The golden age of the cafés on the “Grands Boulevards”

From Waterloo to the modern day, the Grand Boulevards have attracted in their famous cafés, the whole of Paris and the crowned heads of old Europe. From the Café de la Paix at Tortoni, this was the golden age of cafés.

With the nineteenth century, the centre of Paris in fact moved towards the West side, that is to say the boulevards of Capucines, Italiens and the Madeleine…. Theatres, luxury shops, restaurants and prestigious cafés followed. Here, you could met all the fashionable people.

All throughout the nineteenth century, cafés of the grand boulevards also gave the tone and set the fashion for a long time. The terraces of the cafés of the grand boulevards were formidable posts for observation. You can see the society people strutting with their best gear, parasols in their hands, or applauding like in 1814 when the coalition troups : Cosacks, Austians, prussians and English concluded the Napoleon adventure.

The standing of elite customers in the cafés of the grand boulevards was essential for the genius café owners of of the day. During two thirds of the nineteenth century the Italian Tortini’s name was known all throughout Paris; especially its cafés. Nearly two centuries after his compatriot Procope, Tortoni, an ice cream maker from Napoli, knew how to attract the most fashionable Parisiens to his café, with its ice cream, mirrors, candelabras and terrace. Tortoni’s café was located ner the Italian theatre, and he turned many patrons away every evening after the show.

 

Grands Boulevards en 1900

But he was not the only one to have achieved success. After the opening of the Paris Opera in 1876, the Café de la Paix immediately became the place for influential political men to meet, as well as those from the finance world and from abroad.
Also renowned were the Café Riche on the boulevard des Italiens, which was frequented by artists and literary people, and the Café Anglais, which was known for its private cabinet. The Café Anglais, founded in 1822, had become the most popular café in the whole of Europe at the time. Its original decor still entices with its mahogany and walnut wood and its grand mirrors decorated with gold leaf. But most come here nowadays to sample the dishes of one of the most famous chefs in Paris, Adolphe Dugléré.

From Balzac to Maupassant, the great French writers have planted their decors.

But the great work of Baron Haussmann marked the beginning of decadence for the elitists cafés of the boulevards. Although the theatres remained on the boulevards, the well-to-do clientele started to desert its nearby cafés for other places where theaters started to crop up. For example, along the Champs-Elysées the concept of open air cafés with concerts came along. Many flocked there to have a coffee in the open air while listening to opera. And the construction of two theatres around Châtelet made cafés such as the Zimmer famous. The Grand Boulevards were no longer the meeting centre of the elite.