This bar is named after Gainsbourg’s persona, Gainsbarre. The first time I saw this bar it was too early to be open. The second time I was there I showed up right at opening time, and within an hour the bar was filling up. This beautifully decorated one-beret operation (aka DJ Divine) doesn’t have a web site, so I made sure I got some pictures. Le Gainsbar is located at Oudburg 51, Ghent, Belgium. It is an aperitif bar for French hipsters and doesn’t serve any beer. Of course, it only plays 60s French music.

When I was a university student in Québec my friends and I would sometimes buy as much beer as we could afford then go down to an old dusty warehouse that sold all kinds of old records. It was an enormous place where you could buy 12 singles for a Canadian dollar (euro 0.60). I was usually in charge of finding the disco, while my best friend would pick out the weirdest French-language stuff possible. I am still the proud owner of sappy French synth-pop, French disco, and other marvels that I still play now and then.