Ernest Hemingway
Commemorates · 1994
The hotel renamed its former Petit Bar in his honor in 1994, thirty-three years after his death. The bar commemorates his long association with the Ritz; it isn't a room he drank in.
Bar Hemingway
Still standing
In, as a customer
Still the same
A 25-seat cocktail bar at the rue Cambon end of the Ritz Paris, opened under Ernest Hemingway's name in 1994 in the former Le Petit Bar.
- 38 Rue Cambon, 75001 Paris
- 1994–present
Illustration
The story
The room before the name
The Ritz describes Le Petit Bar as the first upscale bar in Paris where a woman could drink without being accompanied. The claim comes from the hotel's own history and should be read as such.
Hemingway began visiting the Ritz in the late 1920s, at first in the company of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He befriended the barmen: Georges, who appears in A Moveable Feast delivering the memoir's final Fitzgerald joke, and later Bertin.
Those attachments belonged to the Ritz as a whole, not to this room in particular. The present bar gathers them into one small space.
August 25, 1944
Hemingway returned to Paris in August 1944 as a correspondent for Collier's, traveling with American forces and French Resistance fighters. At Rambouillet, shortly before the liberation, he reportedly spoke of wanting to be the first American into Paris — and of liberating the Ritz.
On August 25 he arrived at the Place Vendôme by jeep with a group of armed irregulars. Claude Auzello, the hotel's director, told him the German occupants had already left. He also told Hemingway that weapons were not permitted inside the hotel. Hemingway left his gun in the jeep and entered.
The Ritz is liberated.
- The arrival and the exchange at the door are supported by Carlos Baker's biography and by AFP's account.
- The story that Hemingway then ordered fifty-one martinis has never been supported by a receipt or contemporary record.
- Hemingway did not mention the Ritz in the Liberation dispatches he filed for Collier's.
The episode is documented. The martinis are not.
The Field years
When the room reopened as Bar Hemingway in 1994, its head bartender was Colin Field. He stayed twenty-nine years, invented the Serendipity, made bespoke cocktails the house specialty, and assembled much of the memorabilia on the walls — including a fishing rod installed with help from Hemingway's son Jack.
The bar closed with the rest of the hotel for the 2012–2016 restoration and reopened in June 2016 with new carpeting and curtains, overhauled lighting, restored furniture, and a heavier front door. The décor was deliberately kept.
Anne-Sophie Prestail, at the bar since 2006, succeeded Field on June 1, 2023.
Visiting
- Open nightly from 5 p.m. to midnight; tapas served from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m.
- Reservations are not accepted. With 25 seats, arriving near opening time is the best way to avoid a queue.
- The most direct entrance is at 38 rue Cambon; you can also enter from the Place Vendôme side.
- The hotel does not publish a separate dress code for the bar.
- Women ordering cocktails are traditionally presented with a rose.
- Hours change — check ritzparis.com before visiting (details above verified July 2026).
The Bloody Mary origin story sometimes attached to this room is better supported at Harry's New York Bar. The bar's own invention is the Serendipity.
Key facts
- The rue Cambon end of the Hôtel Ritz — visitor entrance at 38 rue Cambon
- Nightly 5 p.m.–midnight, tapas 5:30–10:30 — no bookings (ritzparis.com, July 2026)
- 25 seats — formerly Le Petit Bar, per the hotel the first upscale Paris bar to welcome unaccompanied women
- Since 1994 — Colin Field presided 1994–2023; Anne-Sophie Prestail has led the bar since
- August 25 — the arrival is documented, the 51-martini tab is folklore
- The Serendipity, invented here; made-to-measure cocktails the specialty
Documentary photographs
In images
Timeline
César Ritz opens the hotel on the Place Vendôme; the rue Cambon side is its back entrance.
Le Petit Bar serves the Cambon side — described by the hotel as the first upscale Paris bar to admit an unaccompanied woman. Hemingway begins visiting the Ritz with F. Scott Fitzgerald.
June: the Germans requisition the hotel; Göring is among the dignitaries who stay.
August 25: Hemingway arrives by jeep with armed irregulars to 'liberate' the hotel. The Germans had already left, and his weapon stayed outside.
The former Petit Bar reopens as Bar Hemingway, with Colin Field as head bartender.
June: reopens after the hotel's four-year restoration, with the décor deliberately kept.
June 1: Anne-Sophie Prestail, at the bar since 2006, succeeds Field.
Open nightly from five; 25 seats, no reservations.
On the map
Questions before you go
Can you visit Bar Hemingway if you're not staying at the Ritz?
Yes. It's open to the public every evening from 5 p.m. to midnight, with tapas served 5:30 to 10:30, and reservations are not accepted. With only 25 seats, arriving near opening time is the best way to avoid a queue. The most direct entrance is at 38 rue Cambon. Hours change, so check ritzparis.com before you go.
Is there a dress code at Bar Hemingway?
The hotel doesn't publish a separate dress code for the bar. Smart casual is a safe assumption for the Ritz; when in doubt, ask the hotel before you arrive.
When did it become Bar Hemingway?
In 1994, when the hotel's former Petit Bar reopened under Hemingway's name with Colin Field as head bartender. Field ran the room for twenty-nine years and built its modern reputation — the Serendipity is his invention. Anne-Sophie Prestail, at the bar since 2006, succeeded him on June 1, 2023.
Was Hemingway actually a regular here?
Of the hotel's bars, yes — the Ritz's own history has him as a regular from the late 1920s, drinking with the Fitzgeralds and befriending the barmen. Of this room under this name, no: the present bar is the former Le Petit Bar, renamed in his honor in 1994, thirty-three years after his death. The bar commemorates the association; it isn't a room he drank in.
Did Hemingway really liberate the Ritz bar in 1944?
He arrived on August 25, 1944, as a Collier's war correspondent with a group of armed Resistance irregulars, announcing he had come to liberate the hotel. The director, Claude Auzello, told him the Germans had already left and asked him to leave his weapon outside. The famous 51-martini tab has never been supported by a receipt or contemporary record, and the Ritz doesn't appear in the Liberation dispatches he filed for Collier's.
Was the Bloody Mary invented at Bar Hemingway?
It's sometimes claimed, but the better-evidenced origin story belongs to Fernand Petiot at Harry's New York Bar — and even that one is contested. The bar's own documented invention is the Serendipity.
Writers who knew this place
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