Places in Paris of Interest from Williams’s Life and Work
Here is a list of some places mentioned in Autobiography and A Voyage to Pagany
Hotels the Williamses stayed in when they were in Paris
Hôtel Lutetia
The first hotel Williams and Floss stay in upon arriving in Paris, in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area; the art nouveau style hotel is located on Boulevard Raspail/Rue de Sèvres and is very well known, today called the Mandarin Oriental Lutetia).
https://www.mandarinoriental.com/en/paris/lutetia
Hôtel Unic
Hotel in Montparnasse where Floss and Williams stayed their final stretch in Paris during the 1924 visit. Today, the hotel is called Unic Renoir Saint-Germain. It is located at 56 Rue du Montparnasse.
http://www.suitesunicrenoirsaintgermainparis.com
Hôtel Istria
Hotel in Montparnasse where McAlmon was staying and to which Williams and Floss relocated during the 1927 trip to Paris. Located on 29, rue Campagne Première in Paris
https://www.magna-arbor-hotels.com/hotels/hotel-istria
Sights
Williams registers a number of famous sights in his accounts of stays in Paris, such as The Louvre, The Luxembourg Gardens, the Musée du Luxembourg, Pont Neuf, the Notre Dame, the Place François Premier, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Catacombs, just to name a few.
Of La Place François 1er, a square Williams stumbles across and is impressed by, he writes that it is “of that French austerity of design, gray stone cleanly cut and put together in complementary masses, like the Alexandrines of Racine” (Autobiography 195). The place is located at the intersection of rue François 1er, rue Bayard, and rue Jean Goujon.
Cafés and Restaurants
Le Dôme (Lost Generation waterhole to which Williams goes a number of times, located at 108 Boulevard du Montparnasse)
La Closerie des Lilas (Hemingway’s favorite café in which to write; in the novel, Evans spots ’Harland’ there)
Café de la Paix
Famous old Café at the Place de l’Opéra, mentioned in Voyage to Pagany, when Evans visits it with Jack.
Les Deux Magots
Famous café at 6 Pl. Saint-Germain des Prés to which Williams and Bob McAlmon go together
Tour d’Argent
An old establishment, where, with his aunt, Williams eats their signature canard pressé
https://tourdargent.com/en/the-tower
Restaurant L’Avenue
The restaurant where Williams had supper with Philippe and Mme. Soupault and George Antheil and which he visited several times in Paris. Today, there is a very famous restaurant of that name at 41 Avenue Montaigne, but it was founded only in 1994, so this is not the one. It was likely the Restaurant Lavenue on Boulevard du Montparnasse, close to Gare Montparnasse, where Bess and Evans also sip Dubonnets in A Voyage to Pagany.
The Trianon (Les Trianons)
The restaurant where they have dinner with Joyce and his wife, and where Joyce dined almost every night; it is no longer there, but it was located across from Gare Montparnasse. This is also where McAlmon threw a big party for Williams, with people like Joyce, Antheil, Ford, Loeb, Man Ray, Duchamp, Sylvia Beach, Mina Loy, and Louis Aragon (Autobiography 194).
The Dingo
The Dingo American Bar now hosts another restaurant, but there are photos there of what it used to look like when it was a bar of the Lost Generation. Williams refers to visiting it several times during the 1924 trip.
https://www.aubergedevenise.fr/carte
Addresses
12 rue de l’Odéon
The address where they visit Sylvia Beach at Shakespeare and Company, in its original location, where it remained from its founding in 1919 until it closed in 1941
42 rue de la Buyère
The street in Montmartre, not far from Place Pigalle, where Williams and Ed, aged 15 and 14, lived with their mother at the house of the cousins M. Trufly and his wife Alice
27 Rue de Fleurus
Gertude Stein’s home and salon, where Williams visited her on the 1927 journey.
Other places of interest
Lycée Condorcet
The prestigious school Ed and Williams attended in Paris) is located at 8 Rue du Havre. Among its alums are Marcel Proust, Paul Verlaine, and Henri Bergson
Folies Bergère
The famous music hall that Williams visited on that very first turn-of-the-century visit to Paris. It is located on 32 Rue Richer
https://www.foliesbergere.com/en
The Cigale
The theater where Williams and Floss watched Cocteau’s Romeo and Juliet, located on 120 Boulevard de Rochechouart, close to Place Pigalle
Magasins du bon Marché
The luxury department store Le Bon Marché, where Williams bought a hairbrush and white collar, is still in operation, on 24 Rue de Sèvres