Paris in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises

Despite a settled opinion that the book is about Pamplona, Spain, and bullfighting, a part of it takes place in Paris, France.

Andrey Enin
23 min readAug 21, 2024

In this article, I expect the reader to be familiar with The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway’s first novel, published in 1926. So, I will not discuss the plot, main characters, and their motivations. Eventually, there is tons of literature on this subject, from which it is worth highlighting Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises by Lesley M. M. Blume.

Ernest Hemingway with friends at a cafe in Pamplona, Spain. L-R: Ernest Hemingway, Lady Duff Twydsen (wearing hat, a prototype of Lady Brett Ashley), Harold Loeb (wearing glasses, a prototype of Robert Cohn), Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (Hemingway’s first wife), Donald Ogden Stewart, Patrick Guthrie (a prototype of Mike Campbell). Summer, 1925 © Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

In this amateur research, I tried to focus on finding real places in Paris that the book’s main characters have visited. Spanish places are represented in my second article, «Spain in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises». I arranged places according to their first appearance

Table of contents:

  1. Le Napolitain
  2. Madame Lavigne’s restaurant
  3. Bal musette in the Rue de la Montagne Saint Geneviève
  4. Parc Montsouris
  5. Le Select
  6. Foreign Affairs Ministry
  7. Dingo Bar
  8. Café de la Paix
  9. Hôtel de Crillon
  10. La Rotonde
  11. Harry’s New York Bar
  12. Le Dôme
  13. La Closerie des Lilas
  14. Bois de Boulogne
  15. Zelli’s Club
  16. The Pelletier and Caventou Monument
  17. Madame Lecomte’s restaurant
  18. Place de la Contrescarpe
    18.1. Nègre Joyeux
    18.2. Café des Amateurs
  19. Gare d’Orsay

The points of interest appear immediately in the first chapter, but these mentioned places may presumably be fictional; at least, these establishments are not possible to identify:

We had dined at l’Avenue’s and afterward went to the Café de Versailles for coffee. [Book 1 — Chapter 01]

Afterward, Hemingway became more precise in indicating the existing locations.

1. Le Napolitain (now occupied by Hippopotamus Steakhouse)

1 Boulevard des Capucines

In the second and third chapters, Jake Barnes and Robert Cohn have a drink here.

We went out to the Café Napolitain to have an apéritif and watch the evening crowd on the Boulevard. [1–02]

Café «Le Napolitain» boulevard des Capucines à Paris, 1927 © Ministère de la Culture — Médiathèque du Patrimoine, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Frères Séeberger

A café with this name existed on 1, Boulevard des Capucines. In the 1920s, pavement cafés like this were frequented by many famous artists and writers, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Joan Miró, and Ezra Pound [1]. In the contemporary restaurant, you can still order Pernod (a producer of pastis), as Jake Barnes did, as an apéritif for around € 4.

«Well, what will you drink?» I asked.
«Pernod.» [1–03]

Le Napolitain, 1932 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

After Jake finished his drinks with Robert, he picked up Georgette — «a good-looking girl walked past the table.» From Napolitan, they went to a restaurant in a horse-drawn cab. Their path is described in sufficient detail through the first part of the third chapter, but I had to rely on Google Maps algorithms to build the route for the rest of the undescribed path.

Jake and Georgette go by cab from café Napolitan to Madame Lavigne’s restaurant in the 3rd chapter

Jake and Georgette go by cab to the restaurant: café Napolitan → move up the Avenue de l’Opéra → pass the New York Herald bureau (49, Avenue de l’Opéra) → turn off the Avenue up the Rue des Pyramides → through the traffic of the Rue de Rivoli → through a dark gate into the Tuileries → come out of the Tuileries into the light and crossed the Seine → turn up the Rue des Saints Pères → Madame Lavigne’s restaurant.

It is noteworthy that the New York Herald was the first newspaper that Jake bought when he got back to France after the fiesta.

