Feb 02 2012
French Cafes as social Institutions
La Rotonde Montparnasse
Daniel and Pascal
La Rotonde Montparnasse
la Rotonde Montparnasse was established in 1911. During the interwar years, it was filled with artist such as Picasso and writers. Today, film directors and artists populate the cafe. La Rotonde Montparnasse is famous for its location as well as its menu. The café is run by the Tafanel brothers and they offer warm welcomes to the costumers. This gives the café its unique atmosphere.
Names of the famous people who frequented your café
Nina Hamnett, Picasso.
The reason or purpose for those people to go to this café. Did they have a particular activity going on in this café?
French people went to Rotonde Montparnasse to descus their art work or stories they have written because they were
Has your café been at the origin of some changes in French society? Has it had any impact on any aspect of French society?
Yes because many famous artists like Picasso met there and exchanged ideas.
Is this café playing the same role nowadays and why/why not?
Yes but there are more movie writers than artists that go to the cafe now. There have also been movies being filmed in the cafe.
If you can have access to some figures, would you say that the number of cafés in France is generally increasing or decreasing? How would you explain this trend?What future developments can we foresee? Are there any new types of cafés that you are aware of?
The number of cafes in France are actually decreasing. In the 1960′s, there was about 200,000 cafes in France but now there are only 35,000 – 40,000 cafes in France. I think this is because of the new rule. You are not aloud to smoke in these cafes. People used to go to cafes to smoke and drink after a day at work but because of the rule less people go to the cafe which of course then that means that more cafes are going to decrease. I have noticed that there are now many Internet Cafe. The Internet Cafes are increasing over the years which might effect Frances normal Cafes.
French cafés have existed for more than three hundred years. What is it that makes cafés still a popular tradition?
Explore several aspects of your café and report on its location, its atmosphere, its menu and prices. From your results, what would you say contributes to making it a popular place?
From my results I found out that my cafe is a popular place because its also a historical place where a couple of famous artists have met (for ex: Pablo Picasso).It is also a famous place visited by movie directors for there films. Its menu is very traditional french. It offers a big choice of chops, steaks and tartars etc to a very good price. It also has a very artistic atmosphere where you will fight perfectly in if you like art even if not you will always be welcomed warmly.
I agree that because of its atmosphere and menus, the cafe it still popular. I always have this image for cafe; Calm, Classical music flowing, people chattering quietly and have bars. I would love to go to the cafe where famous artist such as Picasso went.