tourists are probably much more prone to be pickpocketed or scammed in heavily touristed parts of Paris than in any dicey section.

Fuzzbucket

Probably true if you're speaking of first time visitors or 3 day itinerary people. However, I've found that repeaters and longer termers are frequently interested in just these out of center areas. The "sample" visitor population on which you base your generalizations is obviously different from mine.

Or it could be that St Denis just wandered too far out of the mainstream tourist area with his head. I think a lot of tourists don't even know it's an option.

EnV - Obviously. But apparently I have a wider circle of friends.

Many of you probably wander over to TripAdvisor from time to time - if only for the entertainment value.

There is always a mention to watch out for the "big, menacing African men at Sacre Coeur who grabbed my wrist and tried to tie a string on it for money and I had to practically wrestle him to the ground! Where are the police when you need them? Our vacation was totally ruined by these men!"

Or:
"The Roma gypsy girls who push and shove you while trying to make you sign a petition and they lifted my husband's wallet! Why don't the police arrest them? They ruined our dream vacation!"

And:
"Will my wife feel comfortable wearing her hijab in Paris?"
"Are Jewish visitors safe from terrorist attacks in Paris?"
"I'm Chinese - my friends warn me that I will be pickpocketed in Paris because I look Asian."

Not everyone is as open-minded as you might hope.

Yes, Saint Denis was a man a head of his time. One of the highlights of our last trip was the visit to the Basilica of Saint Denis.

Fuzzbucket

"EnV - Obviously. But apparently I have a wider circle of friends"

Wow!!! I get this for disagreeing with you?? Is disagreement that hard for you to tolerate?

Thank you for all the responses. I never said anything about being afraid of immigrants, Asians or African Americans! We both live in NYC and were surprised by our male friend's comment. Just wanted to see if there was any truth to his comment...guess not. We'll just use our usual "street smarts" and explore! thanks.

We don't have too many African Americans in Paris but we have lots of black people, which is a more appropriate term since there is a wide variety.