The Paris Metro: The Return of the Provocative 1970s Magazine

[Note: There will be a free giveaway of The Paris Metro 50th Anniversary edition on Tuesday, June 9 from 5-7 pm at Shakespeare & Co at 37 rue de la Bûcherie]

From June 1976 to December 1978, a bold, iconoclastic English-language publication called The Paris Metro circulated in venues where Anglophones tended to congregate. Its articles were often audacious and irreverent, covering topics such as a dive to the bottom of the Seine by Joel Stratte-McClure, the magazine’s publisher and “swimming correspondent,” and a lengthy interview with Henry Miller that featured a full-page photo of the famous writer of erotica playing ping-pong with a nude model.

They also frequently dealt with substantive issues that no one else was covering.  A Paris Review article in 2024 reported that “for an exposé on behind-the-scenes hotel life, Stratte-McClure interviewed a disillusioned teenager working as a bellhop at the Ritz — identified in his photo caption as simply “Henri, 18, Communist” — who reported very frankly on his experiences. ‘The Ritz is not the same for its employees as it is for guests,’ he said.”

The Paris Metro attracted a number of prominent writers as contributors — Frank Rich, Roger Cohen, and Joan Dupont among them. Pierre Salinger, former press secretary to JFK, wrote a column on politics; Stratte-McClure wrote a column called “On the Money” under a pseudonym he used to avoid being fired from his day job at Business Week.

The magazine quickly became very popular, but it was overwhelmed and undermined by the usual problems suffered by independent publishers, especially bold and provocative ones. Difficulty in attracting (and retaining) advertisers, and mounting debt made ending the publication necessary after only two and a half years.

Now, 50 years later, The Paris Metro is back with a special anniversary edition that will include articles by many of the writers who were featured in its pages back in the 1970s.

Titled “Is This Still the Paris We Loved?” this special issue will include articles on the early days of the magazine by its former editor Harry Stein; Pulitzer Prize winner Roger Cohen on what Paris has meant to him over half a century; Dominique Torrès, with a cheeky reprise of her column What’s In/What’s Out; Meg Bortin on changes in the tabacs of Paris; film critic Joan Dupont on crafting her relation to the movies; Stratte-McClure on being the first American waiter fired from Joe Allen; Rock critic R.M.M. Wiener on scoring the best assignment in town; and art critic Georgina Oliver on this year’s landmark Paris events, among others.

I asked Stratte-McClure, publisher of both the 40th Anniversary edition of the magazine and the upcoming 50th issue, what he regrets most about the fact that The Paris Metro wasn’t able to last longer; his answer was philosophical. “The thing that I most appreciate about The Paris Metro’s short existence is the solidarity and community that still exists between the many people associated with it,” he says. “This was exemplified by the manner in which everyone willingly participated, without anyone asking to be paid for contributing to either of the anniversary editions. There’s something magical about its impact, and admittedly now-mythical stature, that is somewhat inexplicable. Our failure might have been our biggest success.”

Asked what he hopes may come about as a result of the 50th anniversary edition, Stratte-McClure says “Both the upcoming issue and the book for the 40th anniversary were fun to create and distribute because they brought The Metro community of writers, editors, photographers and readers back together. Almost everyone has gone on to greater things and, at this stage, we simply want to relish the still-vivid memories of that enjoyably irreverent and groundbreaking experience. We also are excited to pass the torch on to contemporary media efforts, like the Messy Nessy Chic blog and Instagram pages, that extol The Paris Metro as a beacon of Paris publishing efforts of the past.”

The 50th anniversary issue of The Paris Metro will appear on June 1; it will be free and available at English-language bookstores as well as hotels, restaurants and hip cafés around town.

We’ve been told to be on the lookout for flash mobs and random giveaways, too. So be watching!

To learn more about the history of The Paris Metro, check out this article in The Paris Review.