Secret Spots in Paris

New York has always been home to the hidden venue. Telephone booths with stairways into clubs and speak-easy bars serving alcohol in tea cups, if you can manage to traverse the numerous flights of stairs and unmarked doorsteps to get there of course. I even met my fiancé Michel in one such place, La Esquina, where a well lit 50s-esque diner hides a giant doorman and if your lucky a trip through the kitchen to the candle lit lounge below where amazing Mexican food, drinks and djs await. Barcelona has also followed suit with places like the Pipa's Club a Sherlock Holmes themed bar on the third floor of an unmarked building. Upon figuring out which doorbell to ring you enter a very late night venue which offers tango lessons for the brave and strong drinks for the shy.

However this culture of hidden underground 'it' spots seems to be suddenly flourishing in the private apartments, unmarked buildings, derelict alleys and underground caves of Paris. Though always trendy, intimate and hard to find these venues aren't always expensive. Places like the Hidden Kitchen, a very cozy dinner party like resto created by an American couple offers amazing food, wine and a chance to meet some truly interesting diners for just 80 Euros a couple. Mr. Perkins, co-creater of the Hidden Kitchen with his wife, told a nytimes reporter “We figured we’d do this once a month, invite some cool strangers, get some cool people at the table, strike up a conversation and from that meet some new people.” In the same vein (homey dinning experiences where you can meet interesting dinner guests) there is also Chez Nous, Chez Vous, created by a Brazilian couple who left their hum drum jobs in Brazil to train as chefs at Le Cordon Bleu and open their intimate Paris Hideout.
However in my book the most innovative new hangout of all the hidden Paris venues can be found in the always lively, part raunch part old timey streets of the vrai Paris, the 18th. From metro Blanche The Box isn't too hard to find as long as you know exactly where to look. Follow the cobbled and tree shaded passageway of 6 Cité du Midi to a modern town house owned by Aline Geller. Geller is an eccentric agent for contemporary artists whose home hosts the polydisciplinary space for art, food, and performance. And Aline isn't just another eccentric claiming to host a new and multipurpose art gallery in order to be trendy. Guests can catch art exhibits, films, readings, concerts and dinners at the Box, and after falling in love with the place, or drinking too much wine can choose to stay in one of two bed in breakfast rooms available. In the same theme is Chez Grace run by the American Grace Teshima. Her monthly art exhibitions are hosted in her gorgous Montmartre apartment. Ms. Teshima explained that she had started Chez Grace in 2005 and hosts at least several shows a year. Part of her goal has been to create a space without the posing and attitude that often creeps into the Paris gallery scene.
On the other end are super-posh and expensive hotel venues like La Réserve, which is comprised of 10 luxury apartments in the Place du Trocadéro, the Kube bar where one can sip vodka from ice cups wrapped in artic ready parkas, and the intimate la Conserverie where private parties tailor to guests wildest desires and a fruit filled martini sets you back 16 euro. There is also French Love on a quiet road off the Champs Elysées. This bar is a throwback to the days when the area was full of "hostesse" bars. The bar has retained a distinctly sexy atmosphere with fibre-optic stars in the ceiling, crystal chandeliers, boudoir lamps and a red London phone box which now serves as an indoor fumoir. French Love is a great romantic place to cap the night off, things don't get interesting here much before 3am. But the best kept laid back secret in the bar genera is Le Fanfaron at 6, rue de la Main d’Or. The whole place is retro, from the ’50s style bar to the Hammer Horror and Barbarella movie posters and the ’60s music. Xavier, the barman serves beers, saucisson and vinyl records, alternating rock’n’roll with later bands like Iggy Pop or Patti Smith. It’s the antithesis of bo-bo cool providing a grungier subculture style.

Secret Spots to Share

Bars
French Love: 37 rue de ponthieu
Le Fanfaron: 6, rue de la Main d’Or
La Conserverie: 37 rue Sentier
Ice Kube Bar: 1-5 Passage Ruelle 75018

Spas
l’appartement: 217, rue Saint-Honoré 33-1-42-96-00-96; lappartement217.com.
la nouvelle athènes: 46 rue laffitte, 33-1-48-74-86-89; lanouvelleathenes.com.

Art Gallaries
the box: 6 cité du midi, 33-1-42-51-52-42; theboxinparis.com.
chez grace: 46 rue des abbesses, 33-6-98-42-69-69; graceteshima.blogspot.com.

Restos
chez nous, chez vous: 116 bis rue saint charles, 33-1-45-30-58-92; cheznouschezvous.com.
hidden kitchen: 28 rue de richelieu; hkmenus.com.
Kong Bar: 1 Rue du Pont Neuf

Wine Cellars
ô chateau: 52 rue de l’arbre sec, 33-1-44-73-97-80; o-chateau.com.
la reserve: 3 avenue d’eylau, 33-1-53-70-53-70; lareserve.ch.