Juan-les-Pins
History
Situated west of the town of Antibes on the western slope of the ridge, halfway to the old fishery village of Golfe-Juan (where Napoleon landed in 1815), it had been an area with many stone pine trees (pins in French), where the inhabitants of Antibes used to go for a promenade, for a picnic in the shadow of the stone pine trees or to collect tree branches and cones for their stoves.
The village was given the name Juan-les-Pins on 12 March 1882. The spelling Juan, used instead of the customary French spelling, Jean, derives from the local Occitan dialect. Other names discussed for the town include Héliopolis, Antibes-les-Pins and Albany-les-Pins (after the Duke of Albany, the fourth son of Queen Victoria).
The following year, 1883, it was decided to build a railway station in Juan-les-Pins on the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée (PLM) line that had been there since 1863.
In 1926, the famous hotel Le Provençal was opened and received guests like Charlie Chaplin, Lilian Harvey, Jack L. Warner and Man Ray.
Jazz à Juan
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Hand impressions of performers at Jazz à Juan festival on Boulevard Edouard Baudoin, Juan les Pins -
Ray Charles' hand impression on Boulevard Edouard Baudoin, Juan les Pins
Points of interest
- Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret
- Aujourd'hui, curvy modernistic seaside former beach house of movie mogul Jack L. Warner
- Home of the 6 Jours d'Antibes, the Antibes 6 Day Race.
- 5, Rue Jacques Leonetti, 06160, Antibes, the address of the world's first Discothèque, in 1947, (now demolished), opened by Paul Pacini, (died 12/12/'17), ((later of Cannes Radio)), the 'Whisky à GoGo'; (the name taken from the 'Galore', in Whisky Galore (novel), published the same year, by Compton Mackenzie.
Personalities
- Frank Jay Gould
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Gerald Murphy
- Dominique Guillo
- Georges Milton
