Built in 1806, The iconic Old Absinthe House is one of New Orleans’ most prominent historical landmarks. Located on the corner of Bourbon and Bienville streets in the heart of the French Quarter, this watering hole has been visited, written about, and memorialized by many famous writers, artists, and historical figures. 

The building first operated as a commission house and “corner grocery” for the trade of items such as Spanish liquor, tobacco, and clothing. Its first liquor license was acquired in 1835. The ground floor was converted into a saloon known as "Aleix's Coffee House,” which was later rechristened as "The Absinthe Room" when mixologist Cayetano Ferrer created the famous Absinthe House Frappe behind the bar in 1874. Sensational stories of the deaths of famous French authors and artists and mild-men-turned-murderers from absinthe drinking surfaced in American newspapers, and absinthe was banned in America in 1912. When Prohibition hit the US, plans were made to destroy the building as a symbolic end to the reign of alcohol. Yet, it prevailed as The Old Absinthe House Restaurant, which became a mainstay of the Vieux Carre, offering nightclub entertainment in the back rooms after dark.

Throughout the last (almost) two and a half centuries, the establishment was operated by multiple prominent New Orleans figures. Arnaud Cazenave expanded Old Absinthe House Restaurant into a larger space across the street, which to this day is home to Arnaud’s. Owen Brennan, who eventually expanded to the original Brennan’s on Royal, secretly hired his teenage sister Ella as a purchaser for the Old Absinthe House when women were not yet allowed to work on Bourbon Street. Ella became one of the most historic culinary figures in the nation with the famed Commander’s Palace. Owen opened “The Secret Room Museum” on the third floor of the Old Absinthe House, with dummy figures of historic pirates and antique guns and swords. This “secret room” is now our Prohibition Room. “Diamond Jim” Moran was known for his markedly glitzy style, and for sticking diamonds in guests’ meatballs for press photos at Tony Moran’s Restaurant, which has since been transformed into our Speakeasy space. Jim was surrounded by story and lore; he was arrested in the 1920s for running a speakeasy above his Chinese restaurant and was known to hobnob with many people of power and influence. The building is famed to have housed historic figures throughout the years, including Oscar Wilde, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Robert E Lee, Franklin Roosevelt, Liza Minnelli, and Frank Sinatra. Legend has it that General Andrew Jackson and Governor Claiborne met with Jean Lafitte in the “secret room” to discuss the defense for The Battle of New Orleans, which was fought and won in 1815 and marked the last attempt for British Naval Forces to gain a foothold on American soil.

Today, history endures against the backdrop of a bustling, neon Bourbon Street.

“Art is the soul of life and the Old Absinthe House is the heart and soul of the old quarter of New Orleans.” -Aleister Crowley, 1916

location

240 Bourbon St
New Orleans, LA 70112

hours

Monday: 9 am - 2 am
Tuesday: 9 am - 2 am
Wednesday: 9 am - 2 am
Thursday: 9 am - 3 am
Friday: 9 am - 4 am
Saturday: 9 am - 4 am
Sunday: 9 am - 3 am

Cocktails

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