It was in 1946 that the story began …
At the end of the war, Jean Doering was 34 years old. Married to Renée, they were shopkeepers and lived in Paris. Renée could not have children and the couple would adopt two: Jean-Paul who had been abandoned on the steps of a church in the 14th district of Paris, then Martine who was living in a foster home in Normandy.
Renée suffered from lung disease. The doctors were clear: Parisian air was bad for her health and she had to live by the seaside or in the mountains.
Thus it was that Jean Doering took his car and went in search of a house for his family, heading off to the Var. A friend told him about a small hotel called La Calanque that was for sale in the town of Cavalaire.
On his way, he passed by le Lavandou and stopped, by mistake, at the boarding house of the same name run by Mr Collet. He thought he would have his lunch there.
The owner welcomed him, pointing out that he had made a mistake and that his establishment was not for sale, but that a hotel with the same name was indeed for sale in Cavalaire. Jean decided he would nevertheless lunch there because the place appealed to him.
The story goes that, by the end of lunch, Mr Collet had sold him the boarding house and the adjoining house.
Renée and the children came and settled in.
Jean Doering loved life, loved eating and inviting friends and was crazy about the latest technology of the time, to the point of being the first to own a refrigerated vehicle. He had what the family would call ‘renovation fever’. Every year he would extend, modify and improve the place with the desire to offer yet more space and greater luxury to the hotel’s clients.
Over the decades, thanks to the works of several architects, La Calanque grew and confirmed its reputation with its unobstructed view over the port of Le lavandou and the azure blue of the Mediterranean Sea.
Le Lavandou of the « 3 Jeans »
The tourist development of the village of Le Lavandou is linked to that of La Calanque.
Two of Jean Doering’s, very close friends lived in Le Lavandou. Jean Olivier was the owner of the Compagnie des Iles d’Or whose boats provided the maritime link to the islands of Port-Cros, Porquerolles and Le Levant. Jean Boutin bought the Espadon hotel situated on the seafront in Le Lavandou.
The ‘3 Jeans’ made a great team. Bound by their wartime memories and their thirst for adventure, they were to energise the life of Le Lavandou and contribute to the town’s power of attraction, just like René Spitzer who set up an American bar which was later to become the emblematic ‘Paradise’.
La Calanque, the hotel of National Route 7
Just as in the Charles Trenet song, in the fifties, National Route 7 was the holiday road, linking Paris to Menton, the destination for Provence and the Côte d’Azur.
Le Lavandou is situated on the coastal road, an essential port of call for the numerous holidaymakers heading for Saint-Tropez.
In the fifties, Jean Doering had a terrace put in at the foot of the north façade of La Calanque so that clients could have a drink there and watch the fancy cars go by. What a time!
In the momentum of the post-war years and throughout the 30 ‘boom’ years, la Calanque never stopped developing to become one of the region’s most emblematic hotels.
Jean passed away in 1976 and his wife two years later. Martine and Jean-Paul took over together until he too passed away.
Martine and her husband, Robert Dal Sasso, an interior designer, carried on the story of La Calanque. They undertook important interior restoration works and created the pool and its terrace overlooking the sea.
The hotel is now run by their children, Jean-Robert and Nicolas Dal Sasso.
