Originally, the wholesale merchants who brought fish and crayfish from the channel coasts and the North Sea passed through rue Montorgueil to reach les Halles, the famous wholesale marketplace built in the 12th century and demolished in 1971. The street, newly paved in the 1980s, forms a several blocks-long pedestrian-only area and is a lively less-touristy street with many old and new merchants. 
Here are a few fun pictures from that market which was lively every time I walked through it. Notice the line outside this popular boulangerie (different from a patisserie or pasty-shop because it specializes in bread). 
And Suz could not get over how many confitures (jams and jellies) this guy was hovering over. It was around noon on a Sunday and he looked like he'd had a tough Saturday night… I took great pains to sneak up on him but he might not have noticed if I had stuck a camera in his face...
