Haunt · 1924 · 1928
Café de la Régence
Address · 161, rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris
Metro · Palais-Royal (1, 7)
Today · Gone. A plaque recalls the café at no. 161.
The story
The Café de la Régence was born in the late 17th or early 18th century on the place du Palais-Royal: the sources hesitate between 1670, 1681 and 1718, the date adopted by the plaque installed in 2023. In the 18th century it became the great meeting place of chess players. Kermur de Légal reigned there before being dethroned by François-André Danican Philidor, a musician and reputedly the best player of his time. Diderot, who met Rousseau there in 1742, judged around 1760 that Paris was the world capital of the game and the Régence its finest venue; he noted that chessboards were rented there by the hour, at a higher price in the evening because of the candles.
Driven out by building works at the Palais-Royal, the café moved briefly to rue de Richelieu, then settled around 1854-1855 at 161 rue Saint-Honoré. The 1867 international chess tournament was played there. In the 20th century the history becomes confused: according to Wikipedia, the establishment became a restaurant in 1910, the chess room closed in 1916 and the players migrated to the Café de l'Univers, while the official plaque indicates a presence at this address until 1955.
A first-rank player since his Cambridge years, when, according to Maugham, he had represented the university, Crowley came to the Régence as soon as he arrived in Paris in January 1924. Lodging at the Hôtel de Blois, rue Vavin, he dined on 20 January with Aimée Gouraud and then went to play at the Régence, returning the next day; two days later, Norman Mudd arrived from Tunis to assist him.
On 11 October 1928, while living at 55 avenue de Suffren, Crowley left his companion Kasimira Bass in the care of Carl de Vidal Hunt while he went to a chess club that the timeline does not name. That evening she left the apartment with her clothes and 5,000 francs. The next day, the day Israel Regardie arrived, Crowley filed a complaint, then found the money under a statue; Kasimira returned on 23 October.
The café has disappeared. A plaque unveiled on 4 April 2023 at 161 rue Saint-Honoré, at the corner of avenue de l'Opéra, recalls its history and its regulars, from Philidor to Bonaparte and Musset.