THE HISTORY OF PARISIAN CAFES
The "Grands Boulevards"

From Waterloo to the modern day, the grand boulevards have attracted to their famous cafés, the whole of Paris and the crowned heads of old Europe. From the Café de la Paix at Tortoni, this was the golden age of cafés.

With the nineteenth century, the centre of Paris was in fact moved towards the West side, that is to say the boulevards of Capucines, Italiens and the Madeleine.... Theatres, luxury shops, restaurants and prestigious cafés followed. You meet all the fashionable people.

All throughout the nineteenth century, cafés of the grand boulevards also gave the tone and set the fashion for a long time. The terraces of the cafés of the grand boulevards were formidable posts for observation. You can see the society people strutting with their best gear, parasols in their hands, or applauding like in 1814 when the coalition troups : Cosacks, Austians, prussians and English concluded the Napoleon adventure.

congestion for the cafés of the grand boulevards was essential for the café owners of genius. Beginning with Tortoni. During two thirds of the nineteenth century his name evoked Paris and its cafés. For nearly two centuries after his compatriot Procope, Tortoni, Napolitan ice cream maker knew how to attract the most fashionable with his ice creams, mirrors, candelabras and his terrace. Situated near to the italian theatre, he turned many away every evening after the show.

But obviously he was not the only one to have achieved such a success. After the opening of the Paris Opera in 1876, the Café de la Paix immediately became fashionable attracting quickly influential political men, the finance world and foreigners.
We can also quote the Café Riche situated on the boulevard des Italiens, frequented by artists and literary people in vogue or the Café Anglais, known for its provate cabinets. Founded in 1822, the Café Anglais is the most sought after in the whole of Europe. Certainly, the decor is somptuous with its mahogany and walnut wood, its gaudy mirrors decorated with gold leaf.... but you come especially to taste the dishes of one of the most famous chefs of Paris, Adolphe Dugléré.

From Balzac to Maupassant, the great French writers have planted their decors.
But the great work of Baron Haussmann marked the beginning of the decadence for the elite cafés on the boulevards. If the theatres remained on the boulevards, the well-off clients deserted little by little the cafés for other places. Like , for example, the Champs-Elysées where we see the appearance of cafés-concerts. You can have a coffee in open air listening to opera airs. Or the Châtelet. The construction of two theatres around the Châtelet had the effect of making famous cafés such as the Zimmer. The grand boulevards were no longer the centre of the fashionable world.