Clichy & Montmartre

On his nightly trek through the Place de Clichy in the period of 1932-1934, Henry Miller’s attention would have naturally been drawn to the massive Gaumont Palace. The sleek Art Deco cinema with seating for 6,000 was then the largest film venue in the world.

I was recently directed to this great postcard from the 1930’s of avenue Anatole France in Clichy where Henry Miller and Alfred Perles shared an apartment.

Just around the corner from Henry Miller’s former Clichy apartment is the Espace Henry Miller, a neighborhood cultural center named in the writer’s honor which opened in November of 2003. Inside you’ll find gallery and performance space for art exhibitions, concerts, and dance…

A plaque on the wall of number 4 avenue Anatole France in Clichy marks Henry Miller’s stay here between 1932 and 1934. This apartment was Miller’s first fixed address in Paris. After living on the bum for two years, shuttling between cheap hotels and the hospitality of friends, he moved…

La Fourche is a Y-shaped intersection in Montmartre where the avenue de Saint Ouen branches away from the avenue de Clichy. Fourche means "fork", indicating the branching of the streets, but the word can also be used in French to indicate "crotch", a double-meaning which Miller found appropriate. During the 1930's La Fourche enjoyed a bustling sex trade and the sidewalks and cafés were thronged with prostitutes and their pimps…

Au Petit Poucet (The Little Tomb Thumb), like the Brasserie Wepler, is a red-awninged corner café in the Place de Clichy which Henry Miller visited in the early 1930's. From here, he wrote letters to Anaïs Nin and Brassaï…