Chez Moune is a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian nightclub that originally opened as Le Fetiche in 1936 in the

Place Pigalle The Place Pigalle is a public square located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, between the Boulevard de Clichy and the Boulevard de Rochechouart, near the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris, Sacré-Cœur, at the foot of the Montmartre hill. The ...

. It has been described as the first lesbian club with dancing and

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

in Europe. Since the late 1980s, it has been a nightclub for mixed clientele.

History

The club was opened by Monique "Moune" Carton in Paris's Pigalle District in 1936. Carton was described as " a tough woman" with a "strong personality" who wore short hair, a man's suit, large rings and nail polish. "She wasn't very smiley, and she demanded respect...but she was a lively person who knew how to entertain and always had a kind word for everyone." It was originally on Rue Florentine and called Le Fetiche. ("The Fetish"). At the time, Pigalle was known as Paris'

red light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...

, with lots of houses of prostitution for men, but no place for women who were attracted to women to congregate. It was the first overtly lesbian club in Europe that also had dancing and cabaret, offering striptease performers on Saturday nights and '

tea dance __NOTOC__ A tea dance, also called a ''thé dansant'' (French for "dancing tea"), was a dance held in the summer or autumn from 4 to 7 p.m. In the England , English countryside, a garden party sometimes preceded the dance.''Party-giving on E ...

s" on Sunday afternoons, when

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

was a popular dance. Other entertainers included magicians, jazz singers, a women's orchestra, dancers and ventriloquists.

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

Suzy Solidor Suzy Solidor (18 December 1900 – 30 March 1983) was a French singer and actress, appearing in films such as '' La Garçonne''. Suzy Solidor was born Suzanne Louise Marie Marion in 1900 in the Pie district of Saint-Servan-sur-Mer in Brittan ...

, and later,

Nicoletta Nicoletta is a name and feminine given name derived from the Greek ''Nikolaos'', most often used in Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Nicoletta is also a surname. Given name * Nicoletta (singer), full name Nicoletta Grisoni, French singer, kn ...

and

Chantal Goya Chantal de Guerre (; born 10 June 1942), known as Chantal Goya (), is a French singer and actress. Goya started her career as a ''yé-yé'' singer, singing a mid-1960s hybrid of girl-group pop and French ''chanson''. She also enjoyed a career ...

were said to have performed at the club. The female clientele wore suits and ties or evening dresses. The club stayed open during the

German occupation of France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

, with German soldiers replacing the usual doormen. In the 1950s, Carton moved the club to 54 Rue Pigalle, and changed its name to Chez Moune, since by then she was a well- known figure in Place Pigalle. She spent her evenings in the club drinking and chatting with her lesbian clients, who saw the place as "a protective cocoon where judgments and shame didn't cross the doorstep, a haven for all those women who hid their sexuality the rest of the time." Since homosexual bars were illegal, Carton always invited a few hand-picked male acquaintances and let the women clients know about the secret entrance at the back of the club where they could escape if the police arrived. Men were allowed in during the week because Carton knew they could bring in more income than women, but the Sunday tea dances were exclusively female. Carton lost ownership of the club due to gambling debts, but she continued to manage it until her death in 1986. Afterwards, new owners kept its original name but opened its doors to a mixed clientele.

21st century and legacy

Under its new ownership, Chez Moune has been a music club for patrons of all sexual orientations, but it has kept the original sign that was put over the door by Monique "Madame Moune" Carton. In a 21st-century interview with owners of the club, one said they deliberately kept some aspects of the 'old style' of the club's interior to pay tribute to Monique Carton and the Paris of her time. "It profoundly changed the face of Pigalle and advanced the history of female homosexuality," said one writer about the legacy of the club.

References

{{coord, 48.88107, 2.33606, format=dms, type:landmark_region:FR, display=title Cabarets in Paris Lesbian bars Lesbian culture in France LGBTQ drinking establishments in France

History

21st century and legacy

See also

References