12 Best Nightlife in New Orleans, Louisiana
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No American town places such a premium on pleasure as New Orleans. From swank hotel lounges and refined jazz halls to sweaty dance clubs and raucous Bourbon Street bars, this city is serious about frivolity—and famous for it. Partying is more than an occasional indulgence in this city—it's a lifestyle. The bars and clubs that pulse with music are the city's lifeblood, and are found in every neighborhood. Like stars with their own gravity, they draw people through their doors to belly up to their bars or head feet-first onto their dance floors. Blues, jazz, funk, R&B, rock, roots, Cajun, and zydeco—there are many kinds of music and nightlife experiences to be had in New Orleans. On any day or night of the year, the city is brimming with musical possibilities.
The French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny are the easiest places to find great music and nightspots. The venues are numerous and all within easy walking distance of one another. In the nearby Warehouse District, New Orleans institutions like Howlin' Wolf, Mulate's, and Circle Bar have been joined by scores of new bars, clubs, and restaurants. Moving upriver through the Garden District and Uptown, you'll find some of the most famous music spots in the city, such as Tipitina's and Maple Leaf. Bywater, Mid-City, and Tremé are residential neighborhoods with fewer commercial strips, but they too have their crown jewels, like Vaughan's, Bullet's, and Rock ’n’ Bowl.
Cellar Door
Circle Bar
Like something out of a Tim Burton film, this teetering old Victorian house that straddles the concrete jungles of downtown and the Warehouse District hides one of the coolest indie-rock clubs in the city. Scenesters descend around 10 pm, but earlier in the evening this is a laid-back neighborhood haunt. Pull on your skinny jeans, so that you can squeeze into the room that holds what might be the world's tiniest stage.
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Ernst Cafe
Ernst has been operating as a bar since the first years of the 20th century, and the classic interior and upstairs balcony provide a welcome respite for conventioneers, lawyers from nearby firms, and service-industry folks winding down from shifts at area hotels. The classic menu includes local bar-food staples like fried green tomatoes, po'boys, wraps, and burgers.
Harrah's New Orleans Casino
Commanding the foot of Canal Street, where it anchors a cluster of restaurants and clubs, this beaux-arts–style casino is the largest in the South. Try your luck at one of the 3,800 slot machines, 20 poker tables, and every other game of chance that you can imagine. There's an upscale steak house and a club in the middle of the gaming floor. Valet parking is available.
Howlin' Wolf
This New Orleans favorite has long been a premier venue and anchor of the Warehouse District club and music scene. With a great corner location in a converted warehouse, they host larger rock, funk, blues, Latin, and hip-hop shows nearly every night on the main stage. Meanwhile, a side bar called The Den books intimate events and popular weekly parties like Brass Band Sundays.
Loa
In voodoo tradition, loa are the divine spirits, and this bar just off the lobby of the chic International House Hotel certainly strives for an extraordinary experience with its modern, upscale decor. Well-heeled downtown professionals mingle with an international crowd gathering for the evening to sip on inventive, high-end cocktails created by the friendly bartenders here. An aperitif hour from 4 to 5 pm Thursday through Saturday includes a tasting of one of the delicious signature cocktails.
Piscobar
Republic
Part of the new generation of music venues in the Warehouse District, this rock club retains the rough-timbered feel of the cotton-and-grain warehouse it used to be. The club books touring hip-hop stars and rock bands as well as local acts, and DJs take over the sound system late at night for popular dance parties.
Rusty Nail
Nestled in between the overhead highway and a series of converted 18th-century warehouses, this discreet neighborhood bar can be difficult to find. With lively DJs and football crowds, a great selection of scotches, a gorgeous renovated patio, frequent visits by food trucks, and even the occasional play reading, it's worth the trek to get here.
The Sazerac Bar
One of the most famous bars in Louisiana, this art deco gem and slinger of fine libations has a pedigree that dates back to the mid-19th century. Drawn to the signature Sazerac cocktail and Ramos gin fizz, a famous and intriguing clientele has graced this hotel bar over the years, including Governor Huey P. Long, who in the 1930s built a 90-mile highway between New Orleans and the state capital, just so, many believe, he could get directly to the hotel lounge for his signature drink.
Victory
Amid the city's drab business district hides another entry in the growing list of craft cocktail bars. Named for Daniel Victory, one of the city's best mixologists (and an owner), it draws a young professional crowd to its dimly lit, vaguely industrial space for drinks that push the boundaries of traditional cocktails. A cozy room in the back is available for private parties and intimate sipping. At Drink Lab (343 Barrone St.), cocktail novices can take mixology classes from Victory's experts.