Hôtel Ritz Paris

The Hôtel Ritz is a grand palatial hotel in the heart of Paris, in the 1st arrondissement. It overlooks the octagonal border of the Place Vendôme at number 15. The hotel is ranked highly among the most prestigious and luxurious hotels in the world and is a member of "The Leading Hotels of the World". As of 2014 the Ritz is closed for a major multimillion-dollar renovation.

The hotel, which today has 159 rooms, was founded by the Swiss hotelier, César Ritz, in collaboration with the chef Auguste Escoffier in 1898. The new hotel was constructed behind the façade of an 18th-century town house, overlooking one of Paris's central squares. It was reportedly the first hotel in Europe to provide a bathroom en suite, a telephone and electricity for each room. It quickly established a reputation for luxury, with clients including royalty, politicians, writers, film stars and singers. Several of its suites are named in honour of famous guests of the hotel, including Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway who lived at the hotel for years. One of the bars of the hotel, Bar Hemingway, is devoted to Hemingway and the L'Espadon is a world-renowned restaurant, attracting aspiring chefs from all over the world who come to learn at the adjacent Ritz-Escoffier School. The grandest suite of the hotel, called the Imperial, has been listed by the French government as a national monument in its own right.

Paris

Paris (UK: /ˈpærɪs/ PARR-iss; US: ⁱ/ˈpɛərɪs/ PAIR-iss; French: [paʁi]) is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is in the centre of the Île-de-France region, also known as the région parisienne, "Paris Region". The City of Paris has an area of 105 km² (41 mi²) and a population of 2,241,346 (2014 estimate) within its administrative borders essentially unchanged since 1860.

Since the 19th century, the built-up area of Paris has grown far beyond its administrative borders; together with its suburbs, the whole agglomeration has a population of 10,550,350 (Jan. 2012 census).Paris' metropolitan area spans most of the Paris region and has a population of 12,341,418 (Jan. 2012 census), or one-fifth of the population of France. The administrative region covers 12,012 km² (4,638 mi²), with approximately 12 million inhabitants as of 2014, and has its own regional council and president.

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a prosperous trading centre, and the home of the University of Paris, one of the first in Europe. In the 18th century, it was the centre stage for the French Revolution, and became an important centre of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, a position it still retains today.

Paris (rapper)

Oscar Jackson, Jr. (born October 29, 1967), better known by his stage name Paris, is an American rapper from San Francisco, California, known for his highly charged political and socially conscious lyrics. Influenced by the Black Panthers, he was once a member of the Nation of Islam, but now is agnostic.

Biography

1990s

Paris was catapulted onto the national scene in 1990 with his hit single The Devil Made Me Do It and album of the same name, after earning a bachelor's degree in economics from UC Davis. Originally released on Tommy Boy Records, his first single was banned by MTV. Since then his stance on political issues and social commentary have both aided and hindered his quest to bring his music and messages to the masses.

When his second album, Sleeping with the Enemy, was ready for release in 1992, Paris was dropped from now-defunct Tommy Boy Records (since rechristened Tommy Boy Entertainment in 2002) and distributor Warner Bros. Records, owned by Time Warner, when the parent company discovered its incendiary content, which included fantasy revenge killings of then-President Bush and racist police officers. Also problematic was the album's insert, which featured the artist waiting behind a tree, holding a Tec 9, as the president was waving to the crowd. Paris eventually released the LP himself on his newly formed Scarface Records. Also in 1992, Paris contributed to industrial music band Consolidated's 1992 album Play More Music with the track "Guerrillas in the Mist."

Paris, Texas

Paris, Texas is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 25,171. It is situated in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, and 98 miles (158 km) northeast of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. Physiographically, these regions are part of the West Gulf Coastal Plain.

Following a tradition of American cities named "Paris", a 65-foot (20 m) replica of the Eiffel Tower was constructed in 1993. In 1998, presumably as a response to the 1993 construction of a 60-foot (18 m) tower in Paris, Tennessee, the city placed a giant red cowboy hat atop the tower. The current tower is at least the second Eiffel Tower replica built in Paris; the first was constructed of wood and later destroyed by a tornado.

History

Lamar County was first settled in different parts of an area to the west of Jonesborough and Clarksville. There was a settlement on the Red River at a place called Fulton, one near what is now called Emberson, one to the southeast of that near where today is the North Lamar school complex, a fourth southwest of that at the Chisum-Johnson community called Pinhook, and a group of pioneers east of that at Moore's Springs. In late 1839, George W. Wright moved from his farm northeast of Clarksville to a hill where he had purchased 1,000 acres of unoccupied land. It was on the old road from the Kiomatia River's mouth at the Red River to the Grand Prairie. Wright opened a general store on the road. By December 1840 a new county had been formed, named for Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar. By September 1841 Wright's store was called Paris and served as the local postal office. In August 1844, the county commissioners took Wright's offer of 50 acres and made Paris the county seat.