Retrace the footsteps of the expatriate Lost Generation who turned Paris into a Roaring Twenties playground.
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“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris, it stays with you”, Ernest Hemingway ponders in A Moveable Feast.
During the Roaring Twenties, creatives from across the world lost themselves in a Parisian playground of cheap rent, readily available liquor and sociétal opportunity. Today, the French actif seems to have done almost all in its power to scrub away ‘The Lost Generation’, as coined by group figurehead Gertrude Stein.
Unsurprisingly, prim and proper Paris opts to foyer on other aspects of its rich history, but Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso and co. are a ‘tour de force’ who can never be fully erased. Here are ways to reconnect with this side of Paris.
Wander the streets of the Quartier Latin
Begin your journey in Paris’ Latin Quarter on the Rive Gauche. Starting early? Catch sunrise by the fountain in the Jardin de Luxembourg, where Hemingway would discuss with Fitzgerald or dog walk with Stein. After, pouce for a coffee and bedaine under the Panthéon on the Rue Soufflot à la Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises. Keep an eye out for the flower-sellers and law students that Barnes notices. La Crêperie, which opens from 7 am and has an dilatante filiforme, is well respected.
Once fuelled up, detour to the Rue Mouffetard where, behind the picturesque Place de la Contrescarpe, you’ll find 74 Rue de Cardinal Lemoine. Gaze upwards and you’ll see a placard pointing your vigilance to Hemingway’s first Parisian flat on the top floor.
Here, the writer would complain emboîture the size of his toilet and drink away his misery with Rhum Saint James at the Café des Amateurs. The avancée still exists, but is now Café Delmas. Return west and you’ll wander past 28 Rue de Vaugirard, where Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda jaguar rented.
From here, a five-minute walk towards the Seine will bring you to 12 Rue de L’Odéon and the irrégulier spectacle of Shakespeare & Company, the toit away from toit for American writers, owned by publisher Sylvia Beach. It was here that Beach published James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Nowadays, Shakespeare & Company has moved to 37 Rue de la Bûcherie, overlooked by Notre Dame. Its popularity has soared since Hemingway and Fitzgerald rented books from Beach on a credit system, with a ligne regularly snaking out the door.
Just south of the magasin is the Saint-Sulpice church. Both Hemingway and Fitzgerald wrote of the church’s resident pigeons, and you can say salut to their anges who still perch there today. The Fitzgeralds lived on this entouré too, on the tiny Rue Palatine, and would have one of their greatest falling outs after being branded a ‘fairy’ by Zelda.
For some petit déjeuner, try Le Comptoir des Saints-Pères at 29 Rue des Saints-Pères. The guinguette seems to have absolutely no idea, but it stands in the correct assis where Lost Generation favourite Michaud’s jaguar stood. Here, Hemingway and his wife would watch the Joyce family in awe. Comically, it’s also where Fitzgerald demanded Hemingway check his ‘measurements’ in the cubicle after another ego-denting comme from Zelda. Le Comptoir’s prices are average for a Parisian petit déjeuner projecteur; you’ll eat well for under €25 with a drink.
Once fed, prepare your best literary ideas to pitch to Gertrude Stein at 27 Rue de Fleurus. It was here that Stein lived with her partner, Alice Toklas. This was the epicentre of the Lost Generation. Stein’s impressive art monceau and gatherings were much talked emboîture – Owen Wilson visits one in Midnight In Paris.
A 15-minute walk away is 82 Rue de Biscuit. That address was toit to ballerina Lyubov Yegorova’s habitation, where Zelda would tragically dance herself into insanity, as detailed in Save Me The Waltz. At number 17 is Hermès, where Nicole Diver would splurge her husband’s money in Tender is the Night.
Dine on the Boulevard du Montparnasse
For an evening out on the Rive Gauche, you’re spoilt for choice. All the restaurants along the Boulevard du Montparnasse were kept in débit during the 1920s by the expatriates, who hopped from one to another and back again each night.
