Cocktail & Scandal History Walking Tour in New Orleans

Explore New Orleans on foot with a tour that pairs cocktail history with the city's seedier stories. Trace the connections between its drinking traditions and a past shaped by vice, crime, and intrigue.

Itinerary

For this scandalous New Orleans city tour, meet at Pat O’Brien’s in the Vieux Carré, where locals have been enjoying a tipple since the end of prohibition. Then head off for an exploration of the city’s storied watering holes such as the Carousel Bar, the Riviera, Tony Seville's Pirate Alley Cafe, and others.

Discover where, why, and how legendary libations from the Sazerac to the Pimm’s Cup were first concocted. Alongside cocktails, uncover the city’s astonishingly scandalous past and present… Learn about the “oldest profession”, visiting Storyville – the city’s former red light district – and the Tango Belt, where many of New Orleans famous jazz bars, saloons, cabarets, and dance halls can be found.

Walk through locales of ill-repute, from Norma Wallace’s last brothel to Blaze Starr’s Bourbon Street Burlesque. See the sites of some of the US’s most infamous cases of organized crime – from Jean Lafitte’s piracy to the first home of the American Mafia. Also, visit the streets and alleyways where true crime both ancient and modern has taken place. From the local Jack the Ripper, the Axeman, to the disappearance of the “Italian Vanna White” in 1994 – unsolved crimes and mysteries abound.

Discover the New Orleans conspiracy connection to the John F. Kennedy Assassination. Learn more about Tennessee Williams as you soak up the setting of Streetcar Named Desire and other plays. Recover from it all with an optional Creole meal at Muriel’s restaurant – the epitome of decadence and opulence in a city that has no shortage of all this and more.

Important details

• Ages 21+ only
• Bring your ID
• Arrive 15–20 minutes before your scheduled departure