At a newspaper kiosque I bought a copy of the New York Herald and sat in a café to read it. It felt strange to be in France again. [Book 3 — Chapter 19]

2. Madame Lavigne’s restaurant (Nègre de Toulouse, now occupied by L’Apéro)

159 Boulevard du Montparnasse

Here, Jake Barnes and Georgette came for dinner. Instead of naming the place, Hemingway named the proprietor of the restaurant: Madame Lavigne. In the 1920s, Monsieur and Madame Lavigne owned a place named Nègre de Toulouse [2]. Moreover, the first version of the manuscript contained more details: «By this time we were on the Boulevard Montparnasse and I called to the cocher to stop at Lavigne’s restaurant, Le Negre de Toulouse.» [3].

By this time we were at the restaurant. I called to the cocher to stop. We got out and Georgette did not like the looks of the place. <…> We went into the restaurant, passed Madame Lavigne at the desk and into a little room. [1–03]

There, they met a group of Jake’s friends: Robert Cohn, Frances Clyne, Mrs. Braddocks, and several other people. After dinner, the whole company decided to move to a bal musette for dancing.

3. Bal musette in the Rue de la Montagne Saint Geneviève (Bal de la Montagne, now occupied by Le Violon Dingue)

46 Rue de la Montagne Saint Geneviève

The dancing-club was a bal musette in the Rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève. Five nights a week the working people of the Pantheon quarter danced there. One night a week it was the dancing-club. On Monday nights it was closed. When we arrived it was quite empty,… [1–03]

Hemingway left this place unnamed, but on this street of the Latin Quarter [4], there was only one famous place of its kind: Bal de la Montagne. It was opened in 1908 and was a quite popular dance hall, especially in 1930 among the homosexual subculture [5]. In the 1970s, it became a place for rock’n’roll hangouts and worked under the name of La Bulle, but now it operates as an ordinary bar, Le Violon Dingue [6], with a late-night club in the basement. Nowadays, shots of alcohol start from € 4.

Vieux Paris rue de la Montagne-Sainte-Geneviève, 1920 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Jake Barnes meets Lady Brett Ashley in a group of young guys. Both (Jake and Brett) decide to get out of the dancing club and go somewhere together in a taxi.

I told the driver to go to the Parc Montsouris, and got in, and slammed the door. [1–03]

4. Parc Montsouris

2 Rue Gazan

Jake and Brett came here late at night in a taxi after the dancing club. Again, Hemingway provides a detailed description only of the beginning of their route. After Avenue des Gobelin, I had to rely on Google Maps algorithms to determine the final part of the way to the park.

Jake and Brett go by taxi from bal musetter to Montsouris Park in the 4th chapter

Jake and Brett go by taxi to the park: bal musette → up the hill behind Saint-Étienne-du-Mont → pass the trees and the standing bus at the Place de la Contrescarpe → turn onto the cobbles of the Rue Mouffetard → came out on the Avenue des Gobelin → Parc Montsouris.

Parc Montsouris, 1921 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

After coming there, they found a closed restaurant near the park and decided to move on.

On the right was the Parc Montsouris. The restaurant where they have the pool of live trout and where you can sit and look out over the park was closed and dark.
<…>
«Where do you want to go?» I asked. Brett turned her head away.
«Oh, go to the Select.»
«Café Select,» I told the driver. «Boulevard Montparnasse.» [1–04]

5. Le Select

99 Boulevard du Montparnasse

Le Select is a quintessential Parisian cafe founded over 100 years ago (1923). In 1925, it reoriented into an «American bar» and stayed open all night [7], which attracted expatriates, artists, and intellectuals of that era, including Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau, Max Jacob, Henri Miller, and Scott Fitzgerald. To this day, celebrities like Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson [8] continue to visit this café.

Le Select, 1932 © Ministère de la Culture — Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, Dist. GrandPalaisRmn / René-Jacques

In The Sun Also Rises, when Jake and Brett came in, «against the bar and at tables, were most of the crowd who a been at the dance.» After a while, Jake decided to leave.

