Paris’s Wild Costume Balls
As urban growth brought rich and poor Parisians closer together in the 1830s, masked balls encouraged class mixing and costumes that crossed gender lines.
The Artists Who Hated the Eiffel Tower
Now an icon of modernism and avant-garde design, the Eiffel Tower was once seen by Parisian writers and artists as a blight on the cityscape.
Palmyre’s Belle Époque Lesbian Bar
By providing sexualized entertainment to tourists, the bar owners of Montmartre made visible and even celebrated the quarter’s queer culture.
Dogs, the Four-Legged Crime-Fighters of Paris
Now a familiar part of policing, the partnership between canines and cops developed in an unpredictable fashion.
Can You Copyright a Dress?
Fashion houses in 1920s Paris used copyright laws to protect their designs. In New York, not so much.
Graffiti: Jaytalking in 19th Century Paris
The files of Paris police from the late nineteenth century reveal the tumultuous politics of the time through the graffiti recorded in them.
The Cabarets of Heaven and Hell
In 1890s Paris, cabarets in bohemian Montmartre gave visitors a chance to tour the afterlife.
When Paid Applauders Ruled the Paris Opera House
Professional applauders, collectively known as the “claque,” helped mold the tastes of an uncertain audience.
The Patron Saint of Bookstores
100 years ago, Sylvia Beach, the first publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses, opened the doors to her legendary bookstore, Shakespeare & Co.