The Arrival
By August 25, 1944, Paris was in the final hours of German occupation. French resistance fighters and advancing Allied forces were battling through the streets. The tricoleur was flying from Notre-Dame. Charles de Gaulle was preparing his march down the Champs-Élysées.
Ernest Hemingway had other priorities.
The novelist — then 44 years old, serving as a war correspondent for Collier’s magazine, and operating well beyond the boundaries of what correspondents were supposed to do — rolled up to the front entrance of the Ritz Paris on the Place Vendôme in a Jeep. With him were a machine gun and a contingent of French resistance fighters he’d been fighting alongside for days.
“Where are the Germans?” he demanded of the hotel manager, Claude Auzello. “I have come to liberate the Ritz.”
Auzello, in what may be the most perfectly French response in recorded history, replied: “They left a long time ago, Monsieur. And I cannot let you enter with a weapon.”
The 51 Martinis
Did Hemingway really order 51 martinis at the Ritz?
Hemingway did what he was told. He put the machine gun in the Jeep. He walked into the Ritz. He ordered 51 dry martinis.
The number is disputed — some accounts say it was for his entire group of fighters, not all for him. Others maintain it was closer to 73. The exact count matters less than the scene: a novelist who’d been carrying a machine gun through occupied streets, now sitting in one of the world’s most elegant hotels, ordering cocktails while Paris burned and celebrated simultaneously outside.
He and his companions drank champagne while cleaning their weapons. The war was still happening — snipers were active, pockets of resistance remained throughout the city. But the Ritz had been liberated, and Hemingway took this as personally significant. Across the Champagne region, the resistance had been running a far more dangerous operation against the Nazis — hiding fighters in cave networks and walling off vintage bottles from the German Weinfuhrer.
The History
Hemingway’s relationship with the Ritz predated the war by nearly two decades. In the late 1920s, he and F. Scott Fitzgerald had discovered the hotel’s bar together during the years they were both living in Paris. Hemingway was writing The Sun Also Rises. Fitzgerald was riding the success of The Great Gatsby. They were, briefly, friends who drank in the same bars, though the friendship would sour as Fitzgerald’s alcoholism and Hemingway’s competitiveness pulled them apart.
The Ritz bar became one of Hemingway’s regular haunts. He drank there with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Josephine Baker, and Cole Porter. In his memoir A Moveable Feast, Paris and its bars are characters as vivid as any person. The Ritz was the grandest of them.
So when Hemingway arrived with a machine gun on liberation day, it wasn’t a random act of bravado. He was going home.
The Bar
What is Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris?
In 1994, the Ritz renamed its small, wood-paneled bar on the Rue Cambon side “Bar Hemingway.” The space seats about 30 people. The walls are covered with photographs, letters, and memorabilia from Hemingway’s years in Paris. His typewriter sits in a glass case. The cocktail menu includes drinks named after his novels.
The head bartender for 27 years was Colin Peter Field, considered one of the finest bartenders in the world, who maintained the bar’s reputation as a place where the cocktails were as serious as the literary heritage. The Serendipity — his signature creation — was voted the world’s best cocktail by Forbes.
The bar is also, incidentally, claimed as the birthplace of the Bloody Mary, though this is contested by Harry’s New York Bar a few blocks away. Both claims are plausible. Neither can be proven. Both bars serve excellent Bloody Marys and would prefer you stop asking.
The Other Ritz Resident
Did Coco Chanel really live at the Ritz Paris?
While Hemingway was liberating the bar, another famous resident of the Ritz was upstairs. Coco Chanel had lived in the hotel since 1937 — a suite on the Rue Cambon side that she’d furnished with her own Coromandel screens, Cocteau sketches, and personal furniture.
Chanel’s wartime history was complicated. She’d remained at the Ritz throughout the occupation, and her relationships with German officers would later be the subject of considerable controversy. But she stayed, and the hotel accommodated her, as it had since before the war. She would continue living there until her death on January 10, 1971, at the age of 87, having spent 34 years calling the Ritz home.
“The Ritz is my home,” she said. It was not a metaphor. Room service brought her meals. The concierge handled her correspondence. She walked across the Place Vendôme to her atelier on Rue Cambon every morning and walked back every evening to the hotel she’d made her permanent address.