His way back home was quite straightforward: along the Boulevard du Montparnasse until the Boulevard Saint-Michel. Hemingway did not specify Jake’s home address; he only mentioned that his flat «was just across the street, a little way down the Boulevard St. Michel.» Actually, it was in the opposite direction where the writer himself lived at that time (in the flat above the sawmill, 113, Rue Notre Dame des Champs) [9].

Jake walks back home from Select in the 4th chapter

Jake walks back home: Le Select → goes out onto the sidewalk → walks down toward the Boulevard St. Michel → passes the tables of the Rotonde → looks across the street at the Dôme → Lavigne’s (Nègre de Toulouse) → Closerie des Lilas → passes Ney’s statue → crosses the street → a little way down the Boulevard St. Michel.

To see Ney’s statue «among the new-leaved chestnut-trees in the arc-light» and read the inscription on the monument, as Jake did, you need to go around the corner. Therefore, he could not cross the street immediately after the end of Boulevard Montparnasse, so that is why my route crosses the boulevard a little further.

Maréchal Ney Monument (the canopy of Closerie des Lilas on the background), 2018 © Chabe01, Wikimedia Commons

The next time, Jake Barnes met here his cynical buddy Harvey Stone, and then Robert Cohn joined them. Jake and Harvey had two ports (Porto wine), which is still served in the Select for € 7,90.

Anyhow, we were sitting on the terrace of the Café Select,… [1–06]

Le Select (brasserie), 2008 © Airair, Wikimedia Commons

In the sixth chapter, after Jake had finished the evening in Select, he left the bar through the side door, stepped out to Rue Vavin, and headed towards Boulevard Raspail: «I went down a side street to the Boulevard Raspail. A taxi came along and I got in and gave the driver the address of my flat.» — it was not the usual way home, as it was in the fourth chapter.

Boulevard Raspail, 1913 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

In the eighth chapter, Jake and Bill Gorton came here for a meeting with Brett and her fiancé, Mike Campbell.

«Mind you’re at the Select around ten. Make him come. Michael will be there.»
<…>
…, past its lights and tables to the Select.
Michael came toward us from the tables. He was tanned and healthy-looking. <…> Bill had gone into the bar. He was standing talking with Brett, who was sitting on a high stool, her legs crossed. [Book 2 — Chapter 8]

All the above restaurants, Rotonde, Dôme, and Closerie des Lilas, were extremely popular establishments at that time and still are. My long article «Hemingway in Paris: A definitive guide to Ernest Hemingway’s Paris» presents more similar places.

6. Foreign Affairs Ministry

37 Quai d’Orsay

The next morning, at the very beginning of the fifth chapter, Jake Barnes went to the office. The reader can guess from the text that the main character is a journalist, but the writer does not disclose what newspaper he works for or the exact addresses of the editorial office. This can be guessed from Hemingway’s biography: between 1921 and 1923, he worked as a journalist for the Toronto Star Weekly [10], but the location of the office and whether it was remains unclear. Seems to be near Opéra Garnier, presumably somewhere near Boulevard des Italiens.

In the morning I walked down the Boulevard to the rue Soufflot for coffee and brioche. <…> I got on an S bus and rode down to the Madeleine, <…> From the Madeleine I walked along the Boulevard des Capucines to the Opéra, and up to my office. <…> I walked across the avenue and turned in to my office. [1–05]

Jake commutes to the office from his flat in the 5th chapter

Jake commutes to the office: Boulevard St. Michel → Rue Soufflot → takes S bus to the Madeleine [11] → walks along the Boulevard des Capucines to the Opéra → crosses the avenue (Avenue de l’Opéra) and turns into the office.

Le boulevard des Capucines, 1932 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Yet, there is a place with an exactly defined location. On the same day, he took a taxi to Quai d’Orsay to listen to the foreign office speaker, «a young Nouvelle Revue Française diplomat in horn-rimmed spectacles, talked and answered questions for half an hour.» That was a direct journalistic activity for covering international diplomatic events, and the place is not a book fiction. At number 37, Quai d’Orsay is located French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

7. Dingo Bar (now occupied by Italian restaurant Auberge de Venise)

10 Rue Delambre

On the way back to the office, Jake shared a taxi with colleagues Woolsey and Krum. During the conversation, one mentioned the Dingo American Bar and Restaurant.

