Paris left bank and Montparnasse - The Roaring Twenties

The district of Montparnasse, in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, is today embodied by the bold, black and tall Tour Montparnasse and one of the most dynamic train stations in the Capital. At the beginning of the 20th century though, it was the epicentre of an artistic and intellectual life that was as dynamic as it was talented. Still flying under the tourist radar, this district of the Left Bank witnesses the passage of numerous French and expatriate artists who ingeniously put into practice the free-spirited buzz of the Roaring Twenties, that some today still compare to a certain "French art de vivre"! Among them some of the greatest Americans artists and writers, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Man Ray, Joséphine Baker, Henry Miller, and of course international giants such as Picasso and Chagall. They use to dance and twirl until the early hours in the brasseries on Boulevard Montparnasse, whose names have now become legendary -Le Dôme, La Rotonde, Le Select, La Coupole, as well as Closerie des Lilas.