Brassaï

To the general public, Guyla Halász (9 September 1899 - 8 July 1984) is more known as Brassaï - a pseudonym he took from the name of his place of birth, meaning "from Brasso". Brassaï was a Hungarian photographer, sculptor, writer and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France, after he had moved to Paris. He often walked the streets of this city at night, and that is what led him into photography "in order to capture the beauty of streets and gardens in the rain and fog, and to capture Paris by night", as he later wrote. He spent a lot of time photographing the seedier life of the city, but also portrayed high society, intellectuals, his friends, the ballet and the grand operas. In 1936 Brassaï immigrated to New York, where he developed his reputation as a street photographer and exhibited his work. Many of his photos looks like stills from Film Noir movies. They're full of dark mists and feelings, and here are a few of them.

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Le Chabanais

In Paris, on 12 Rue Chabanais, close to Le Louvre, lies a very normal office building. What many people don't know though, is that this building once was Europe's most profitable maison close. or brothel, as it's called in English. It was called Le Chabanais, and was opened by Madame Kelly in 1878.

This luxurious house of erotic play was very lavishly decorated, with themed rooms such as Japanese, Moorish, Indian, Chinese etc. The Japanese Room even won the price for Best Design at the prestigious 1910 Paris World Fair!

And then there was the King's Room, that included a decadent, gilded royal bed and large mirrors placed both on the walls and the ceiling. This is where the future King of England, Edward VII, used to have some fun when he visited Le Chabanais.

Here the future King was known as Bertie though, and in "his" room, there was an ornate copper tub where he took champagne baths with the prostitutes, and a love seat, where he could enjoy two girls at the same time...

Other famous guests of Le Chabanais were Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - who painted 16 tableaux for the house - and the poet Guy de Maupassant, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, and Marlene Dietrich. Sometimes the French government included a visit to Le Chabanais as part of the program for foreign guests of state. In the official program it was disguised as visit with the President of the Senate though...

During the WWII German occupation of France, twenty top brothels in Paris, including Le Chabanais, were reserved by the Wehrmacht for German officers and collaborating Frenchmen. During this time the brothels flourished, and even Hermann Göring visited Le Chabanais. In 1946 the legal brothels were closed by law. Their collaboration with the Germans was part of the reason...

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Party In Heaven Or In Hell...

During La Belle Époque goth clubs weren't so many. But the ones that existed were very cool! In 1899 the book Bohemian Paris of To-Day came out. It was written by William Chambers Morrow and Édouard Cucuel and includes descriptions of several ghastly hangouts in Paris that the authors visited themselves.

Above is a picture of two of these supernatural clubs, conveniently placed beside each other in Montmartre; Le Cabaret de l'Enfer (The Cabaret of Hell), and Le Cabaret du Ciel (The Cabaret of Heaven).

Going out for a drink at the Cabaret of Hell might actually have made your soul damned forever... Here is an account of the author's visit to this "cosy" nightclub: "Enter and be damned, the Evil One awaits you!" growled a chorus of rough voices as we hesitated before the scene confronting us. Near us was suspended a caldron over a fire, and hopping within it were half a dozen devil musicians, male and female, playing a selection from "Faust" on stringed instruments, while red imps stood by, prodding with red-hot irons those who lagged in their performance. Crevices in the walls of this room ran with streams of molten gold and silver, and here and there were caverns lit up by smouldering fires from which thick smoke issued, and vapors emitting the odors of a volcano. Flames would suddenly burst from clefts in the rocks, and thunder rolled through the caverns. Red imps were everywhere, darting about noiselessly, some carrying beverages for the thirsty lost souls, others stirring the fires or turning somersaults. Everything was in a high state of motion."

If a visit to this haunted hangout made you feel a bit bad, you could always just go get your soul blessed at the Cabaret of Heaven next door! Here the guests were greeted by Dante and Father Time, and angels served the drinks.

There was also a place called Le Cabaret du Néant (The Cabaret of Nothingness), where the tables had been replaces with coffins, and the drinks - named after diseases - were served by monks and funeral attendees.

After a few drinks at Le Néant you could move on to other rooms, to witness how the hosts turned revelers into skeletons... Morrow's account from this place reads: "Large, heavy, wooden coffins, resting on biers, were ranged about the room in an order suggesting the recent happening of a frightful catastrophe. The walls were decorated with skulls and bones, skeletons in grotesque attitudes, battle-pictures, and guillotines in action. Death, carnage, assassination were the dominant note, set in black hangings and illuminated with mottoes on death [...] Bishop said that he would be pleased with a lowly bock. Mr. Thompkins chose cherries a l'eau-de-vie, and I, une menthe. "One microbe of Asiatic cholera from the last corpse, one leg of a lively cancer, and one sample of our consumption germ!" moaned the creature toward a black hole at the farther end of the room. Some women among the visitors tittered, others shuddered, and Mr. Thompkins broke out in a cold sweat on his brow, while a curious accompaniment of anger shone in his eyes. Our sleepy pallbearer soon loomed through the darkness with our deadly microbes, and waked the echoes in the hollow casket upon which he set the glasses with a thump. "Drink, Macchabees!" he wailed: "drink these noxious potions, which contain the vilest and deadliest poisons!" 

