main Street a place that the exiled person just happens to have turned up, rather incongruously?
or is it the site of exile - the person/people has/have been banished to Main Street, and are more or less stuck there?
(it doesn't seem likely that Main Street is the place they've been banished *from* - but maybe that's just me)

I saw it last year during a two week stay in Nice. We took a little boat cruise from Nice to Villefranche, right past the house. I had to laugh when the guide on boat said "...and Mick Jagger lives there..." pointing at Nellcote.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-22 07:58 by Angus MacBagpipe.

With sssoul, I think you're right. Exile on... is the place they've been "forced to live in".
Main street could have several meanings. When wandering about at Nellcote for the first time, (in the 80s) I just felt: This really is as close to a French crossroads as you can get! There's the railway about 50 meters from the house on one side. Just meters away from the railroad, there's one of three main roads on the French Riviera, heading in the direction of Italy.
Between the house and the railway, there's the Avenue Louis Bordes, serving as access to several posh villas in the area. And also as pedestrians access to the lovely city of Villefranche on one side, and Beaulieu on the other. In the harbour just beneath Nellcote, the cruise ships and hangar ships stop. (Very deep harbour) The ships are so huge, passengers can look down on the lawn outside Nellcote. (This was not the case when Keith lived there, though)
I can see how a witty tongue could say about Nellcote that it's surrounded by heavy traffick like on main street...
But my favourite theory is that when Keith and Anita, and Marlon, ruled the premisses, they housed several guests. All the time. Friends, guests who were invited. People who just happened to find an open gate, and walked in. People who came to sell and take drugs. The Stones, the crew, techs, help, groupies, other musicians who happened to "be in the neighbourhood", and just popped by (and stayed for months).
I think I've heard somewhere, that this was the reason they called it Main Street. At times the house just felt so crowded - it felt like... you know.

>> I think you're right <<

thanks for taking an interest - but i'm not right or wrong,
i'm just asking how people understand it.
i never really thought about it much until this dream last night,
but different interpretations are certainly possible.

with sssoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> smile: i dreamed this question, so i reckon i'd
> better post it:
> the word exile can refer to a person who is in
> exile, or to the state of being in exile -
> which of those is it to you in the title of the
> album?

state of, to me.

not that this is anything but subjective evidence, but it would seem odd for a stones title to have a singular subject--despite their differences at this point they were still a band--Out of Our Heads, December's Children, Beggars('[--? whether this is supposed to be a possessive is always tricky]) Banquet. These titles could also to refer to their listeners, who share in the atmosphere (which doesn't fit with the "detached" theory, but that's their live persona).

as for Main St., I take it to be a psychic place. So the "exile" is not so much about where specifically they spent their tax vacation--I never took Main St. to be a name for Nellcote--but the experience of being dislocated, however willingly in their case. So one could be exiled on Main St. without leaving home.

thanks cc! very interesting -
and people's subjective understanding of it is just what i'm curious about.

on timeisonourside.com Mick's quoted as saying "Main Street is in LA", which sounds to me
like Mick being frivolous with an interviewer again; and i've read elsewhere that someone else
came up with Main Street in a sort of brainstorming session and everyone went "yep, that's the one".

so my question isn't really "what place do we think Main Street refers to" - although that's ok too!
it's more like whether we think whoever's in exile (who's implied even if the title refers to the state of being)
is on Main Street by choice, accident or whatever, or because that's where they got banished to
if you see what i mean. but with the state of being dislocated psychically, it can be hard to tell. :E

maybe another way of putting my question is:
a] is the title a parallel phrase to Sojourn in Sin City or to Englishman in New York? and either way:
b] is Main Street a chosen location? an imposed place of banishment? a stop on the way elsewhere? or ... ?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-22 19:12 by with sssoul.

yeah, this is tricky... I think it's about getting to Main St., without overtly banished there, and recognizing it's nonetheless a place of banishment. And alienation--one cannot get to Main St., whether one has been sent there or went willingly, without leaving an essential part of oneself behind.

a) closer to the former than the latter--I do take "Exile" to mean the experience of exile, not a subject of exile--"refuge" rather than "refugee"--so "Englishman" doesn't work. But it's not necessarily a temporary state... the stones would agree that you can't go home again, I think, and this may even be a better parallel for the title.

b) the question for me would be, who is it implied is doing or has done the banishing?

gstone Wrote:
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OK, mixed in LA, among other
> places.

There was a whole lot more done outside of Nellcote, both before and after, than that.

... having pondered my previously-unthought-about feelings about the title,
i guess for me the closest parallel (both grammatically & semantically) is Stranger in a Strange Land.
to me the exile in the title is a person, not a state; but of course it's an archetype; it refers to a whole set of people.
i seem to regard Main Street as somewhere these exiles just happened to come across in the course their wanderings.
they can go elsewhere if/when they want to; but the state of being a misfit is gonna persist wherever they go.

smile: dreaming questions like this must have some clinical name.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2007-11-24 15:40 by with sssoul.