The Coco Chanel Suite — recreated after the hotel’s four-year, €450 million renovation — is now the most requested room at the Ritz. Champagne is available for guests “while soaking in the ambience of Paris.” The Place Vendôme outside the window inspired the octagonal cap of Chanel N°5.
The Other Regulars
The Ritz bar’s guest book reads like a 20th-century history exam. Teddy Roosevelt drank there. Noel Coward was a regular. Winston Churchill held court in the dining room. Marcel Proust would arrive late at night for a beer and write at his table until dawn. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor kept a suite. During the war, Hermann Goering occupied a suite on the Place Vendôme side while Chanel stayed on the Rue Cambon side. They may never have crossed paths.
Visit Today
Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris is open to non-hotel guests, but reservations are strongly recommended and the dress code is enforced. Expect cocktails in the €30-40 range and champagne by the glass from a list that would make Hemingway himself go quiet for a second. The atmosphere is intimate — dark wood, leather, low lighting — and the bartenders know the liberation story well enough to tell it properly.
The Ritz is at 15 Place Vendôme, 75001 Paris, a five-minute walk from the Tuileries and a ten-minute walk from the Louvre. If you’re building a Paris champagne day, the Paris champagne bars trail connects Bar Hemingway with La Closerie des Lilas (where Hemingway wrote much of The Sun Also Rises), the champagne bars of the Marais, and the wine shops of Rue du Nil. For more world-class places to drink champagne in the right setting, see our guide to the best champagne bars from Paris to Hong Kong.
The machine gun, presumably, is not required.
FAQ
Did Hemingway really liberate the Ritz?
Sort of. On August 25, 1944 — the day Paris was liberated — Hemingway drove to the Ritz with a machine gun and a contingent of French resistance fighters, demanding to know where the Germans were. The hotel manager, Claude Auzello, told him the Germans had already left and asked him to put the weapon in the Jeep. Hemingway complied, walked in, and ordered 51 dry martinis (though some accounts put the number at 73). He’d been fighting alongside resistance forces for days, well beyond what war correspondents were supposed to do. The Ritz was his old haunt from the 1920s — so in his mind, he genuinely was going home.
How much do drinks cost at Bar Hemingway?
Cocktails at Bar Hemingway run in the EUR 30-40 range, with champagne by the glass available from a list that covers most of the major houses. It’s the Ritz Paris, so the pricing reflects the setting — you’re drinking in a wood-paneled room that seats about 30 people, surrounded by Hemingway’s actual memorabilia, photographs, and a typewriter in a glass case. The cocktail menu includes drinks named after his novels. No one goes to Bar Hemingway expecting a bargain. They go expecting one of the most atmospheric bars in the world, and it delivers.
Who was Colin Peter Field?
Colin Peter Field served as head bartender at Bar Hemingway for 27 years and was widely considered one of the finest bartenders in the world. His signature creation, the Serendipity, was voted the world’s best cocktail by Forbes. Field maintained the bar’s reputation as a place where cocktails were treated with the same seriousness as the literary heritage on the walls. He was also the custodian of the Hemingway liberation story, the disputed Bloody Mary birthplace claim (contested by Harry’s New York Bar a few blocks away), and the general atmosphere of a room where history and hospitality overlap.
Can you visit Bar Hemingway without staying at the Ritz?
Yes, Bar Hemingway is open to non-hotel guests, though reservations are strongly recommended and the dress code is enforced. The bar is on the Rue Cambon side of the Ritz at 15 Place Vendome, 75001 Paris — a five-minute walk from the Tuileries and ten minutes from the Louvre. The space is intimate (about 30 seats), so walk-ins can be hit or miss, especially on weekend evenings. The Paris champagne bars trail connects Bar Hemingway with La Closerie des Lilas, the champagne bars of the Marais, and the wine shops of Rue du Nil for a full day out.
Sources: France 24 (The Day Hemingway Liberated the Ritz Bar), Atlas Obscura, Ritz Paris official history, Ernest Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast.” Additional research from Foyer Magazine (Coco Chanel Suite) and Bond Lifestyle archives.