«I’m coming over some night. The Dingo. That’s the great place, isn’t it?» [1–05]

In the ninth chapter, Jake found Mike Campbell and Brett here before leaving for Pamplona.

The same evening about seven o’clock I stopped in at the Select to see Michael and Brett. They were not there, and I went over to the Dingo. They were inside sitting at the bar. [2–09]

In the Roaring Twenties, it was a new drinking establishment (opened in 1923) among English-speaking expats. As Hemingway wrote in The Movable Feast, it is here that he first met Scott Fitzgerald.

Despite the fact that it is now an Italian restaurant (since 1989), the bar inside has been preserved from the original times [12].

Contemporary interior, 2016 © Auberge de Venise Montparnasse

L’Auberge de Venise Montparnasse’s commemorative plaque says: «Previously, this place was the famous DINGO American Bar & Restaurant, run by Louis Wilson and his sidekick Jimmie Charters. It was at the bar of this restaurant (the bar is original) that Ernest Hemmingway invented some of the many cocktails described in his novels, including the delicious Long Island Iced Tea.» Today, the Long Island Iced Tea cocktail costs € 13.

8. Café de la Paix

5 Place de l’Opéra

In the fifth chapter, Jake met Robert Cohn at the office near Opéra and they decided to go out for lunch. The chosen restaurant is very likely fictional because no place with a similar name exists around that area.

«Where do you want to eat?»
«How about Wetzel’s? They’ve got good hors d’œuvres.» [1–05]

Terrasse du Café de la Paix boulevard des Capucines à Paris, 1925 © Ministère de la Culture — Médiathèque du Patrimoine, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Frères Séeberger

But after lunch, they moved to a very specific place.

After we finished the lunch we walked up to the Café de la Paix and had coffee. [1–05]

Circulation automobile et passants près du Café de la Paix, à l’angle de la place de l’Opéra et du boulevard des Capucines, 1927 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, ate there on their first Christmas in Paris in 1921. Café de la Paix opened in 1862 and was famous much earlier than the new-fangled bars from Montparnasse [7]. It was visited by Émile Zola, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Guy de Maupassant, Sergei Diaghilev and Oscar Wilde.

Café crème on the Paix’s terrace will cost you € 11; it is quite expensive.

9. Hôtel de Crillon

10 Place de la Concorde

At the beginning of the sixth chapter Jake Barnes was waiting in the lobby for his lover, Lady Brett Ashley.

At five o’clock I was in the Hotel Crillon waiting for Brett. She was not there, so I sat down and wrote some letters. They were not very good letters but I hoped their being on Crillon stationery would help them. [1–06]

Bar de l’hôtel Crillon à Paris, 1925 © Ministère de la Culture — Médiathèque du Patrimoine, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Frères Séeberger

After a while, he went down to the bar to grab a cocktail: «…about quarter to six, I went down to the bar and had a Jake Rose with George, the barman. Brett had not been in the bar either…»

Bill Gorton, as he told Jake in the eighth chapter, also stopped in Crillon for a drink.

«Where were you drinking?»
«Stopped at the Crillon. George made me a couple of Jake Roses. George’s a great man.» [2–08]

The contemporary luxury 5-star Hôtel de Crillon still operates in the same building; suites start from € 3,500 per night.

10. La Rotonde

105 Boulevard du Montparnasse

The text only mentions Café de la Rotonde in passing a few times.

…, and took a taxi to the Café Select. <…> The taxi stopped in front of the Rotonde. No matter what café in Montparnasse you ask a taxi-driver to bring you to from the right bank of the river, they always take you to the Rotonde. Ten years from now it will probably be the Dome. It was near enough, anyway. I walked past the sad tables of the Rotonde to the Select. [1–06]

La Rotonde, along with Le Dôme, is a famous restaurant on Montparnasse [13]. It was frequented by artists and painters, including Picasso, Modigliani, Jean Cocteau, Diego Rivera, Tsuguharu Foujita, Alexandre Jacovleff, etc. Nowadays, celebrities and politicians continue to visit the Rotonde; even the President of France is seen there [14].

