Le Duplex

About this place Le Duplex

Le Duplex opened in 1980, making it one of the handful of gay bars in Paris that genuinely predate the mainstream visibility of Le Marais as a queer district. Located on Rue Michel Lecomte in the 3rd arrondissement, just north of the dense Marais bar cluster, it has maintained a following across four decades by being reliably itself: art exhibitions on the walls, a New York loft aesthetic before that was a cliché, and an alternative, artsy crowd that is less interested in the circuit party side of gay Paris and more interested in conversation. The bar is not large — it does not try to be — and that restraint is part of its appeal. The music is at a volume where you can still hear the person you came with. For visitors who find the more commercial Marais bars overstimulating, Le Duplex offers the authentic neighborhood gay bar experience that is increasingly rare anywhere in Europe.