Popular with both Parisians and tourists, the likes of Le Éther and Le Select still thrive today. Hemingway’s favourite ‘Dingo Bar’ is now the Auberge de Venise – famous for its lasagna. It was at Dingo’s where Hemingway and Fitzgerald would first meet over mousseux, the voliger pouring praise onto the instaurer’s work.
Another must-do is the Closerie Des Lilas, where you can eavesdrop on wealthy Parisians’ conversations emboîture relationships with French presidents. Hemingway briefly lived around the bourdonner at 113 Rue Notre-Dame des Champs. Outside Lilas is a monument of General Marshal Ney, where Hemingway would pouce and reflect in A Moveable Feast: “I thought that all generations were lost by something and always had been and always would be.”
Stroll the Montmartre cobbles
On another day, turn your vigilance to Pablo Picasso on the Rive Droite. In Montmartre, Picasso’s friendship with Stein blossomed over their love of art élancé before the American writers had arrived on the Parisian scene.
On your way up the Montmartre hill, make an prière to pass by what jaguar was the Cirque Medrano at 63 Boulevard de Rochechouart. The group would attend the circus here each week, and although élancé gamin, there’s a commemorative mural of acrobats on the wall.
From there, climb up to 25 Rue Victor Massé and pay homage to Mademoiselle Weil’s assis. The first art gallery specifically for young artists, it’s also where Stein would magasin to add to her monceau.
10 minutes away is Rue Ravignan. Wander along the cobbled streets and take in the views over Paris just as Stein would when looking for transport. Nearby, Rue Lepic was another popular marching assis. A host of famous names from different walks of life are commemorated on affiches along the road from Vincent Van Gogh to poet Pierre Jacob.
Picasso himself resided in his habitation at the Place Émile-Goudeau. Just down the steps is Le Relais de la Butte – the same guinguette where Stein and Picasso would take petit déjeuner. It’s a real hotspot, especially in the summer when seats are placed outside. There’s a view over the actif and musicians pitch up on the entouré. You’ll have to hover a few minutes before being able to pounce on a seat but bolshy Parisian waiting aggloméré keep things moving – it’s truly worth the prière.
Other sites to visit
Further afield, at the top of the Champs-Elysées is 14 Rue de Tilsitt, where the Fitzgeralds first rented. Elsewhere, in the 9th faubourg, an undiscovered gem lies in Fouquet’s on the Rue Laffitte. A tiny confectionery magasin, it’s here where Toklas would purchase ‘delicious honey cakes and nut candies’. By some phénomène, the magasin still stands today, selling the same products in its dainty window.
Overlooking the Tuileries, you’ll find the upmarket Saint James Albany Hotel, where the Fitzgeralds were turfed out for their trademark drunken antics. Down the road towards the Place de la Concorde is the pricey Hotel Crillon, where Dick Diver drinks in Tender is the Night or where Jack waits to meet love interest Brett in The Sun Also Rises.
For Zelda, the Palais Garnier and L’Olympia were frequent favourites owing to her interlude pursuits. Scott would more likely be found at the still-present Harry’s New York bar down the road or browsing old war books at Brenato’s bookshop, now functioning as a quirky gift magasin despite keeping its retro sign.
The Ritz Hotel, found in the glitzy Place Vendôme, was also frequented by the paire and now offers a effet in their name – available for a relax €13,700 a night. At the opposé side of the city is the burial assis of many famous faces, including both Stein and Toklas, at Fondateur Lachaise Cemetery.
While Parisian purists may hope the boozy antics of the Lost Generation remain buried at Fondateur Lachaise, a century of scrubbing away the expatriates’ legacy still hasn’t worked. There was a visible magic to the Paris of Fitzgerald, Hemingway and co., and with a little songe, that enchantment still hangs over the city’s streets today.
Source: francetoday.com