La Rotonde, 1931 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Hemingway was not a fan of this place because of too much bohemian public. That is why he sent his hero to the Select.

11. Harry’s New York Bar

5 rue Danou

This bar was opened in 1911 by American jockey Tod Sloan and was simply called The New York Bar. In 1923, the current bartender, Harry MacElhone, bought the place and added his name to the title [15]. In the following years, New York Bar became the point of attraction for American expatriates like Ernest Hemingway and passing celebrities like Humphrey Bogart and Rita Hayworth. George Gershwin composed «An American in Paris» on the piano in the upstairs [16].

Upstairs at the legendary Harry’s New York Bar, one of the world’s greatest cocktail bars, 2017 © Mark Morton-Smith

It was three days ago that Harvey had won two hundred francs from me shaking poker dice in the New York Bar. [1–06]

In the late 1910s, a young Fernand Petiot worked there as a bartender and later became famous for inventing the Bloody Mary [17]. Now, at Harry’s, this classic cocktail costs € 16.

12. Le Dôme

108 Boulevard du Montparnasse

While Jake and Robert Cohn were sitting on the Select’s terrace, Robert was waiting for Frances Clyne. After her appearance, she asked Jake for a private conversation across the street — to the Dôme.

«Would you come over with me to the Dome? <…> Come on, Jake.»
We crossed the Boulevard Montparnasse and sat down at a table. [1–06]

Le Dôme, 1931 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Le Dôme or Café du Dôme was a popular restaurant at the beginning of the last century and is still popular today (today it is a top fish restaurant). It was opened in 1898 and did not look trendy for Hemingway in the 1920s at the time of «American bars» like Dingo, Le Select, and La Coupole. Nevertheless, he did not disdain going there and even devoted an entire chapter of A Movable Feast to his meeting with the painter Jules Pascin [18].

13. La Closerie des Lilas

171 Boulevard du Montparnasse

The main characters appear here several times. In the sixth chapter, Jake did not succeed in getting to Lilas due to sudden encounters.

«Come on up to the Lilas,» I said.
«I have a date.» [1–06]

But for the second time, he got there by taxi with Bill Gordon and Brett.

«Stop at the nearest bistro,» I said.
«We might as well go to the Closerie,» Brett said. «I can’t drink these rotten brandies.»
«Closerie des Lilas.»
<…>
Sitting out on the terraces of the Lilas Brett ordered a whiskey and soda, I took one, too, and Bill took another pernod. [2–08]

Restaurant de la Closerie des Lilas, 1924 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Closerie des Lilas is one of the oldest establishments on Montparnasse [19], frequented by Émile Zola, Ford Maddox Ford, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett, Man Ray, Ezra Pound, and many others. It started operating in 1847, and by our days, it has turned into an expensive restaurant. Their menu includes a pan-fried fillet of beef «Hemingway» style with french fries for € 52.

The bar at the Closerie des Lilas, 2011 © DIMSFIKAS, Wikimedia Commons

When Lilas was an ordinary café, it was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite place. Sometimes, he worked there, away from the crowded tourist establishments of the rest of Montparnasse.

14. Bois de Boulogne

Bois de Bolulogne, Paris, France

Former royal hunting grounds are now a huge public park with lakes and nature trails.

Bois de Boulogne, 1924 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

In the seventh chapter, Jake, Brett, and Count Mippipopolous went there for dinner. The Count had a car with a driver, so it was not a problem for them to go to the outskirts of Paris.

«We’ll want to ride out to the Bois for dinner?»
<…>
We dined at a restaurant in the Bois. It was a good dinner. [1–07]

Hemingway did not provide the name of the restaurant, and it is extremely erroneous to guess what exactly this place was. For example, there are at least two Michelin-starred restaurants in the Bois de Boulogne right now: La Grande Cascade and Le Pré Catelan, both of which existed in the 1920s [20].

