Number 142 at rue de Montmartre is an address to note down. Here, six flights of stairs below the street's surface, is since this week the seat of Paris' first private members' club: Club Silencio.
Conceived and designed by David Lynch, according to a key setting from his 2001 film, Mullholland Drive, the place incorporates a concert hall, restaurant, library and cinema.
Lynch has apparently designed everything from the 1950s-inspired furniture, through the pitch black toilet bowls to the saltiness of the nuts on the bar. And he seems to be pretty pleased with the result too:
"I have the feeling that I have coaxed out some of the atmosphere and the characters from my films, and even from my music." Looking at what we have done, I feel myself almost immortal."
The membership is not cheap (rates span from €780 a year for regular membership to €1,500 for premium with some discount for the under-30s and non-French residents), but surely money won't be an issue for Lynch aficionados facing the prospect of sipping cocktails in the presence of the master himself...
Sources say that after midnight the doors are open to non-members as well, alas in a very restricted number. Take your chance!
(A review of the opening night is available in The Guardian and some photos of the interior can be found here)
Photo: Alexandre Guirkinger