Barstool Stories from Paris

Author

Vanessa Grall
April 23, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Thirsty?

Pull up a stool and order a story from our bartender in residence (for one night only), joining us from the Harry’s Bar team in Paris, the oldest cocktail bar in Europe. 

For our ever-popular Paris Writers & Readers Club, I’ll be hosting our our sixth salon at the Cabinet with Mr. Patrick Dooley who will be sharing a special project in the works. Perhaps you’ve already heard of the famous drink; the “Boulevardier”, but I’ll bet you a bottle of bourbon that you won’t have heard of the magazine it was named after. Dooley and the Harry’s Bar team are reviving this forgotten magazine (you know how much I love those), printed monthly during the Paris Jazz Age, which Ernest Hemingway himself contributed to nearly 100 years ago. 

We’ll be reading exclusive excerpts from the revival issue of The Boulevardier (including the never-since-published article by Hemingway) and learning what it takes to launch a magazine these days (here’s a few tips in the meantime). Oh and of course, Patrick’s tales from behind the iconic Paris bar will also be on the menu too.

There’s still room to join us remotely this Thursday. Keyholders will always have a virtual seat saved to attend on Zoom, but if you’d like to join us in person at the Cabinet this summer in Paris, sign up early because seats IRL fill up fast! 

If you can’t make it, time travel instead to this 1920s speakeasy bar with a treehouse in the backyard. 

And you know what the world is missing today? Airplanes that had piano bars, cocktail lounges and pubs. 

Pour me another and I’ll tell you about how a wine and cocaine cocktail became Coca Cola. 

But I better turn in for the night. After all, this 1950s French sobriety poster recommends no more than a litre of wine a day.

Stay curious (and drink responsibly),

Nessy

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 737)

Your weekly distractions await

A Forgotten 1920s Magazine Gives a Glimpse of the Paris Jazz Age in the Flesh

Just how folles were the "Années Folles"? In the digital archives of the French National Library, I stumbled upon a few clues, in vibrant colour. "Paris Plaisirs" is a long-forgotten monthly revue that appears to have been published sometime between 1922-1938 (possibly earlier)…

www.messynessychic.com/2022/10/14/a-forgotten-1920s-magazine-gives-a-glimpse-of-the-paris-jazz-age-in-the-flesh

The 1920s Speakeasy Club with a Treehouse in the Backyard

We've stumbled upon the backyard of a speakeasy club called the Krazy Kat Club in Washington DC, July 15, 1921. It looks like they might have decided to move their staff meeting outside to their treehouse in the heavy heat of July– and nobody is in the mood for business.

www.messynessychic.com/2012/07/04/the-krazy-kat-speakeasy-club-and-the-treehouse

Let's Reminisce Over Airplanes That Had Piano Bars, Cocktail Lounges, Pubs, and Restaurants

Airlines today just aren't up for a good party anymore. Look at those fancy folks hanging out in comfy swivel chairs, ordering Martinis and asking attractive strangers, "So, do you come here often?" Don't they look like they're about to have the best flight of their lives?

www.messynessychic.com/2014/03/13/lets-reminisce-airplanes-piano-bars-cocktail-lounges-pubs-restaurants

How a Wine and Cocaine Cocktail Became Coca Cola

I think by now most of us have heard the story about our world-famous soft drink, Coco-Cola, once containing a significant dose of cocaine until it was removed from the recipe in 1903. But lesser known is the story about how Coca Cola originates from an alcoholic drink based on cocaine and wine …

www.messynessychic.com/2016/05/03/how-a-wine-and-cocaine-cocktail-became-coca-cola

He made a Fortune in the 1920's Transplanting Monkey Testicle Tissue into the Ballsacks of Millionaires

The poet E.E Cummings once wrote of a "famous doctor who inserts monkey glands in millionaires".

www.messynessychic.com/2021/07/02/he-made-a-fortune-in-the-1920s-transplanting-monkey-testicle-tissue-into-the-ballsacks-of-millionaires

No More Than a Litre of Wine a Day, Recommends a 1950s French Sobriety Poster

Last night I was standing at the counter of our local café on Boulevard Saint Germain, finishing off a last glass of wine after work before heading home for the evening, when I noticed something behind the bar. I thought I must have been reading it wrong (I was on my third glass) …

www.messynessychic.com/2016/12/23/no-more-than-a-litre-of-wine-a-day-recommends-a-1950s-french-sobriety-campaign

A Paris Literary Salon that Opens its Doors to Good Old Fashioned Human Interaction

Who is it for? Writers (authors, journalists, bloggers, freelancers and hobbyists) who wish to share unpublished work with the club. Non-writers but avid readers and keen listeners with great ideas. Online members who can tune in remotely via Zoom to listen to readings and discussions, as well as have the option to submit written work anonymously for group reading & feedback. English speakers in Paris looking to meet other Anglophones. Parisians looking for a friendly Anglophone environment to practice listening & speaking English.

For Sale: Ernest Hemingway's Trout Flies

Found in the cellars of the Ritz, this collection of 9 trout flies were gifted to Hemingway by his longtime friend and hotelier, Charles Ritz, who was a contemporary expert on fishing, and author of one of the most renowned titles on fly fishing direction, "A Fly Fisher's Life." This shadowbox is part of total of 250 trout flies that belonged to the great American author, who treated the iconic Parisian hotel as his own pied-à-terre.

shop.messynessychic.com/products/ernest-hemingways-trout-flies-2