Stroll in the footsteps of Juliette Gréco in Paris, between jazz clubs and intimate addresses

Juliette Gréco embodies post-war Paris: an intellectual, an artist, a free woman. Her career is interwoven with places where the intimate and the collective gracefully collide. While the Place Juliette-Gréco is a reminder that she is now part of the contemporary landscape, the Hôtel La Louisiane and Rue Servandoni were witness to the suspended time when she crossed paths with Sartre, Miles Davis and Boris Vian. It was a time when Paris became theepicenter of creativity, both a poetic refuge and a stage for emancipation.

Following in Juliette Gréco 's footsteps around the capital, we discover an intimate and inspired Paris, from the cafés of Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the late night, when Tabou, one of Paris's first cellar clubs, now defunct, was the beating heart of poetic, rebellious jazz, where Gréco sang and philosophized.

• To be read
• A walk in the footsteps of Françoise Sagan in Paris, from the Latin Quarter to fashionable Paris
• A walk in the footsteps of Marguerite Duras in Paris, between anarchist revolt and places of transmission
• A walk in Barbara's footsteps in Paris, melancholy and mythical post-war cabarets

• Who was Juliette Gréco?

Nicknamed the"Muse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés", Juliette Gréco (1927-2020) embodies French chanson à texte, with a career spanning almost 70 years. She interpreted the works of such major figures as Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Prévert, Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, Serge Gainsbourg and Boris Vian. Her deep voice, elegance, commitment and intellectual aura make her a legend on the Left Bank.

• In the footsteps of Juliette Gréco in Paris 

7 rue Servandoni (7ᵉ arr.). In 1946, Juliette shared this apartment with painter Bernard Quentin. The latter wrote: "We went out every night. We went to bed so late that I was never up on time to go to the Beaux-Arts canteen."

Hotel La Louisiane (6ᵉ arr.). Jean-Paul Sartre rents Juliette Gréco room 10, then 19, becoming her haunt during the 1940s-1950s. It was here that she frequented intellectuals, lived her affair with Miles Davis and built part of her artistic creation. The hotel was a veritable hotbed of intellectuals and artists.

33 rue de Verneuil (7ᵉ arr.). In the 1960s, Juliette Gréco lived here with actor Michel Piccoli. It was in this Saint-Germain-des-Prés apartment that, in 1962, she invited Serge Gainsbourg for an impromptu dance that would inspire the song "La Javanaise".

Le Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots (6ᵉ arr.). Two cafés emblematic of post-war intellectual Paris, where she rubbed shoulders with Sartre, Albert Camus and Vian.

Le Bar Vert (14 rue Jacob; 6ᵉ arr.). Paris's first "American bar", open all night. This was the club's great literary period, when Raymond Queneau, Roger Vailland, Antonin Artaud, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean Beaufret, Henri Pichette and Sartre, among others, met up. The address has now disappeared.

Le Tabou (33 rue Dauphine; 6ᵉ arr.). An unmissable jazz cellar club, a refuge for existentialists and zazous born of the need for the fauna of the Bar vert to find a place to dance and make music. The basement cellar is the perfect place to keep the neighbors from complaining about night-time noise. Juliette Gréco sang and recited poems by Queneau and Prévert. The address has now disappeared.

Place Juliette-Gréco (6ᵉ arr.). Inaugurated in 2021, this square is located at the corner of rue de l'Abbaye and rue Bonaparte, a stone's throw from Saint-Germain-des-Prés. It is adorned with a commemorative plaque and marks Gréco's definitive anchorage in the history of the district.

Montparnasse cemetery (14ᵉ arr.). She is laid to rest in the 9ᵉ division of the Montparnasse cemetery, alongside her husband Gérard Jouannest. The sober and regularly flowered tomb is a discreet but emotionally charged place.

The legendary restaurants and cafés of artistic and literary Paris, historic addresses
Immerse yourself in the Paris of yesteryear, discovering the mythical and historic restaurants, bistros and cafés where artists, authors and intellectuals met. [Read more]

A little tour of the Montparnasse Cemetery
The Montparnasse cemetery is the final resting place of many famous personalities, and a stroll through it is a free and instructive pleasure. [Read more]

Related news:

L'Olympia: the history of a legendary Paris venue
Opened in 1893, the Olympia celebrates its 130th anniversary in 2023. We take a look back at the history of this legendary Parisian concert hall, which has seen the likes of Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Barbara and Johnny Hallyday, as well as Billie Holiday, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. [Read more]