SubscribeBrasserie Wepler
The Brasserie Wepler is a large, traditional café with a broad terrace covered in a bright red canopy. It opened in 1892 with a commanding position on the Place de Clichy and quickly became a haunt for such artistic luminaries as Picasso, Modigliani and Apollinaire. In the 1930’s it was Henry Miller’s favorite café and he lauded it in his book, Quiet Days in Clichy. Today, the Wepler’s literary reputation is confirmed with the Prix Wepler, awarded each November to a contemporary French author.
The Wepler was a habitual destination for Miller while he lived in the nearby suburb of Clichy from 1932 until 1934:
At one corner of the Place Clichy is the Café Wepler, which was for a long period my favorite haunt. I have sat there inside and out at all times of the day in all kinds of weather. I knew it like a book. The faces of the waiters, the managers, the cashiers, the whores, the clientele, even the attendants in the lavatory, are engraved in my memory as if they were illustrations in a book which I read every day.
—Quiet Days in Clichy
Miller’s first visit to the Wepler occurred in 1928, when he spent a year touring Europe with his wife, June. The occasion provided a harsh awakening for Miller to what he perceived as the “stoical indifference of the French” toward the welfare of prostitutes:
I remember the first day I entered the Café Wepler, in the year 1928, with my wife in tow. I remember the shock I experienced when I saw a whore fall dead drunk across one of the little tables on the terrace and nobody ran to her assistance. I was amazed and horrified by the stoical indifference of the French; I still am, despite all the good qualities in them which I have since come to know. “It’s nothing, it was just a whore … she was drunk.” I can still hear those words. Even today they make me shudder.
—Quiet Days in Clichy
A few years later, Miller would become a regular customer at the Wepler. Now firmly settled into Paris and accustomed to local attitudes toward the demi-monde, he developed a warm and lasting regard for the Wepler:
On the gray days, when it was chilly everywhere except in the big cafés, I looked forward with pleasure to spending an hour or two at the Café Wepler before going to dinner. The rosy glow which suffused the place emanated from the cluster of whores who usually congregated near the entrance.
—Quiet Days in Clichy
The Brasserie remains open to this day and provides an inviting place to enjoy a drink or meal amid the bustle of the Place de Clichy. Their website provides historical and current photos, menu selections and an informative video (in the “Welcome” section).
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Furthermore
The Wepler is likely the spot Louis-Ferdinand Céline had in mind when he set the opening scene of his first novel, Journey to the End of the Night on the terrace of a café in the Place de Clichy.
Location
14 Place de Clichy – See it on Google Maps
Next Stop
Our next stop is also in the Place Clichy, — just a few steps away at a café called Au Petit Poucet … 
