A Café Crème at La Closerie (continued)

Inside the Closerie we sit at one of the small, highly polished mahogany tables and order two café crèmes as we talk about Hemingway. The friendly white-jacketed waiter smiles knowingly as he switches on the controls of the tall shiny chrome cylinder of the steam pressure coffee machine.

	American Bar at La Closerie des Lilas lets you drink in the swirling action of the adjacent restaurant and brasserie and do it at a bar hallowed by plaques honoring such former habitués as Man Ray, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Samuel Beckett. Happily, many Parisians still call this watering hole their home-away-from-home. (Source: Fodors)

After it appropriately hisses, bubbles and steams, the waiter brings us our steaming café crème order in heavy porcelain cups on a silver tray with two small white paper napkins.

The fragrant rich blend of hot French coffee and cream surely tastes just as rich and pleasing as it did when Hemingway ordered it on those cold winter mornings in Paris. Some things never change. French coffee is one of them. Perhaps not too much of the café has changed either except for certain modern additions. In my notes, I write:

"The under-the-awning outdoor part of the Lilas is pleasantly surrounded by green shrubs creating a quaint area of secluded tables that Hemingway would have liked, because they would have prevented him being seen sitting outdoors in this area."

A large part appears to have been added on under the awning that extends out toward the Ney statue. This table area is enclosed in glass for the patrons' comfort during inclement weather. Extending out considerably from the original façade of the building, it strikes me as too artificial, taking too much away from the idea of the outdoor café. With its artificial climate and its glass walls one may see but not feel the outdoors. Today's version is an imitation of the real thing. A faux French sidewalk café. Papa would have called it phony.

At least it is not all that way. When designers are clever, the glass walls fold away so that the phoniness can be withdrawn on warm spring days.

Greenery abounds on the glass terrace at La Closerie des Lilas. (Image © Michelin)

La Closerie des Lilas is a small café; the inside has little depth to it. It is there to maintain service to the larger outdoor café part. Inside the café its warmth is quickly apparent. It has the same warmth as a classically-bound old book with rich maroon leather covers, incised with gold leaf. All the café's appointments suggest this: warm, red leather and polished brass on the bar stools, reddish mahogany and brass name-plated tables, long red leather and mahogany upholstered wall benches. Large gold-gilt mirrors behind the bar keep company with a framed painting of the author as a young veteran in a woolen army uniform from World War I. On the right, over the doors are framed old photographs of the bar as it appeared in Hemingway's time.

What strikes us most about the inside of La Closerie des Lilas is the lush richness of its colors. The ceiling is reddish brown; even the red-shaded wall lamps radiate this light. Glittering glasses and bottles at the bar with lots of mirror behind them reflect the same rich images. The tables of polished mahogany with their small one-by-three-inch brass nameplates on their corners impart a golden glow of richness, their engraved names of literary figures mindful of a long-gone golden age of literature. Our table to the left of the bar and against the wall, contains the name of Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), the Irish dramatist and novelist.

The café crèmes are delightful and our waiter typically has no interest in hurrying us. This is not the rush hour. It is the early morning hour when Hemingway would have been there and patrons are few.

Later I visit the Closerie in the afternoon between three o'clock and six o'clock, after the midday meal but before the evening meal, a time when all Parisian cafes fill with people of all ages and occupations. Most at the Lilas appear to be French. They sit over their drinks reading books, newspapers, or racing forms, savoring the amber light of a waning day as they sip coffee, a glass of wine, or perhaps a milky pernod with its anise flavor tickling the taste buds. A pleasant stimulant to celebrate the end of the day before one has to return indoors to the family or to the loneliness of a hotel room.

As you sit there alone in this café and shut your eyes, you again hear much of what Hemingway heard in his day at this time: street noises, the occasional sharp click, click, click of high heels on the sidewalk immediately outside, rustling newspapers, the distant hissing of the coffee-maker, a blurred babble of voices, waiters taking orders, metal trays lightly clattering on marble-topped tables, and the steady wind-chime tinkling of glassware. Unique music, much the same tune that plays in Paris cafés for every generation, whether it is lost, "beat", or just looking.

Suddenly it occurs to me that this is the same background music Hemingway heard when he wrote his Nick Adams story about trout-fishing in Michigan after World War I, and when he wrote his hopeless love story about Jake Barnes and Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises. I listen intently to what he heard. No doubt about it, it's the same song.

