The late '90s search for meaning in simple living is one reason for a resurgence of interest in folk and guinguette culture, and it has brought people back to the open-air caf s in droves. On lazy Sunday afternoons in summer, the guinguettes are bustling to nostalgic sounds from the past, with musette and tango in the air, striped shirts everywhere, and human chains snaking their way around the tables. There are older couples, children and young groovy things from Paris letting their hair down. Today's guinguettes are not the havens of hedonism they were in the past, but rather establishments for serious fun and dancing. The music has also changed with the times, with a mixture of new-age accordion, guinguette style, an infusion of Latin sounds and even rock.
Younger people can relate to the music while still hearing sounds from the past.
The popularity of the '90s version of the guinguette led to the establishment of the Guinguette Cultural Association, which ensures that any establishment calling itself a guinguette is just that. Here contestants are judged on their knowledge of guinguette culture and their dancing skills. The guinguettes certainly do not attempt to be chic. They are about another side to Parisian life, mixed with a bit of nostalgia and a lot of dancing. Even if people wanted to gentrify the guinguettes, they could not.