The Chicline.com team recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Catherine Mathivat, the café’s general manager, the fourth generation in the family that’s owned Les Deux Magots since 1914.

Chicline.com : Bonjour Madame Mathivat, and thank you for meeting with us here at Les Deux Magots. To start with, where does the café’s name come from?

Catherine Mathivat: In 1812, the author Michel Sewrin wrote a play called Les Deux Magots de la Chine [The Two Maggots from China]. Part of the play’s title was used on the sign of a shop selling novelties, fabrics, and silks, located on the corner of the rue de Buci and the rue de Seine. That’s where it all started…

Chicline.com : How did Les Deux Magots go from a fabric and sundries shop, to a cafe favoured by writers and intellectuals ?

CM: Over time, the crowdedness of the store became a problem. So the owners decided to move it to an annexe of the Printemps department store, located on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, facing the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Under the re-designing of Paris by the Baron Haussmann, a building was constructed here to accommodate a large Parisian department store, which explains the high ceilings you see here today. In 1880, the shop closed its doors, and in its place a café “liquoriste” appeared, in 1885. Alcoholic berverages were served here, notably absinthe, which was very in vogue at the time. In 1914, my great-grandfather Monsieur Boulay bought the café, and entirely redecorated it. Since then, it’s décor has never been changed, from the walls, to the tables and chairs, everything has remained intact and in the same style as they originally were. From the old shop, there remain two famous statues of Chinese figures, each one seated on a chest. These statues have been placed in a good spot in the large room of our café, and are the mascots of Les Deux Magots.

Chicline.com: How would you explain the café’s quick success as an intellectual meeting place?

CM: This is without a doubt due to the era. It was already quite common for people to meet in cafes for discussions. Rimbaud, Verlaine, and numerous other late 19th century artists came here to work, meet with one another, talk, and re-create the world. In 1933, a group of young writers decided to use their own funds to create a literary award to rival the Prix Goncourt. Winners would be decided at Les Deux Magots. This was the founding of the Prix des Deux Magots, which, since that time, is awarded in January each year. Just after this award was established, my great-grandfather, the owner of the café, finding it a particularly good idea, decided to be sure an award could be given out every year. That year, the winner was Raymond Queneau, who won for “Le Chien-Dent”. On January 31, 2006, we awarded the 73rd Prix des Deux Magots to Belgian novelist and poet Jean-Claude Pirotte for Une adolescence en Gueldre (published by La Table Ronde). In the meantime, other winners have included Antoine Blondin in 1950, for L’Europe buissonière, Sébastien Japrisot in 1978 for L'Eté meurtrier, and Eric Neuhoff in 1996 for Barbe à Papa. The Prix des Deux Magots is firmly anchored in the Parisian literary landscape.

Chicline.com: Can you tell us about the restaurant’s menu?

CM: Les Deux Magots is a café where we serve small meals in the day, and also in the evening since 2005. We also have food at all hours of the day, and until late at night. Our longtime specialty is hot chocolate, made in the old way, using melted tablets of chocolate. As has been our tradition, alcohol and wine are always poured in front of the client. In general, we hold tradition to be very important. For example, you will always see our waiters dressed in black and white, as their colleagues did at the turn of the century. We are one of the oldest cafes in Paris, and this tradition is also part of our national heritage.

Chicline.com: Do you have any funny stories to share about any of the café’s most famous clients?

CM: As you can imagine, there are a lot of stories. But this is one of the most savory I’ve been told: One day, Alfred Jarry wanted to talk to a woman sitting at the table next to his. But since she clearly didn’t want to talk to him, he took a revolver from his pocket, and shot at the glass behind him. He then turned to the shocked young woman, and said: “Now, Madame, the ice is broken, let’s talk.” [Editor’s Note: Glace, the French word for “ice”, is the same as the word for “mirror” or “glass”]. There’s also Dora Maar and Picasso, who met here at Les Deux Magots. It’s said that Picasso fell in love with her when he saw her idly twirling a knife between her white-gloved hands.

Chicline.com: Have you worked here a long time?

CM: Oh, yes, I worked at the register when I was very young. I’ve seen not a few regulars come and go. I remember one, named Mussali, a lover of art, who always sat in the same spot, and never took off his hat, which really annoyed my father!

Chicline.com: Tell us about some celebrities who’ve come by here…

CM: To start with, you notice that there are plaques here that indicate the places where some of our most famous regular customers liked to sit. Besides that, I can name some of the celebrities of our own time, who’ve honoured us with their presence, such as Sabine Azéma, Philippe Noiret, Woody Allen (while he was here filming Everyone Says “I Love You”, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, Yoshi Yamamoto…

Chicline.com: Do you have other cafes outside Paris?

CM: In fact, in 1989 we had the chance to set up a café in Tokyo, in the middle of a cultural centre with a theatre, museum, galleries, etc. We profited from this occasion to present our concept of a French café/restaurant, with the same tables and chairs as the ones we have in Paris, waiters dressed in black and white, but the décor is more modern this time, done by Willmotte. It’s been quite a success. We would also like to add more chains in other places, like Lebanon, where we plan to open a restaurant in Beirut in December 2006. And we’re open to all other opportunities we might find, in Europe and Asia, for example.

Chicline.com: What do you think of the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood’s evolution?

CM: You can very well imagine that in the 35 years that I’ve worked here, I’ve been an eyewitness to the quartier’s successive transformations. We saw the disappearance of neighborhood institutions like Le Divan, Raoul Vidal, le Drugstore, and cafes like L’Apollinaire disappeared well before that. The newcomers are called Armani, Vuitton, Dior. It’s an evolution that changes the local landscape, but it’s undeniable, shopping attracts a lot of people here. I can’t complain, personally, even though I’m very sad about the loss of our local art-house cinemas.

Chicline.com: What is your café’s clientele like?

CM: It’s fairly difficult to give an exact figure, but we estimate that between 40 and 50% of our clients are foreigners, mostly tourists drawn by the church and the area’s famous cafes. Otherwise, a large part of our clientele is made up of regulars.

Chicline.com: Is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers?

CM: I’d like to tell your Chicline.com Lettre de Paris readers that we’ll always have something to offer, from 7:30 in the morning, to 1 am, from breakfast to a late-night drink. Here they can enjoy a great location, in a historical neighborhood, facing a church whose origins date back more than a thousand years. It would be a pleasure to welcome them to our café, anytime.