An Historic Place
Inside the café "Les Deux Magots", two superb
Asian statues still adorn the central pillar of this famous Parisian
café, watching over the terraces on the Place Saint Germain des Pres as
they have been doing for over a century.The café started life in 1813 as a drapery, selling silk and other luxury items. It took its name 'Les Deux Magots' from a successful play of that time: 'The Two Magots of China'.
By 1884 "Les Deux Magots" had transformed itself into a wine merchant's on the corner of St Germain des Pres just as the area was transforming itself into a artistic quarter with the presence of the publishers Grasset and Gallimard and the theatre 'Le Vieux Colombier'.
In 1914, Auguste Boulay, an ancestor of the present owners, realised the potential of the building's location. After a refurbishment, the café "Les Deux Magots" emerged, and rapidly became the place to "see and be seen". Soon, legendary figures of the art world were frequenting the café : Verlaine meets Mallarme, Oscar Wilde takes tea, Guillaume Appolinaire and others have animated debates on important issues of the day.
With the twenties came the exuberance and energy of the surrealist movement and its leading proponents could be found in passionate discussions over a coffee or a drink in "Les Deux Magots". Then in 1933, after Andre Malraux had been awarded the prestigious Goncourt Prize for an academic novel, a group of enthusiastic writers decided that there should be another independent prize for talent and originality. At that moment "Le Prix des Deux Magots" was born and it was first awarded to Raymond Queneau for 'Le Chiendent'.
In the tense pre-war atmosphere, Saint Germain
des Pres became the intellectual centre of Paris : Gide, Guehenno,
Malraux and Chamson regularly ended up in discussions on the café
terrace. Paul Eluard introduced Dora Maar to Picasso at "Les Deux
Magots". Françoise Giroud would have a coffee with Saint Exupery while
Paul Morand would be deep in conversation with his friend Jean
Giraudoux.Every morning, Jean Paul Sartre with Simone de Beauvoir would take his seat at "Les Deux Magots" and write for hours, often without pause, but sometimes stopping to talk to Ernest Hemingway, another regular customer.
In the decades that followed up until the present day, "Les Deux Magots" has been a witness to the changes in art literature, philosophy and politics. Its history and its combination of tradition with modernity ensures a continued mix of clientele, eclectic and international.
From the book of Arnaud Hofmarcher
"Les Deux Magots" chronique d'un café littéraire - Ed.Le Cherche Midi
"LES DEUX MAGOTS" abroad
In the late eighties, "Les Deux Magots" opened
as a restaurant and café with a boutique of French products in the very
heart of Tokyo, the cultural centre of Bunkamura.
By the middle of 2006, "Les Deux Magots" will have been opened in one of the most prestigious areas of central Beirut and there are plans to open more cafés in cities as different as Shanghai, Montreal and Dubai.
By the middle of 2006, "Les Deux Magots" will have been opened in one of the most prestigious areas of central Beirut and there are plans to open more cafés in cities as different as Shanghai, Montreal and Dubai.