Restaurant du Pré Catelan, 1928 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Maybe it could be Le Pré Catelan because Count Mippipopolous ordered an expensive bottle of brandy from eighteen eleven, and this restaurant has a wine cellar of more than 30,000 bottles [21].

15. Zelli’s Club (now occupied by a grocery store Supermarchés G20)

16 Bis Rue Pierre Fontaine

The company of Jake, Brett, and Count Mippipopolous headed here after dinner in the Bois’s restaurant.

Finally we went up to Montmartre. Inside Zelli’s it was crowded, smoky, and noisy. The music hit you as you went in. [1–07]

«Joe Zelli’s with the Royal Box Smile, Paris 1927», the photo may be subject to copyright [22]

During the Jazz Age, Montmartre was full of jazz and dancing clubs [23]. The most popular one, especially among Americans, was Joe Zelli’s club — Zelli’s Royal Box [24]. It was the only club with a permit to operate after midnight [25]. One way or another, the history of jazz is another area of research that stands apart from Hemingway’s studies.

16. The Pelletier and Caventou Monument

103 Boulevard Saint-Michel

In the eighth chapter, Jake and Bill Gorton started their way to dinner at Jake’s flat somewhere at Boulevard Saint-Michel. And there there is a tricky part in the text:

We walked down the Boulevard. At the juncture of the Rue Denfert-Rochereau with the Boulevard is a statue of two men in flowing robes.
«I know who they are.» Bill eyed the monument. «Gentlemen who invented pharmacy. Don’t try and fool me on Paris.» [2–08]

First of all, Rue Denfert-Rochereau is actually an Avenue Denfert-Rochereau. Secondly, it doesn’t connect to Boulevard Saint-Michel (either the streets have changed in 100 years, or Hemingway was mistaken) [26]. Thirdly, the monument they were talking about existed, but it was standing on the intersection of Boulevard Saint-Michel and Rue de l’Abbé de l’Épée.

The initial monument to Joseph Bienaimé Caventou and Pierre Joseph Pelletier — French chemists and pharmacists — was erected on that crossroad in 1900 [27], but in 1942, the bronze statue was melted down under the Vichy regime. In 1951, the monument was reopened as a fountain with a reclining figure on a plinth [28].

Monument à Pelletier et Caventou, 1900 © Bibliothèques d’Université Paris Cité
La fontaine de Pelletier et Caventou, 2005 © paris1900.lartnouveau.com

Thereby, Bill could have made a remark about the old one. However, you can take the same route along this monument in a new form.

17. Madame Lecomte’s restaurant (Au Rendez-Vous des Mariniers, long gone)

33 Quai d’Anjou

In the same eighth chapter, where Jake and Gill decided «to eat on the island», their way to the place was not trivial: Jake’s flat on Boulevard St. Michel → walk down the Boulevard → «statue of two men in flowing robes» (The Pelletier and Caventou Monument) → stop for a drink (without a specific location) → again down the Boulevard → a sudden meeting with Brett and back to Closerie des Lilas on a taxi → way down to the Île Saint-Louis on a taxi.

Un coin de l’île Saint-Louis, 1929 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

The spot on the island was the establishment that was run by the cook Pascaline Lecomte and her husband from 1904 to 1928 (it eventually closed in 1953). Meals were taken at the marble table, the cutlery was made of metal, and the bill was presented on a large slate. Besides Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Louis Aragon, Georges Simenon (who set about fifteen of his novels on the Île Saint-Louis), and Louis-Ferdinand Céline had dinner here [29].

Au Rendez-Vous des Mariniers, 1900s, the photo may be subject to copyright [30]

Jake Barnes and Bill Gordon came to Au Rendez-Vous des Mariniers to eat «in the warm June evening», too.

We ate dinner at Madame Lecomte’s restaurant on the far side of the island. It was crowded with Americans and we had to stand up and wait for a place. <…> Bill had eaten at the restaurant in 1918, and right after the armistice, and Madame Lecomte made a great fuss over seeing him. [2–08]

After the dinner, Jake and Bill had a tremendous walk on the left bank before meeting with Brett «at the Select around ten».