La Closerie des Lilas still has enormous charm, the kind that seems to resonate the historical richness of its past. I order another café crème to savor a bit more of young Hemingway's Paris, understanding a little better what he was about, and what so appealed to him in this clean, well-lighted place.

La Closerie des Lilas
171, boulevard du Montparnasse, 75006 Paris.
Phone: (+33) 01.40.51.34.50, Fax: (+33) 01.43.29.99.94.
Hours: 12 noon - 1:00 a.m.
RER: Port-Royal; Métro: Vavin (line 4), Raspail (line 6), Montparnasse-Bienvenüe (line 12).
Web site: http://www.closerie-des-lilas.com/ (site unavailable at this writing)

Related Links

Americans in Paris 1860-1900 The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presents an online gallery tour of this traveling exhibit, featuring the works of American artists whose painting styles were influenced by the times they spent in Paris. Art Prints: French Cafés Browse our selection of over 200 art and photographic prints — featuring charming renditions of French bistros, cafés and shops — by such artists as Dennis Barloga, Guy Buffet, André Deymonaz, George Ferris, Didier Lourenco, André Renoux, Robert Schaar, Viktor Shvaiko, Vincent van Gogh, and many more. Les Deux Magots — Café Littéraire Once patronized by such literati as Samuel Beckett, Jean-Paul Sartre and Ernest Hemingway, Les Deux Magots has been a cherished haunt for artists and writers since it opened in 1885. Open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Address: 6, place Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 75006 Paris ; Phone: 01.45.48.55.25 ; E-mail: cmathivat@free.fr ; Métro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés. French Cafés: A Dying Institution CNN reporter Jenna Milly explores the cultural changes in France — a widespread decline in the consumption of wine, the government's campaign against alcoholism, and a proliferation of fast food joints — which have prompted many cafés to close their doors. Hemingway's Paris The years following World War I saw an influx of American expatriates into Paris, notably aspiring writers like Ernest Hemingway, and those who had already made their literary mark at home — such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. Trace the evolution of this literary community, including Gertrude Stein's salon and its celebrated guests, plus the transatlantic review, Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare & Co., the "Lost Generation", and much more. Hotels of the 6th Arrondissement If you fancy yourself exploring Paris from a base in the Latin Quarter, just like your favorite expat authors, there are a handful of excellent first-class (3-star), and two luxury (4-star) hotels to choose from, as well as an apartment-hotel at Citadines Saint-Germain-des-Prés (204 studios &/or 1-BR apts. with kitchens). Montparnasse Café Reviews Joe Coulombe, retired founder of the Trader Joe's finer groceries chain, offers reviews of four of Hemingway's old haunts in Montparnasse: La Closerie, Le Dôme, Le Sélect, and La Coupole. Tribute to La Closerie des Lilas Mary Burlot has assembled a stunning 5-page photo gallery of La Closerie, complete with descriptions and literary quotations. (Caution: contains extremely large graphics files.) Walk Like A Man The well-traveled Brit, Michael Palin (formerly of Monty Python fame), documents some suggested Métro routes and neighborhood walks — in his inimitable, humorous narrative style — which more or less retrace Hemingway's haunts of yore.

Recommended Books

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway Hemingway beautifully captures the fragile magic of a special time and place, and he manages to be nostalgic without hitting any false notes of sentimentality. "This is how Paris was in the early days when we were very poor and very happy," he concludes. Originally published in 1964, three years after his suicide, A Moveable Feast was the first of his posthumous books and remains the best. The Cafés of Paris by Christine Graf In which café did Robespierre play chess? Where was Napoleon forced to leave his hat in lieu of payment when he forgot his purse? In what establishment did Simone de Beauvoir find respite from loneliness after Sartre left for the Front? The Cafés of Paris ... a Guide provides much more than the encyclopedic listing of establishments one might expect. Walks In Hemingway's Paris A Guide to Paris for the Literary Traveler by Noel Riley Fitch With this guide, the explorer can follow Hemingway's footsteps from his first day in the city in December, 1921, when he settled in the 6th arrondissement with his bride, to his last meeting with Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 1957. Combines up-to-date information with literary history and biographical anecdotes. Maps and photographs.

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