The Most Famous Cafe in Paris Preps for a New Generation

Les Deux Magots began as the Colette of the mid-19th century, a purveyor of silks and notions, fashion and accessories to a stylish clientele. Eclipsed by the rise of department stores, it reopened in 1884 as a modest cafe and liquor counter.

Now, as then, the lone relics of its original incarnation are two Chinese-style figurines of mysterious provenance, for which the place was named.

In April, Les Deux Magots celebrated its 140th anniversary with a party for 350 or so guests. An accordionist played on the terrace, waiters in white aprons tap-danced with silver trays in hand and singers in flapper garb took to a makeshift stage. There were sparklers on a monumental cake. The crowd spilled onto the velvet-roped terrace and into the cobblestoned square.

But it’s not just age that sets this cafe apart. At a time when Parisian institutions like Maxim’s, Lapérouse and, most recently, L’Ami Louis are being snapped up and spun out in export, Les Deux Magots, located on a strategic corner opposite the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés on the Left Bank, remains independent, owned and run by the same family for more than a century.

Catherine Mathivat, its fourth-generation matriarch, came to the anniversary bash dressed as her great-grandfather, Auguste Boulay, who bought the place in 1914. Wearing a three-piece suit, necktie, hat and handlebar mustache, she gamely ushered visitors through a temporary exhibition of as-of-then unseen photographs. The rogue’s gallery nodded to some of the greats who transformed these red leather banquettes into a literary hangout and a front-row perch for culture writ large.