The Old Absinthe House

Built in 1806, this building was erected by Pedro Front and Francisco Juncadelia of Barcelona to house their importing firm. For the next forty years, trade continued in the bartering of food, tobacco and Spanish liquor ... a sort of early "corner grocery." Old Absinthe House in New Orleans French Quarter In 1815, the ground floor was converted into a saloon known as "Aleix's Coffee House" and was

run by the nephews of Senora Juncadelia. This coffee house was later rechristened "The Absinthe Room" when mixologist Cayetano Ferrer created the famous Absinthe House Frappe here in 1874.(more about this now illegal liquor)
To this day, The Old Absinthe House still has the decorative marble fountains that were used to drip cool water over sugar cubes into glasses of Absinthe. The original Old Absinthe House bar was to be destroyed at the start of Prohibition - as a powerful message to proprietors and others that Absinthe was to be abolished from the United States and would not be tolerated. Fortunately, the bar was removed from the Absinthe House and moved under cover of darkness to a warehouse on Bourbon street in order to save it. (This warehouse became known as "The Absinthe House Bar" until the actual bar was returned to its home in early 2004. Original Bar of Old Absinthe House BarThe bar is again part of this historical building after a 3 million dollar renovation returning it to its turn-of-the-century splendor. It is now operated by Tony Moran, himself the son of a New Orleans legend -- "Diamond Jim" Moran. The building now houses Tony Moran's Restaurant and Jean Lafitte Bistro .. and the front room is still the tavern known as Jean Lafitte's Old Absinthe House!