Chez Regine is comparable to China Club in New York, just with the coolness stigma still intact. Founded in 1956 by Regina Zylberberg, a Holocaust survivor born in Belgium to Polish parents, the original club was located on rue du Four where it quickly witnessed international fame and glamour. This was due in part to Zylberberg creating moving light shows that illuminated dance floors and replacing jukeboxes with now-ubiquitous turntables.

Celebrities like Ava Gardner, Gene Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and Charlie Chaplin regularly graced the legendary halls in the early ‘60s. A decade later, the club moved to the basement Champs-Élysées location, where it still resides today. Since late 2008, Regine has been managed by “La Clique”—the hipster team behind Le Baron —who have since renewed the club’s appeal, catering to the fashion crowd and 24-hour party people vying for a chance to glimpse Madame Regine herself, now a near ghost-like figure in her late age.