Most of the famous writers of the first half of the twentieth century lived on the Left Bank, that is, south of the Seine, especially in the 6th, 7th, and 14th arrondissements.  Today we'll start our tour through the 6th arronidissement by taking the Métro to the stop Pont Neuf.  Walk across the bridge (despite its name, it is actually the oldest of the Parisian bridges) to the left bank of the Seine.  Follow the street that leads from the Pont Neuf, the rue Dauphine, for two blocks, and then turn left on the rue Christine.  After being evicted from their apartment at the more famous address on rue de Fleurus, Gertrude Stein and  Alice B. Toklas lived here, with some brief absences, until the death of Stein in 1946; Toklas remained here until 1964, three years before her death.

Retrace your steps and work your way on small streets to the west until in three blocks you come to the rue Bonaparte.  Turn right and on your right you will find the rue des Beaux Arts.

Here, at number 13, L'Hôtel,  Thomas Wolfe lived for a year beginning in 1925.  There are plaques at the hotel commemorating the frequent visits of Borges between 1977 and 1984, as well as one for the most famous event in the hotel's history: the death there of Oscar Wilde on November 30, 1900.  There is no plaque for Wolfe.

Now return to the rue Bonaparte and walk south.  You quickly arrive at the rue Jacob.  Turn left, and at number 20, you will find the home where  Natalie Clifford Barney  lived for sixty years, beginning in 1909. James Baldwin also lived somewhere on this charming street.

Return to the rue Bonaparte and continue walking south on it.  The Hôtel St-Germain-des-Prés is located at number 36.  Janet Flanner, whose "Letter from Paris" was a regular feature of The New Yorker lived here for fifty years, beginning in 1925.  Henry Miller also took a room here--on the top floor under the roof in 1930.

Continue following the rue Bonaparte until you reach the major street, St-Germain-des-Prés; turn right after a few blocks onto rue de Seine.  In front of you at a short distance you will see the Palais du Luxembourg, home of the French Senate.  As you walk down the street, its name changes to the rue de Tournon.  Just on the corner, as the street ends, is number 20, where  Booth Tarkington  lived from 1905 to 1908.

Turn left on the rue de Vaugirard, follow it in front of the Senate, and turn left when it crosses the rue Monsieur le Prince.  At humber 49, Henry Wadsworth Longellow, at the age of 19, took a room in 1826.

But the most famous resident of the street is a bit farther up, on your left as you walk northward.  In 1948,  Richard Wright and his family moved into a third floor apartment where he lived until 1959 and where he wrote two novels as well as other works.  On the outside of the building is a plaque commemorating his stay there: