La Closerie des Lilas, La Rotonde, La Coupole, Le Sélect and Le Dôme, were the “in” places for F. Scott Fitzgerald, Trotsky, T.S. Eliot, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Cocteau, Edith Piaf, Lenin, Alice B. Toklas and Matisse (who, with Hemingway, favored La Closerie des Lilas up at Port Royal). Sartre and Josephine Baker often held court at La Coupole where today Roman Polanski or Luc Besson, among others, can frequently be seen.

Life on both sides of the Boulevard is active with restaurants and movie theaters taking precedence closer down toward the Montparnasse station. The mix of shops is odd nearer Port Royal: no food stores, but places to buy antiques and restaurant equipment, occasionally relieved by a bistro on the north side. On the south side, turn-of-the-century apartment buildings face the street, and newer but still elegant ones trail off into the 14th Arrondissement.

The Place du 18 Juin 1940, at the intersection of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, is the hub of the area: both sides are lined with cafés, restaurants and cinemas. Overshadowed by the dark Tour Montparnasse ("Montparnasse tower", one of the city’s few high buldings), the place has vibrancy like no other in Paris; indeed from here the energy radiates out along the Boulevard, getting progressively quieter.

One respite from the noise is the Church of Notre-Dame des Champs, close to the Rue de Montparnasse. This Romano-Byzantine style basilica built in 1858, is surrounded by a small but lush little park with elegant residences facing the church.

For all its bright lights and “Times Square” atmosphere, the area has a good reputation and is very popular with movie-goers and late-night diners. As the métros close early compared to the clubs, access by taxi is best at night, and hundreds of them can be heard thundering up and down the Boulevard at any given time.