


|
Lapin Agile This bar-cabaret is still one of the most picturesque spots in Montmartre. It got its curious name -- the Nimble Rabbit -- when the owner, André Gill, hung up a sign (now in the Musée du Vieux Montmartre) of a laughing rabbit jumping out of a saucepan clutching a bottle of wine. Once the sign went up, locals rechristened it the Lapin à Gill, meaning Gill's Rabbit. When, in 1886, it was sold to cabaret singer Jules Jouy, he called it the Lapin Agile, which has the same pronunciation in French as Lapin à Gill. In 1903 the premises were bought by the most celebrated cabaret entrepreneur of them all, Aristide Bruand, portrayed by Toulouse-Lautrec in a series of famous posters, and soon thereafter Picasso painted his famous Au Lapin Agile (sold at auction in the 1980s for nearly $50 million and on view at New York City's Metropolitan Museum). Today the Lapin Agile manages to preserve at least something of its earlier flavor, unlike the Moulin Rouge. COST: EUR20. Tues.-Sun. 9 PM-2 AM. Métro: Lamarck Caulaincourt. Address 22 rue des Saules, Paris, FrancePhone 01-46-06-85-87Opening hours Tues.-Sun. 9 PM-2 AM
|






