Enter, and Be Damned!
A hot spot called Hell's Café lured 19th-century Parisians to the city's Montmartre neighborhood—like the Marais—on the Right Bank of the Seine. With plaster lost souls writhing on its walls and a bug-eyed devil's head for a front door, le Café de l'Enfer may have been one of the world's first theme restaurants. According to one 1899 visitor, the café's doorman—in a Satan suit—welcomed diners with the greeting, "Enter and be damned!" Hell's waiters also dressed as devils. An order for three black coffees spiked with cognac was shrieked back to the kitchen as: "Three seething bumpers of molten sins, with a dash of brimstone intensifier!"
From
National Geographic
"The Poet’s Cave had disappeared, but the two great mouths of the Café of Heaven and the Café of Hell still yawned–even devoured, as he watched, the meager contents of a tourist bus–a German, a Japanese, and an American couple who glanced at him with frightened eyes." F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Oh, that is just too cool! Is the building still there? I've been to Paris, and I'm kicking myself that I knew nothing about this little gem!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing?! We need a time machine, Emma!
ReplyDeleteThe guy whose site I lined says the following on his site: "...and a couple people online have recently told me it was in the space where there's now the Monoprix at 55, Boulevard de Clichy"
Oh, you're kidding?! Replaced by a Monoprix?! Sacre Bleu!!! You're right, where's Doctor Who with the TARDIS when we need him?!!!
ReplyDelete"...where's Doctor Who with the TARDIS when we need him?!!!"
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY!