I love learning about history and how the world operated so differently years ago. Things that were entertaining to an audience seem so absurd nowadays. But it is always intriguing to learn more about a time when a lot of us weren’t even alive. That is the case for a very unique bar in Paris in the 1800s. Paris had a very popular Red Light District where people would go to lose all inhibitions, but there was a very unique place that attracted a wide group of people known as the Le Cabaret De L’Enfer, which translates to the Cabaret of Hell. Oddly enough it was right next door to the Cabaret du Ciel, which was the Cabaret of Heaven. Very little information exists on the Cabaret De L’Enfer, but the detail in the decor is absolutely incredible, even if it is a bit frightening.
An entry from National Geographic says that the doorman and waiters typically dressed as Satan and an order of coffee with cognac was translated as “seething bumpers of molten sins, with a dash of brimstone intensifier.”
All of the waiters and staff were dressed as demons of some sort.
Below is a picture of the Cabaret of Hell and Heaven right next door to one another.
The picture below shows how the walls were designed.
On the inside the Cabaret of Hell themed bar, the walls and ceilings were covered with creepy body parts and ghost like figures through out.
National Geographic claims that the L’Enfer might have been the first themed restaurant in the world.
But Paris was a bit morbid during this time; they also had the Cabaret of the Dead too.
Although it may seem odd, this place was a hit during its time. Most images found of the unique place show a very crowded restaurant.
Roughly translated: “L’Enfer the only cabaret like it in the world, every night from 8 to 2:30 in the morning, devilish attractions, torment of the damned, round of the damned, the boiler, metamorphoses of the damned”
Once you find out a little history about Paris, it makes you wonder what times were really like during that time. With very popular themed restaurants showcasing hell and the dead, I am not sure it would be a place I would want to visit during that time. Would you go to the Cabaret of Hell for dinner?