It’s the end of the 70th anniversary year for the Société d’études de Brest et du Léon, which publishes the Cahiers de l’Iroise. A new book was published this mid-December 2024, on the history of Brest’s flagship businesses and hotels for almost two centuries. The biggest file concerns the history of the Lombard family, told by one of their descendants, Georges, with images from the family archives: the American Bar, the Grand Bar Lombard and the famous hotel, café, restaurant Les Voyageurs.
“The Smoker’s House”
The other eleven chapters (and the appendices) are worth the detour. Let us cite that of Olivier Polard and Gilles Cardinal on the Hôtel du Cheval Blanc, rue Algésiras, which will become the Vauban after reconstruction at its current address, avenue Clemenceau. The same Gilles Cardinal provides information on the origins of the Saint-Michel Fair in Brest. It seems to be three centuries old.
Brieg Haslé-Le Gall and Armel Morgant talk about the famous Anna Saluden art gallery which has long exhibited the region’s best artists.
While Gérard Cissé mentions “At Khedive, the smoker’s house”, rue de Siam, where we found everything necessary for this practice. Another era…
Practical
Les Cahiers de l’Iroise, “Brestois shops and hotels”, 280 pages, €25. At Dialogues or to order from the association: notebooksdeliroise.org. In June, issue 244 will be dedicated to the continuation and end of Memoirs of the Second World War. The next one will talk about Brest, Spain and the Spanish. A special issue in September, in the meantime, will discuss Brest’s public gardens.
Lifestyle
