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French Quarter Tour
““I wanted to get back to New Orleans…You can do very well other places, and I didn’t know so many people in New Orleans anymore, but I still wanted to come back. This damn place down here just draws you like crazy.”
-Norma Wallace, quoted in The Last Madam by Christine Wiltz
Our Spirited Evening Tour of the French Quarter focuses on the cultural history of New Orleans. We’re famous for inventing cocktails, so we begin the French Quarter evening tour with a sample of the brand new Horny Gator. The Horny Gator is in the tradition of perceiving liquor as medicinal and thus good for one’s health. Two ingredients of this new cocktail are green tea and pomegranate juice. How’s that for providing the cocktail lover with a good dose of polyphenols? Your sample cocktail comes in a “go-cup” so that you can burn calories by walking around the French Quarter.
The French Quarter Evening Tour will take you back in time to the 1800s and early 1900s when New Orleans was a bustling port city. Visitors from around the world and newcomers from New England were scandalized by open gambling, sensual music like Jazz and the Blues, nightspots open 24/7, drinking in public, and dance halls where couples performed the sinful Tango.
But we don’t just talk about the good times. We tell you about the events that tried the spirits of the residents: epidemics, floods, fires, war and reconstruction, the status of women, slavery, segregation and prohibition. Please note that we do not touch on the passage of Prohibition as a hardship. For the most part, we adapted well to Prohibition. It proved to be a boon to New Orleanians who ran liquor to dry counties and states.Fittingly, we end our tour with a second sample cocktail, the Sazerac, invented in 1832 by Antoine Amadie Peychaud as a remedy for digestive problems.
Depending on the inclinations of the guide, we may even touch lightly on the otherworldly.
Tours begin at 5:00 pm at The Grapevine Bistro and Wine Bar at 720 Orleans Avenue behind St. Louis Cathedral. Tours are $25.00 per person and include the cost of your sample cocktails. If you prefer, you can choose a nonalcoholic beverage. Bartenders and guides gladly accept gratuities.
You must reserve in advance by calling 504-914-2039 or by email at info@tour-new-orleans.com. Group size is limited to 15. Private tours are also available.
If you are with a group of four or more, you can customize a French Quarter tour by choosing a different tour time. You may also eliminate the cocktail stops. Tours without the cocktail stop are 1.5 hours long and $15.00 per person.
For a map of the French Quarter, click here
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If you are with a group of four or more, you can customize a French Quarter tour by choosing a different tour time. You may also eliminate the cocktail stops. Tours without the cocktail stop are 1.5 hours long and $15.00 per person.