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Inès Cussac
Published on
Oct 20, 2024 at 8:38 a.m.
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Pushing the door of this bar is a leap in time. For over a century, Harry’s Bar in Paris (2nd) welcomes Americans passing through the capital in an atmosphere that is as festive as it is intimate. The family, owners of the place since four generationshas always managed to preserve the timeless decoration of this place. Over the years, it has become a witness to history as much as an actor. “The goal is to remain classic, timeless, while living in our times,” summarizes Franz-Arthur MacElhone, the current owner of the place and great-grandson of Harry MacElhone, the first manager.
Research servers
When it comes to old and classic, all you have to do is look at the decoration and furniture. Like the counter which crossed the Atlantic in 1910. Dismantled in Manhattan then reassembled in Paris, it made this journey to escape prohibition pointing the tip of its nose at the United States.
The age of the place can also be seen on the pennants bearing the names of American universities plastered on the walls over time. The ceiling, blackened by nicotineis marked by successive generations. Above all, ancestrality is seen through the waiters with white jackets on their shoulders. The same as those of the bartenders of the 1920s, whose photos are framed in front of the counter.
Harvard, Yale, Army and Navy: we had four pennants at the start which overlooked the outside. Gradually there was this whole collection.
Like scientists on their laboratory bench, the servers at Harry’s Bar expertly measured the cocktails on their mahogany bar. The Side Car, the Bloody Mary, the White Lady, the French 75 or even the Blue Lagoon were created there. This is also where the first hot dogs and Coca-Cola were tasted in France.
The jazz tunes that resonate from the basement where the piano is installed and the cozy decoration remaining in its original state, provide the atmosphere festive and intimate of this American HQ. Countless personalities have also visited this bar to cast a fictitious vote before taking the plane – like Morgan Freeman -, to taste a cocktail with incomparable flavors – like Ernest Hemingway – or even to write a monument there. of Hollywood – like George Gershwin with the music ofAn American in Paris.
Quoted by Hemingway
History has not finished being written at Harry’s Bar. From 12 p.m. to 2 a.m.customers parade continuously. “It’s a must for Americans,” emphasizes Aaron, who is in Paris for only five days but is already planning to return. It is through press articles but above all thanks to Paris is a partythat Gina, a Texan on vacation in France, knew the bar. “It was on my list of things to do in Paris,” she says.
If the Americans occupy a significant part of the clientele, the French are not left out. Once the working day is over, the bar becomes the temple of afterworks for all the white-collar workers in the neighborhood.
For a hundred years, Harry’s Bar has been a polling station
Every four years, Harry’s Bar has served as a fictitious polling station since 1924. One month before each presidential election, Americans are invited to nominate the next occupant of the Oval Office. On October 7, this legendary bar in Paris celebrated the 100th anniversary of this “straw vote”. “It comes from frustration. A hundred years ago, proxy voting did not exist in the United States, American customers were frustrated by it. My great-grandfather, Harry MacElhone, therefore had the idea of doing a ‘straw vote’ to create a festive atmosphere around the elections,” recalls Franz-Arthur MacElhone. During the electoral period, a count is organized every Friday to follow the voting trend which, over the past century, has only been wrong three times. “In the 70s, the White House called here to find out what the forecasts were and what the Americans were thinking in Paris,” continues the owner of the place.
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