Once upon a time there was a hotel, a ball and a street filled with music, dancing and laughter. The story straddles two eras which collide around joy, comfort and the glamorous Art Deco movement thanks to the successive re-opening of two iconic places. Welcome to the new jewel in the capitals’ crown as the latest adventure begins at the Hotel Eiffel Blomet.
The ball in the Rue Blomet
1924: the crazy inter-war years are in full swing. Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and André Breton haunted the Montparnasse breweries that resonated with the American accents of Gertrude Stein, Henry Miller and Ernest Hemingway. The "Ruche", nearby, is home to the penniless painters Zadkine, Soutine, Brancusi and Léger. Women with hair cut "à la garçonne" sway to the rhythm of the wild ragtime brought by black American musicians. Mistinguett triumphs and Joséphine Baker is all the rage. It is this joyful ambience that heralds the opening of the ball Blomet, which will become the "bal Nègre". Maurice Chevalier, Kiki de Montparnasse, Jean Cocteau, Joan Miro, Sidney Bechet and many others will meet on its stage or in front for a drink with the dancers.
The Hotel Eiffel Blomet
The beautiful Art Deco building that houses the Hôtel Blomet was built in 1931. Like its illustrious neighbour, it re-opened in March with spring marking the dawn of a new age. Witnesses of those crazy years, tell of the comings and goings of Robert Desnos who exited the famous club early in the mornings, of staggering groups setting off in search of taxis while the last notes played and the lights dimmed. It’s a scene that is vibrant with the footsteps of the dancers, the crescendos of the orchestra and this façade and these walls tell the story of its birth and rebirth.