Paris has long been a favorite destination for expatriates, and
artists are no exception. From writers, to painters, to jazz musicians,
our popular culture is rich with stories and anecdotes about the lives
of famous Americans living as expats in Paris. In the words of the
writer Gertrude Stein, those Paris-based writers of the period between
the wars, as well as their contemporaries, were a lost generation.
Nonetheless, the tradition of Paris as the home of the expatriate
artist, both the noteworthy, and the down and out, continued long after
the period between the wars.
Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway
was in the vanguard of American expats who returned to Paris following
its liberation at the end of WWI, and that Henry Miller led a life of
poverty and debauchery in Paris during the years leading up to WWII.
More recently, the rock star and singer Jim Morrison lived in Paris
until his death and ultimately his burial there. In fact, France has
always been an especially welcoming place to creative artists, and more
than a few Americans, as well as creative artists of other
nationalities, have found their way to Paris. Many have also found their
greatest inspiration here. Although the many have long since departed
from Paris, we can still visit their haunts and houses and even stay in
the same hotels where they once stayed. And staying in a hotel where we
know that one of our favorite writers or musicians also stayed, is a
unique way to experience Paris.
The period from 1920 up until the
late 30s, between the two World Wars, was the time of the fabled Lost
Generation. At that time, the American dollar went a very long way and
the Left Bank (St. Germain, Montparnasse) was the preferred place for
expats and artists to be. Many of them began their stay in Paris in
small boutique hotels that still can be visited today.
At the end
of 1921, the Nobel Prize winning American author Ernest Hemingway stayed
in Room 14 at the Hotel Jacob when he first returned to Paris. He
resided there until he moved into an apartment on the rue Cardinal
Lemoine in the 5th arrondissement. More famously, perhaps, in 1783, this
same building was the site of the English Embassy in France. The Treaty
of Paris, which recognized the independence of the new United States of
America, was drafted here. Today this building at 44, rue Jacob, 75006
Paris is still a hotel, and it has been renamed The Hotel d'Angleterre.
It's a three star hotel with exposed stone walls and wood beam ceilings.
In
1925, jazz musician Sidney Bechet and dancer Josephine Baker arrived in
Paris to perform in La Revue Nègre and stayed their first night in the
Hotel Istria Paris, 29 rue Campagne Première, 75014 Paris. Josephine
Baker went on to become a huge star in Paris and Sidney Bechet spent
many years living and performing in Paris.
From 1931 - 1932 the
American writer Henry Miller was a frequent resident of the Hotel
Central, 1 bis, rue du Maine, 75014 Paris; where he stayed in rooms 38
and 40, living with a friend, or budget permitting, a room of his own.
But it was in Room 40 of this hotel where he consummated his
relationship with the French writer Anais Nin, who would become his
patron and lover for many years. He also began writing his most famous
novel, "Tropic of Cancer", while living in the hotel.
L'Hotel, 13
rue des Beaux Arts, 75006 Paris; is not just your average four star
Paris luxury hotel, as two of its most celebrated former visitors are
currently buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery! The Irish author Oscar
Wilde died in the hotel in 1900 after running up a large bill, and for a
short time, the American rock star Jim Morrison stayed here with his
girlfriend Pamela Courson in the same second floor room where Oscar
Wilde died, L'Hotel has also been named the world's best urban hotel by
Harper's Bazaar magazine in 2008.
