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Harry's Bar Paris

Paris

Bringing the roaring twenties to the 21st century

Founded in 1911 just steps away from the Opéra Garnier, the legendary Harry's Bar is now entering a new chapter under the leadership of Franz-Arthur MacElhone, the fourth generation at the helm of the institution. It was his great-grandfather, Harry MacElhone – a young Scotsman from Dundee who took over the venue in 1923, gave it his name and, more importantly, shaped the identity that would make it iconic.

Beyond the swinging doors, inside the wood-panelled interior lined with American university crests, the spirit of the Roaring Twenties still lingers. This is where classics such as the Bloody Mary, French 75, Sidecar and Boulevardier were born, served by a brigade of bartenders in white jackets in a ritual that remains delightfully unchanged.

Yet Harry's Bar is far from living in the past. Franz-Arthur MacElhone is rolling up his sleeves to prove that classicism can still feel effortlessly cool. Fresh energy, a second outpost on the Croisette in Cannes and a menu designed like a magazine – bringing together house signatures alongside cocktails from fellow bars – show an institution reinventing itself without losing its soul. In 2025, the heir to the family legacy even revived The Boulevardier, the magazine founded in 1927 by American expat Erskine Gwynne, whose irreverent and cosmopolitan tone once chronicled Parisian life. A stylish reminder that some legends still know exactly how to move with the times.

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