Fabrice Emaer

Visitors might see Francis Bacon, Nureyev, Roland Barthes, Bianca and Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent and Kenzo.

"It is completely sterilized, a ghetto for model agencies and Régine's emirs...." He sneered at the clientele which was "totally clean, beautiful, they look like they are fed on best quality corn.

[10] He restored the architecturally classified building, including the decor of the '30s, hired a huge team of party organizers and press people to promote the club, and brought Guy Cuevas as DJ from the Sept. Again, he was met with success.

[11] At the entry, Emaer instructed Edwige and Paquita Paquin to choose an interesting mix of rich and poor, gay and straight, black and white, the bourgeois, even punk.

He offered a Sunday "Tea Dance" free for gay men, and used the theater's giant screen to call attention to Argentina's disappeared.

But Paquita Paquin in her memoir, "Twenty Years Without Sleeping", remembered that his direct call to vote for Mitterrand left many of the clubgoers appalled.

He is remembered, nevertheless, for creating these mythical clubs, especially le Palace, which for its size and cultural impact continues to resonate in French society.

Emaer's grave (left)