Salle Leyrit

16 rue Fornero Meneï is the address, and the hall sits where the city is flat and calm. It opened in 1971, and the date is confirmed by the municipal directory and the local sports website. The architect is not recorded.

Inside, the wooden floor is worn smooth by decades of basketball and judo. The capacity is 1,700 seats, a number that has not changed since the building was completed. A banner reading MAIRIE DE PARIS hangs in the stands, a reminder of matches played here for teams from the capital, though the hall is better known for the Niss'Angels, who have kept three clean sheets on the spin in recent seasons.

The room holds boxing and table tennis as well as basketball, but the sound of sneakers on parquet is the loudest. The high line was picked apart in the 1983-1984 season when Nice Olympique played in the second division, and the team has not returned to this level since. The building has not been renamed; it remains Serge Leyrit, a name given to the hall rather than the man, though the sources are not clear. It is one of the few indoor arenas in the city that does not host concerts or large events, and the crowd does not travel to make up the numbers. The hall is simply there, waiting for the next game.