Les Deux Magots
[[]] Les Deux Magots (French pronunciation: [le dø maɡo]) is a famous café and restaurant situated at 6, Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris' 6th arrondissement, France. It once had a reputation as the rendezvous of the literary and intellectual elite of the city. It is now a popular tourist destination. Its historical reputation is derived from the patronage of Surrealist artists, intellectuals to the likes of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as young writers, such as Ernest Hemingway. Other patrons included Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Bertolt Brecht, Julia Child and the American writers James Baldwin, Chester Himes and Richard Wright.
The Deux Magots literary prize (Prix des Deux Magots) has been awarded to a French novel every year since 1933 at Les Deux Magots.
Origin of the name
"Magot" literally means "stocky figurine from the Far East". The name originally belonged to a fabric and novelty shop at nearby 23 Rue de Buci. The shop sold silk lingerie and took its name from a popular play of the moment (19th century) entitled Les Deux Magots de la Chine. Its two statues represent Chinese "mandarins", or "magicians" (or "alchemists"), who gaze out over the room. In 1873, the business moved to its current location in the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés. In 1884, the business changed to a café and liquoriste, but kept the name.
Auguste Boulay bought the business in 1914, when it was on the brink of bankruptcy, for 400,000 francs. Auguste Boulay's son added glass walls to allow more light into the café. The statues remained the same since the store opened (they were not replaced by copies). A café Les Deux Magots opened in Tokyo in 1989.
Catherine Mathivat, great-great-granddaughter of Auguste Boulay, started to work in the café in 1993, and took over when her father died in 2012. In 2016, the café led a study revealing that 60% of its clientele were international tourists. In 2017, Mathivat partnered with her cousin Jacques Vergnaud to redesign the café and reclaim its Parisian clientele. In 2022, the Saint-Germain café alone made a revenue of 15 million euros. In 2023, a café Les Deux Magots opened in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)[6] and another one in Tokyo. In December 2023, it opened a unit in São Paulo. There are more plans to new units in Cape Town, Prague, London and Guangzhou.
