The Paradis Latin is a theater at number 28, rue du Cardinal Lemoine, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The closest métro stations are Cardinal Lemoine and Jussieu. It was first built in 1803 and was initially called Théâtre Latin. It burned down but was rebuilt in 1887-1889 by Gustave Eiffel. It was closed around 1900, but was partially reconstructed and reopened in 1970. It is now a cabaret and goes by the name it received in January 1889, Paradis Latin.
In 1979 two years after the opening of Paris Paradis, Jean-Jacques Debout and Roger Dumas created the Nuit de Paradis show for Jean-Marie Rivière. In 1981 a new show, Paradisiac, was produced and directed by Frédéric Botton and Francis Lai, who took a leave from his musical and film career for the project. The artist Michel Berger got his start at the theater.
The artistic director, Jean-Marie Rivière, eventually retired to the Antilles, but the theater continued. New shows followed, co-written and directed by Christian Dura: Champagne in 1984, then Hello Paradis in 1987, and Viva Paradis, which commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the theater. In May 1995, a few years after the departure of his former colleague Riviére, Jean Kriegel chose to retire as well. Over nearly twenty years, he had hosted some two million spectators, with six different shows and over 1600 performances.
Management has since been transferred to Sidney Israel and his son Harold.