Haunt · 1928
La Petite Chaise
Address · 36, rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris
Metro · Rue du Bac (12)
Today · Still open. Restaurant, still open.
The story
À la Petite Chaise, at 36 rue de Grenelle, presents itself as one of the oldest restaurants in Paris. Its chroniclers date its origins to 1680, under Louis XIV, in an early 17th-century building on the old Grenelle road. Wine and meals were served there at the time; the name is said to come from an old word, chèze, meaning an isolated house. The owner of the house is said to have been Vincent Maynon, secretary to the king.
Tradition makes the place a meeting spot for the Regent Philippe d'Orléans and Cardinal Dubois in the 18th century, then for the Romantics in the 19th: Chateaubriand, George Sand, Musset, Juliette Récamier; later Toulouse-Lautrec, Édith Piaf and Juliette Gréco. These stories belong partly to the legend of the house, and the sources provide no proof of them.
In November 1928, Crowley was living at 55 avenue de Suffren. His private life was turbulent: Kasimira Bass, his companion since March, had left on 11 October taking 5,000 francs, had come back on the 23rd, then left him again on 3 November. Israel Regardie, who had arrived on 12 October, served as his secretary, and Gerald Yorke supported him financially.
It was in this context that he dined at the Petite Chaise on 12 November 1928 and afterwards recorded in his diary a kiss at 10:45 p.m. The person accompanying him is not identified.
The restaurant is still in business, lunch and dinner, serving traditional French cuisine. From the street one can see its old shopfront; the sign built into the entrance gate is said to date back to the origins of the house. The dining room retains floral wallpaper, chandeliers and wooden tables.