Shakespeare and Company
Depending on how much of a purist you are, this institution has been a legendary literary gathering spot since either 1919 or 1951. It’s part English-language bookstore and part sanctuary for expat writers, artists and bohemians, many of whom bunk upstairs and volunteer in the shop.
Sylvia Beach, an American expat, founded the original Shakespeare and Company in 1919 at 8 rue Dupuytren. It was a gathering spot for figures such as Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and James Joyce. In 1921, Beach relocated the store to 12 rue de l’Odéon, where it remained until 1941.
The current incarnation opened in 1951. When American George Whitman found himself in Paris after WWII, he knew there was no way he could return to the U.S. Instead, he enrolled at the Sorbonne to improve his French and opened this new generation of Shakespeare and Company, which has remained true to Sylvia Beach’s legacy.
http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/
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