Jake and Bill go from Madame Lecomte’s restaurant to Select in the 8th chapter

Jake and Bill go out: Madame Lecomte’s restaurant (Au Rendez-Vous des Mariniers, (A) on the map) → walk along Quai d’Orléans and circle the island → cross to the left bank of the Seine from the Quai de Béthune → stop on the bridge (Pont de la Tournelle) and look down the river at Notre-Dame de Paris (B) → cross the bridge and walk up the Rue du Cardinal Lemoine → Place de la Contrescarpe (C) → Negre Joyeux and Café des Amateurs → turn to the right off the Place de la Contrescarpe → Rue du Pot de Fer (D) → Rue Saint-Jacques and then walk south (E) → Val-de-Grâce → «set back behind the courtyard and the iron fence» (F) → Boulevard de Port-Royal (G) → walked along Port-Royal until it becomes Montparnasse (H) → pass «Lilas, Lavigne’s, and all the little cafés, Damoy’s» → cross the street (Boulevard Raspail) to the Rotonde (I) → Le Select (J).

There are several ambiguities in this route. First, where did they turn off the square Place de la Contrescarpe? Because they went up from the side of the Rue du Cardinal Lemoine street, then «to the right» could mean a narrow Rue Blainville street: «We turned to the right off the Place Contrescarpe, walking along smooth narrow streets with high old houses on both sides.» After that, they have to make a few turns (corresponding to the text to the text = streets) to get to the Rue du Pot de Fer.

Rue Blainville, 1913 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

Second, Rue du Pot de Fer does not intersect with Rue Saint-Jacques, so they could not go straight through, as given in the text: «We came onto the Rue du Pot de Fer and followed it along until it brought us to the rigid north and south of the Rue Saint Jacques and then walked south…» Most likely, Hemingway omitted the details that they have to walk through several alleys more.

And lastly, among the listed cafés in Montparnasse, the Damoy’s remains a mystery. I have not found any mentions of it anywhere else.

18. Place de la Contrescarpe

Place de la Contrescarpe

In the fourth chapter, Jake has already passed by this square in a taxi with Brett; in the eighth chapter, he got there on foot with Bill.

It was steep walking, and we went all the way up to the Place Contrescarpe. The arc-light shone through the leaves of the trees in the square, and underneath the trees was an S bus ready to start. [2–08]

Place de la Contrescarpe, the 1900s © Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris

The steep street they were walking up was very familiar to the author. During his first stay in Paris, Ernest Hemingway lived here for a year and a half at 74 Rue de Cardinal Lemoine [31]. His flat was almost around the corner of the Place de la Contrescarpe [32].

74 Rue de Cardinal Lemoine, Paris, 2015

18.1. Nègre Joyeux (no longer exists)

14 Rue Mouffetard

In the eighth chapter, when Jake and Bill found themselves in the square Place de la Contrescarpe. Hemingway gave a brief description of a few of its remarkable establishments.

Music came out of the door of the Negre Joyeux. [2–08]

Epicerie «Au nègre joyeux», angle des rue Blainville et Mouffetard, 5ème arrondissemement, Paris, 1908 © Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris

A «Merry Negro» is a former Parisian café store. Its sign was removed in 2018 by the prescription of Paris City Hall due to its controversial image [33].

18.2. Café des Amateurs (now occupied by Café Delmas)

2 Place de la Contrescarpe

Through the window of the Café Aux Amateurs I saw the long zinc bar. Outside on the terrace working people were drinking. In the open kitchen of the Amateurs a girl was cooking potato-chips in oil. <…> The girl ladled some onto a plate for an old man who stood holding a bottle of red wine in one hand. [2–08]

In The Moveable Feast, Hemingway called it «the cesspool of the Rue Mouffetard» and avoided this place because it attracted only drunks, whores, and ruffians from the nearest street market. Maybe that is why his heroes decided to skip a drink here.

«Want to have a drink?»
«No,» said Bill. «I don’t need it.» [2–08]

Now, it is occupied by Cafè Delmas, which was previously called La Chope [34], and has lost its inheritance as a place for working people.

