Paris Bar Told to Take Down Doors Photos

Band doesn't want to appear as having approved the consumption of booze
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 10, 2011 6:25 PM CDT
Paris Bar Told to Take Down Doors Photos
Bar owner Christophe Maillet, 37, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his bar, The Lezard King, located in the Marais district in Paris, Friday, June 10, 2011.   (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

The decor at Christophe Maillet's Paris bar doesn't seem to be lighting The Doors' fire. The man behind the Lezard King, a nod to Jim Morrison's nickname with a French twist, tells the AP that he has received a letter from The Doors' intellectual property lawyer warning him that "The Doors do not want to be seen as having approved of your establishment and also the consumption of alcohol"; it urged him to take down all Doors-related paraphernalia by next month. But that's no small task.

The bar's walls feature oversize photos and posters; a bust of Jim Morrison watches over the taps. Maillet says he "found my passion for Jim Morrison at the age of 12. Then I found a profession that could go along with it." He opened the bar nine months ago using his life savings. As for the letter's demand that he change the bar's name? No way. But he says that in order to appease The Doors, he'd be willing to add other 1960s and '70s bands to the bar's decoration. "I didn't do this to destroy (The Doors') image or to dirty it," he says. "I did it to make them happy." (More The Doors stories.)

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