More than 100 years old, the Association of Notre Dame lives along Massachusetts Avenue, sandwiched unassumingly between Eclipse Video and the wine bar Zusammen and beneath a judo club. The establishment, known colloquially as Le French Club, is an old-school “members only” club that tries to embody the spirit of its 1970s heyday while growing in the ways it needs to carry on the tradition.
Head in at the 1 o’clock opening hour and you’ll see a cast of characters ranging from elderly retirees to Union Square hippies with more tattoos than digits, coexisting in harmony. Peter Nelson, a recent member who trends toward the latter, says it well: “It’s a collection of folk who I might not have encountered otherwise.” As around a watering hole in the Sahara, the community that’s spawned here has done so through the necessity of finding a good space to enjoy. And a good space it is, indeed.
The best way to describe Le French Club is a wood-paneled slice of heaven that has looked the same since the days of disco. Linoleum floors make cleanup easy, and string lights, sconces and the bar provide the majority of lighting. Anything overhead would be criminal. Televisions play Boston-area sports religiously, with two small monitors dedicated to Keno and another large unit (labeled “Jack’s TV”) airing exclusively Westerns. A TouchTunes jukebox lets the regulars accent the low din with tracks as varied as the club’s membership. A pool table and a dartboard are in the back corner. Out back is a space to smoke, joke and play horseshoes.
There are no plans to renovate. Longtime member Ed Kelley laughs, explaining, “I talked with some of the new members and said ‘Well, maybe we could use an update,’ and instantly get back, ‘No, don’t change anything! We love the way it feels.’”
It’s the little things that show you how much the space means to its members. Each general meeting starts with a remembrance for those who have passed or who need prayers. There’s a corkboard full of funeral cards for those long past but never forgotten. It is a space where the old go to remember what once was and where the young go to rekindle a sense of belonging in an increasingly atomized world. Above all, it’s a great hang for a great community.
“This place keeps building on its own,” Kelley says. If you get a chance to visit (members can bring up to two guests) you will talk with old timers who want to tell you about the glory days. You will shoot pool on one of the finest felts in Greater Boston (as regulars beat you like a tied-up goat). You will enjoy a choice beverage at a reasonable price and remind yourself that in the search for America’s third space, we should all look a little closer at our local clubs as homes away from home.
