Introduction to Juan-les-Pins

913km (567 miles) S of Paris; 10km (6 miles) S of Cannes

This Antibes suburb was developed in the 1920s by Frank Jay Gould as a resort. At that time, people flocked to "John of the Pines" to escape the "crassness" of Cannes. In the 1930s, Juan-les-Pins drew a chic crowd during winter. Today it attracts young Europeans in pursuit of sex, sun, and sea, in that order.

Juan-les-Pins is often called the "Coney Island of the Riviera" (although anyone who calls it that hasn't seen Coney Island in a long time). One newspaper writer called it "a pop-art Monte Carlo, with burlesque shows and nude beaches" -- a description much too provocative for such a middle-class resort. Another newspaper said that Juan-les-Pins is "for the young and noisy." Even F. Scott Fitzgerald decried it as a "constant carnival." If he could see it now, he'd know that he was a prophet.