Paris 2009 Montmartre - Le lapin agile

SPC May 2020 Windows

Lapin Agile is a famous Montmartre cabaret, at 22 Rue des Saules, 18th arrondissement of Paris, France.

It existed circa 1860 under the name Au rendez-vous des voleurs meaning "Where the Thieves Meet." Some twenty years later the walls were decorated with portraits of famous murderers and the place became known as the Cabaret des Assassins. Tradition relates that the cabaret received this name because a band of gangsters broke in and killed the owner's son in a robbery attempt. In 1875, the artist Andre Gill painted the sign that was to suggest its permanent name. It was a picture of a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan, and residents began calling their neighbourhood night-club Le Lapin à Gill, meaning "Gill's rabbit." Over time, the name had evolved into "Cabaret Au Lapin Agile," or the Nimble Rabbit Cabaret. The original painting on canvas was stolen in 1893;[a reproduction on timber was painted to take its place.