The history of Paris
is partly written at the counters and in the back rooms of its cafés
and cabarets. From the medieval taverns to the elegant cafés
of the Lumières without forgetting the guinguettes of the
old regime or the revolutionary clubs like the Procope, the place
of cafés in Parisian society hasn't stopped evolving over
time.
But would Paris be without its cafés? Degas, Manet, Monet and Renoir,
all the impressionists met in the popular cafés of Montmartre. Would
Saint Germain des Prés and Montparnasse be as well known with such
glory and reunite as many artists and writers without the prestigious addresses
as Lipp, The Deux Magots, Flore and the Coupole, all historical classed
monuments?