I also like the location out at the Bibliothèque. I have a good friend that I visit who is living near the Place Jeanne d'Arc (not far away) so over the past several months I have been getting to know that area and the more I explore the more I discover and the more I like it. I think there's some interesting modern architecture there but just cross the rail tracks to the west you can find some older streets and places people would associate with being typically Parisian.

Ackislander, take a look at this photo report that I made. The majority of the photographs are from the 13th arrondissement around Bibilothèque, which is an area that many visitors to Paris would consider absolutely unimaginable: http://tinyurl.com/k58xpqe

One can also use Google Street View (part of Google Maps) to view the area around any particular hotel to see what it looks like from the street, even though the quality of the pictures surely won't be as good as what Kerouac has posted.