1. Shakespeare and Company is a legendary English-language bookstore located in the heart of Paris, on the Left Bank of the Seine River. The store was founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach, an American expatriate who turned her small Parisian apartment into a lending library and publishing house. The store quickly became a gathering place for writers and artists of the \"Lost Generation\", including Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. During World War II, the original store was closed, but a new branch opened in 1951 under the ownership of George Whitman. Whitman continued Beach’s legacy by offering books, shelter, and a sense of community to expat writers and intellectuals. The store’s motto is \"Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest They Be Angels in Disguise.\"
Today, Shakespeare and Company is still a mecca for book lovers, with an eclectic and carefully curated selection of books, as well as a café and a reading room. The store hosts regular events such as author readings, writing workshops, and book clubs. It also operates a writers’ residency program, offering free accommodation and a writing space to aspiring authors.
2. The store is open every day from 10 am to 8 pm, except on Sundays when it opens at 11 am. The phone number is +33 1 43 25 40 93.
3. Admission to the store is free. To get there by public transportation, take metro line 4 to Saint-Michel station, or lines 1 or 7 to Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre station. The store is also within walking distance of many popular tourist attractions, including Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Louvre Museum.