Café de Paris
Coventry Street · Dietrich, Coward and the Blitz
The Café de Paris has occupied this basement since 1924, and it has always drawn the bold and the queer. In the 1930s and 40s it was London’s most glamorous nightspot: Marlene Dietrich and Noël Coward both performed on its tiny circular stage – two of the most famous gay icons in the world, singing in a basement. It marketed itself during the Blitz as “the safest restaurant in London,” being below street level. In March 1941 a German bomb fell through the ventilation shaft, killing 34 people including bandleader Ken Johnson.
The BBC series Queers (2016) dramatised gay lives within its walls. The room is now Lío London, but the ballroom is essentially unchanged: two people who could not say what they were, performing together in front of the world.