La Coupole
When Grace and Jim paid me a visit in Paris, we had lunch at La Couple, one of Paris’ most historic brasseries.
Jim and Grace were undertaking a wonderful European trip. Since Grace was actually born on Madeira, an autonomous region of Portugal, that was one important port of call. Madeira is an archipelago comprising 4 islands off the northwest coast of Africa. It is known for its namesake wine and warm, subtropical climate.
Jim, who is a close friend of my brother, Russell, is also a great fan of car racing. So the day after our lunch they were off to the French city of Le Mans. It’s known for the 24 Hours of Le Mans Museum, which chronicles the history of the city’s famous 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race. The Circuit des 24 Heures du Mans race track, offers simulator rides and amateur go-karting.
So we had lots to talk about over lunch. We also had lots to admire at La Coupole, not only its delicious cuisine.
La Coupole is a famous brasserie in Montparnasse in Paris. It was opened on December 20, 1927 by Ernest Fraux and René Lafon during the Roaring Twenties when Montparnasse housed a large artistic and literary community – expatriates and members of the Lost Generation. They decorated the place in the contemporary art deco style. Artists of the School of Paris and intellectuals frequented the brasserie in the interwar period.
The La Coupole Dance Hall, in the basement, opened on December 24, 1928 and is where musicians performed. Filiberto Rico’s Rico’s Créole Band (1910-1976) was the main orchestra of La Coupole, playing rumba, bolero, guaracha, samba and other baião until the 1960s.
Among the first artists and intellectuals to adopt La Coupole as their regular haunt were Jean Cocteau, Alberto Giacometti, Joséphine Baker, Man Ray, Georges Braque and Brassaï. Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet met there in 1928. In the 1930s, aficionados of La Coupole were Pablo Picasso, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, Sonia Delaunay, André Malraux, Jacques Prévert, Marc Chagall, Édith Piaf among many others. In the 1940s and 1950s La Coupole was frequented by Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, Marlene Dietrich, and Ava Gardner. After the Second World War, Yves Klein dined there almost every evening and held judo sessions on the terrace.
The bronze cast sculpture which now stands prominently in the middle of the restaurant is called La Terre [Earth] by the sculptor Louis Derbré. It was cast at the artist’s foundry and unveiled in 1993. The original revolving version of La Terre (1972) is in Ikebukuro Square in Tokyo, and a replica in resin has been set up in the place des Reflets at La Défense, on the outskirts of Paris.
Today the atmosphere of the most famous Parisian brasserie has changed. The ambiance is not the same. La Coupole was bought by several financial groups devoted to restaurants and big labels. In sum, la Coupole is as much a museum to Montparnasse’s cultural past, as it is a living institution.
But it is an extraordinarily beautiful restaurant, offering good food at affordable prices — and thus is most certainly worth a visit.