
The
bar is old and filled with the flavor of the French Quarter.
At any time, local characters and celebrities can always
be seen lined up drinking such classics as Sazerac's and
Absinthe frappes’.
At
the turn of the century, Tujague’s was almost half a
century old. And New Orleans’ original stand-up bar,
with its ornately-framed French mirror (shipped from
Parish in 1856), was already an institution. Politicians
and policemen, lawyers and laborers came together at
Tujague’s, giving the bar a spirited, freewheeling style
all its own.
Prohibition
was the law. . The cypress bar at Tujague’s, having
splendidly survived prohibition – with three bartenders
and no "real" spirits were supposed to be around – as
well as depression, was still a New Orleans favorite.
Veterans of the war, coming home to new jobs or long-deferred
schooling, gathered at Tujague’s to rehash the battles
of Normandy and Okinawa, to argue about baseball and
Betty Grable. The century was nearly half past. Tujague’s
was nearly a century old.
Well
into its second century, Tujague’s bar, virtually unchanged,
continues to delight native Orleanians and visitors
alike. The ancient mirror, which graced a Parish bistro
for ninety years before its journey to New Orleans is
still there. As is the old cypress bar. And artists,
professional and business people, workers and discriminating
travelers from around the world are still rubbing elbows
congenially in New Orleans’ original stand-up bar –
one of America’s great drinking establishments. |
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