Walk around Shanghai: YongJia Rd.
Running parallel to Jianguo road, you’ll find the little sister: Yongjia road. It has a smaller feel to it, with lots of old three storey buildings and some smaller lane housing.
Yongjia road was previously part of the French settlement in Shanghai, and known as Route Herve de Sieyes(this link will try to download a video, I think it’s just a mistake on the part of the site author, yet I recommend you do not download it when opening the page, otherwise it contains interesting information).
Yongjia is quite the patchwork of local commerce, with a place like “Shari”, a japanese restaurant situated in a european style villa, and plenty of small “local fast food” places. Many coffee shops have opened up recently.