College-level history courses can be improved by including instruction about social history, particularly the leisure time activities of the dominant cultural group. Paris of the late 19th century had the well-deserved reputation of being the pleasure capital of Europe. This reputation developed in spite of the disparity that existed between the wealth and high cultural achievements on one hand, and urban squalor and poverty on the other. This environment gave life to new night clubs and sophisticated cabarets which sprang up in Paris in the 1880s. This paper describes the cabaret life of Paris of that period, and pays particular attention to the "Chat Noir," the first cabaret to inspire the cabaret fanaticism that swept across Europe at this time. (DB)