History on Le Chat Noir

I watched a documentary on Toulouse Lautrec in Montmartre last night. Since I have nada going on in my life right now and I will spare you from my perpetual bitching and whining, here is a neat little history tid bit on 2 of my favorite thigs - Paris and Cats.

On a hill on The Right Bank, 19th century Montmartre was outside the Paris city limits and free from Parisian taxes. The local nuns made wine and the hill quickly became a popular drinking area. Described as a center of decadent entertainment, the area is most known for The Moulin Rouge, Le Chat Noir and the 'closed houses', better known as bordellos. Montmartre was at that time a very bohemian area of Paris where avant-garde artists, muscians, poets, writers and perfomers resided and worked. Today, located beneath Sacre Coeur, it is a very expensive and upper class neighborhood and nightclub district.

Le Chat Noir (French for The Black Cat) was a caberet located at 84 Boulevard Rouchechouart. It was opened in 1881 by the artist Rodolphe Salis and closed in 1897. A nocturnal animal that is mysterious, seductive, playful, and independent became a symbol not only for the Chat Noir, but for all of Montmartre and its spirit. The Chat Noir became a gathering spot to use the cabaret as an artistic mecca to recite poems, sing songs, and exhibit art work. The cabaret published its own journal Le Chat Noir. This is where "shadow plays" and the comic monologues all began.

According to Salis: "The Chat Noir is the most extraordinary cabaret in the world. You rub shoulders with the most famous men of Paris, meeting there with foreigners from every corner of the world."

Famous patrons of Monmartre included Camille Pissaro, Amedo Modigliani, Pierre Brissaud, Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renior, Claude Debussy, Toulouse Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Jane Avril, May Belfort, Aristide Bruant, Yvette Guibert, and Edgar Degas. Even Monet painted a scene from 'the view from the hill'.