Actress Louise Brooks smiling for a close-up candid photo at Zelli’s Club Royal Box in Paris, France. (1929)
The Royal Box -Joe Zelli’s most famous nightclub, was located at 16bis rue Fontaine, Paris, and opened in 1922 and closed in 1932. It had a balcony with an American bar and “royal boxes”. The Royal Box is considered the first ever nightclub in the world, with opening hours from midnight until dawn. It was the nocturnal home to many members of “The Lost Generation,” scores of expatriates who flocked to Paris after the First World War. Notable clients of The Royal Box included Ernest Hemingway, Cole Porter, Buster Keaton and Louise Brooks.
In this time of being grounded at home in the United States due to the novel Coronavirus, American lovers of Paris can still enjoy the City of Light. Here’s how.
In this wing-clipped year of being grounded at home in the United States due to the novel Coronavirus, American lovers of Paris can still gaze eager eyes and open their hearts to the City of Light via Paris Chic, an elegantly hefty book published this month by stylish Assouline. With more than 200 photographs by Oliver Pilcher and text by Alexandra Senes, this heady tome abundantly delivers images and words artfully woven with sophistication and seduction: unfolding broad cityscapes and intimate corners, well-known hot spots and mysterious hideaways, lively action and lovely stillness, intriguing perspectives and personalities.
With Paris Chic, you can rejoice in the role of armchair traveler, taking flight while staying in place for now. Appreciate the thick feel-good paper as your fingertips turn 280 pages. Go slowly, as though you are strolling next to the River Seine, noticing every detail. Throughout Paris Chic, understand the appeal of the city’s tantalizing temptations as well as its poetic comfort, its centuries-old splendor and its of-the-moment energy. Revel in enchanting voyeurism, looking at behind-the-scenes gatherings in homes, offices and restaurants.
Imagine yourself (oui, fantasize!) slipping inside the images of Paris Chic as well: Peering over the edge of a hotel balcony; striding Avenue des Champs-Élysées; meandering public gardens; exploring galleries and workshops and bookstores; nosing around boutiques (a perfumerie!); indulging in treats (macarons!); relishing bistro meals that leisurely linger; meeting fab fresh amis. This is not a guidebook, although it certainly points in inviting directions. Like the best of travel-themed coffee table books, Paris Chic offers a sumptuous portal that woos and nurtures wanderlust.
Faced with the planned demolition of the housing project where she grew up, Mahye decided to organise an open-air photography exhibition. It takes residents of “Les Groux”, in the French suburb of Fresnes, on a journey through their shared childhoods. The Banlieue Project team went to meet her to find out more.
Banlieue Project is a platform for residents of France’s disadvantaged suburbs to tell their own stories. We provide the camera and they film their experiences to break down clichés about the French “banlieues”.
Pas De Merde 