Le Vaudeville

Lunchtime at the Vaudeville echoes to discussion of news and business over the dish of the day - the stock exchange and Agence France Presse are close by. In the evening, the conversation turns to the theatre and entertainment, accompanied by a seafood platter. The theatres may have closed for the night but the last curtain to go down is at the Vaudeville.
On the corner of the rue Vivienne and the rue de la Bourse, the Vaudeville was originally the bar of the theatre of the same name which in 1852 saw the triumph of the Dame aux Camélias by the younger Alexandre Dumas.
The construction of the rue du Quatre Septembre was fatal to the stage but the bar survived and became the meeting place for brokers from the stock exchange over the road, for coachmen and cabmen, then for taxi drivers. The Vaudeville is one of the few remaining great Parisian brasseries decorated in the 1930s by the Solvet brothers, the others being the Coupole and the Closerie des Lilas. The year is 1926: the Art deco style reigns: wood incrusted, warm-toned marble covering the walls, engraved glass, flamboyant lights, the domed ceiling, the intricate ironwork, the moldings and furniture - Art Deco is all around. Except on the terrace, which when the sun shines, brings a little Vaudeville to the stock exchange.