The legendary Paris cafés where intellectuals met and tourists now flock haven't been there all that long in the grand scheme of things. There weren't many restaurants at all in Paris 150 years ago. But there were migrants from rural France who came to the city to make a living during the industrial revolution. When a railway was built, many of these migrants moved in from the Auvergne region. They settled in a small area of Paris together and were called Auvergnats. They got jobs doing the hard labor Parisians didn't want to do, but eventually settled on the coal and charcoal business. Auvergnats imported coal by rivers and canals and delivered it to city dwellers who increasingly lived in buildings that were heated.
To store the coal before it was sold to individuals, they had to have space, and they put up warehouses for that purpose. But the coal business was slow in summer, so the Auvergnats began to sell refreshments out of their warehouses during warm weather, which customers could enjoy at tables outside. In this roundabout way, the Paris café was invented. But there's a lot more to the story, which you can read at Messy Nessy Chic.
(Image credit: MARQUE FRANÇAISE)
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