Sadly none of these places exist today. I would have made sure to visit them if they were still around though... If you want to read the whole Bohemian Paris of To-Day you can find it uploaded online at Archive.org.

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Paris - Part 2

So. Let's continue yesterday's Paris - Part 1 post with the second part of what happened during mine and my sister's trip to this romantic city!

On our third day there we were glad to see the sun was shining through the curtains when we woke up. This whole day we spent in Montmartre, starting off in the red light district, among the serious amount of sex shops, and of course - La Moulin Rouge! At one point we felt we were being followed by a man. And we were! It turned out to be French fashion photographer Wilfrid Azencoth who liked what I was wearing, and wanted to take a few pictures of me for his street fashion blog. So we did a very short, impromptu shoot in the shade of some trees.

Then we exercised a bit by climbing all the steps to Sacré-Coeur. The view form up there was marvelous!

The evening ended with dinner and big desserts back in the red light district. Then we went through some sex shops...

New day. New monument. L'Arc de Triomphe! Close to this arch lies a Swarovski store. I remember seeing pictures on the net of a staircase filled with Swarovski crystals some time, that was supposed to be situated in one of their stores. I had forgotten about this though, but when we stepped into the store - there it was!

As usual with sparkly things, the camera can never so them justice. In reality this was amazing!!! When I get rich and by a castle to live in, I want a grand staircase that looks like this!

Then we had lunch at Ladurée. Yep, this was lunch! There are several Ladurée restaurants in Paris, and we went to the one on Champs-Élysées. I highly recommend anyone who visit this city to go eat here! We sat downstairs, but you can also go upstairs, and the whole place looks like an old fashioned mansion. Lovely!

This was our last day before going back home, and we had hoped to be able to by a bottle of champagne and some other goodies, and have a picnic. But then it started to rain again... So we went to a restaurant and drank champagne there instead! There we met a dove who ate peanuts straight out of my hand! And that concludes the story about our week in Paris! I really want to go back some time when the weather is a bit better though. Paris is a wonderful place...

Paris - Part 1

So off to Paris we went, me and my sister, hoping for lovely spring weather so I could skip around in Les Tuileries in my summer dresses! Because of the rainy, cold weather we were met by though, you have to excuse the conformity of my outfits in all the pictures. I did wear different summer dresses, but always with a coat over...

But we did have a really good time, and the relaxing started before we even left Sweden, when we found a Cuban bar at Arlanda Airport!

Our hotel room was small but nice. The walls were far from sound proof though, which made sleeping a bit difficult. I love all these wrought iron railings almost every window in Paris have outside them! Very decorative!

This was my first time in Paris, so I wanted to see the "usual" things people go look at when in this city. These "usual" things are pretty spectacular though - like Notre Dame for example.

Here is my sister, Christine, waiting to dig into lunch - drained cheese with strawberry coulis! To drink wine at lunch seems pretty mandatory in France.

Outside Le Louvre. I really wanted to go in, but since my sister isn't interested in art that much, we escaped from the rain by going shopping on Les Champs-Élysées instead. This was the worst day weather wise. When we came back to the hotel my feet were so wet I could almost pour the rain out of my shoes...

The next day we visited Père Lachaise Cemetery. This was one of the most beautiful, serene places I have ever been to! Many of the graves are made like little private chapels, and I felt like moving into one of them. Knocked on the doors of one, but nobody opened - which was probably for the best... At night this place would be the perfect setting for a horror movie, but it could also be a good place for a romantic photo shoot. I don't think the dead would mind...

One of the people sleeping here is political journalist Victor Noir. He was shot to death in 1870, and the statue that was made for his grave is suppose to depict the moment of his death. This likeness of Monsieur Noir has a very protruding manhood, and it is said that if a woman rubs this, or kisses him and leaves a flower in his hat lying by his feet, it is suppose to bring fertility, luck in love, a good sex life, and in some versions, a husband within the year. The statue has gotten a green layer through the years, but his penis and lips are still very shiny from all the touching. Here is a picture of me doing the rub! Now I'm just waiting to see the results...

Paris isn't called "The City of Romance" for nothing! During our five and a half days there we say about a billion happy couples making out, and three wedding pairs. When we came to the Eiffel Tower the romance hit us too! I've heard incest is ok as long as you keep it in the family...

While waiting for the night, so we could see the tower sparkle in the darkness, we wandered around on Le Champ du Mars, doing normal things like climbing lampposts (my sister did better than me)...

...and trying to take pictures of each other while going up  and down on a seesaw!

And then at ten o'clock, it happened! The Eiffel Tower came alive for a few minutes, glittering like fireworks that never left the ground. I know some Parisians doesn't like this light show, but for me it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Pure magic! The picture doesn't give justice to it at all though, and if you ever go to Paris you have to go to the Eiffel Tower after dark so you can witness this yourselves!

And with that pretty view I will leave you until tomorrow, when I'll post the second part of what happened in Paris!