Terrace in front of Café Delmas, 2014 © Matt Casagrande, Wikimedia Commons

According to their menu, french fries are no longer served as a separate dish (only with a burger for € 19), and a bottle of wine starts from € 25.

19. Gare d’Orsay (now Musée d’Orsay)

Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

In the ninth chapter, on the Saturday morning of the 25th of June, Jake and Bill left Paris towards Bayonne on a train from Gare d’Orsay.

Bill and I took the morning train from the Gare d’Orsay. [2–09]

Gare d’Orsay terminal has served trains for the Paris-Orléans Railway since its opening in 1900. I did not dive deep into railroad lore about whether it was possible to get to Bayonne without a transfer in the 1920s or whether Hemingway accurately sent his heroes by train in this direction.

Gare d’Orsay, vue générale du hall, 1920 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

In 1986, it was reopened as the Musée d’Orsay, an art museum. Admission is € 16.

Read the following article, «Spain in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises».

References

  1. Café Napolitain, Paris 1892, Vintage Menu Art;
  2. Study for Le Restaurant Lavigne by Lola Wilkins, 2021;
  3. Le Paris d’Hemingway: une question de style by Clara Mallier, 2009;
  4. Rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève by Jim Laferriere, 2010;
  5. Young Couple, Bal de la Montagne Sainte-Genevieve, Paris;
  6. Le Violon Dingue History by Le Violon Dingue, 2021;
  7. To live, paint and drink in Montparnasse by Jake Castle, 2019;
  8. Your Official Guide To The Cafés Of Hemingway’s Paris by Meghan St. Pierre, 2021;
  9. Where did Hemingway live in Paris by Travelbyart, 2017;
  10. Ernest Hemingway: The Paris Years by Charles A. Fenton, 1954;
  11. Plan des Lignes d’Autobus et Tramways de Paris;
  12. Auberge De Venise Dingo American Bar;
  13. The Grand Cafés of Paris: a journey to the beating heart of Parisian culture by Elephantine Bakery, 2020;
  14. Présidentielle: Macron fête sa qualification à La Rotonde Montparnasse by Par Pauline Théveniaud, Charles Sapin et Ronan Tésorière, 2017;
  15. Harry’s New York Bar by Luke J. Spencer, 2016;
  16. Harry’s New York Bar by Sara Lieberman, 2018;
  17. Fernand Petiot by Theodora Sutcliffe, 2014;
  18. With Pascin at the Dôme @ A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, 1964;
  19. Closerie des Lilas, et Bal Bullier by Société historique du VIe arrondissement;
  20. Bois de Boulogne — Discover The Left «Lung» Of Paris;
  21. La cave du restaurant — Restaurant Le Pré Catelan;
  22. Divas, Jazz and Harlem-on-the-Seine, Paris 1924–39, Part 2 of 2 by Dave Radlauer, 2018;
  23. Bullard, Bricktop, Baker, people and places in 1920s Jazz Age Paris by David Macmillan;
  24. The Incomparable Joe Zelli by Gary Chapman, 2011;
  25. Negroes in Paris: Black Hospitality in Jazz Age Montmartre by Sasha DuBose, 2022;
  26. Gentlemen Who Invented Pharmacy by Dees Stribling, 2019;
  27. Monument à Pelletier et Caventou, À nos Grands Hommes;
  28. Monument à Pelletier et Caventou, À nos Grands Hommes;
  29. Une gargote pour mariniers, spot du Tout Paris littéraire de l’entre-deux guerres, 2020;
  30. Au Rendez-vous des Mariniers by Frédéric Vitoux, 2016;
  31. Ernest and Hadley begin their life in Paris: 74 Rue du Cardinal Lemoine by Allie Baker, 2018;
  32. La Place de la Contrescarpe by David Fleming, 2018;
  33. Paris: nouvelle polémique autour de la plaque «Au nègre joyeux» by Marie-Anne Gairaud, 2019;
  34. Historically Drinking (part deux), 2020.

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Andrey Enin

Quality assurance engineer: I’m testing web applications, APIs and do automation testing.