Margaritaville Café / Storyville Tavern - 1104 Decatur St.

** This was Jimmy’s second “Margaritaville” and the first designed from the ground up as a restaurant, store, and music venue. Many people wonder why they don’t hear “Buffett Cover Bands” at M’ville except during “Meeting of the Minds.” When he first opened the New Orleans M’ville, Jimmy made it a policy for bands NOT to play Buffett music. He’d much prefer M’ville to be an opportunity for local acts to polish their own music and uses it as a way of giving others the same kind of break that he got in New Orleans.

Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop - 941 Bourbon Street

** One of Jimmy’s childhood heroes was the pirate (and hero of the Battle of New Orleans), Jean Lafitte. This blacksmith shop is the second oldest building in the French Quarter and was Lafitte’s headquarters where he arranged the business dealings of his band of 1,000 buccaneers who lived outside the city in the swamps of the Barataria. In 1813, Governor Claiborne issued a $500 reward for Lafitte. Lafitte responded by issuing a $1,500 reward for Claiborne. The British tried to buy Lafitte’s services during the War of 1812, but Lafitte stalled for time, warned the Americans of the British intent of landing near New Orleans, and provided them with men, weapons and funding. He earned himself and his men a Presidential Pardon. The Blacksmith Shop is filled with trapdoors and secret hiding places and it is rumored that Lafitte’s treasure is buried within its fireplace. Legend has it that Lafitte would kill a man wherever he left treasure so that the man’s ghost would guard it.

Tropical Isle - 721 Bourbon Street

** The Tropical Isle is “home port” for the Tou-Timin’ Parrot Head Club and our monthly meetings are held here. Well known among local Parrot Head clubs, owners Earl Bernhardt and Pam Fortner have decorated the upstairs with tons of Parrot Head paraphernalia, etc.

Pat O’s - 718 St. Peter Street

Along Bourbon toward the Old Absinthe House

** During Jimmy’s time in New Orleans he could be found playing mainly at a bar called the “Bayou Room” here on Bourbon St. The “Bayou Room” was one of the South’s leading establishments for folk music and the place where Jimmy began to hone his talent as an entertainer. It was also home for Jimmy’s first band, a folk/rock group called the “Upstairs Alliance.”

Old Absinthe House Bar - 400 Bourbon Street.

** Absinthe was a green liquor, which was the rage of Europe during the late 1700s. With properties much like those of Marijuana, Absinthe was touted as both a popular drink and a cure-all. Absinthe was banned in the U.S. in 1912. Both the Old Absinthe House (240 Bourbon) and the Old Absinthe House Bar claim to be the site of where General Andrew Jackson and the pirate Jean Lafitte planned the Battle of New Orleans. However, neither of these bars actually existed in 1814 and Absinthe wasn’t widely imported until the 1830s. But in New Orleans… anything is possible.

Napoleon House - 500 Chartres Street

** Either the Napoleon House or Captain Tony’s in Key West is where Jimmy found the graffiti on the bathroom stall that inspired “The Weather Is Here… Wish You Were Beautiful.” In 1821 Napoleon was exiled for the second time. A former mayor of New Orleans Nicholas Girod and Lafitte’s second in command, Dominique You, hatched a plan to liberate the French hero from the island of St. Helena, where the British fleet guarded him, and return him to New Orleans. Three ships and pirate crews were assembled and the “Napoleon House” was prepared to receive him when he arrived. Three days before the ships set sail, word arrived of Napoleon’s death. He never laid eyes on his house in the New World.

Corner of Chartres & Conti Streets

** When Jimmy was kicked out of Auburn for poor grades, he quickly began attending Pearl River Junior College in Mississippi. In order to escape the confines of small town Mississippi, he began to journey on the weekends into Biloxi and New Orleans. More and more he found himself drawn to the French Quarter, from his Grandfather’s tales of the sea, the wide range of musical styles, and the fabulous food. A year later, Jimmy even transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi in order to be closer to New Orleans. And it was on this corner where Jimmy would “set up shop” as a street performer. It was also on this spot where Jimmy was first paid for performing in public… twenty-five cents.

Jackson Square / “Moonwalk”

** After his gigs at the “Bayou Room,” Jimmy would walk over to Jackson Square to soak up the atmosphere of the “wee” hours, slow down with some chicory coffee from, our next stop, Café DuMonde, and watch the sun come up while sitting along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Café DuMonde  - 800 Decatur St.

** This is Café DuMonde, a New Orleans landmark dating back to the 1800’s. Open 24 hours a day; 7 days a week, the restaurant is renowned for both its chicory coffee and beignets. Chicory coffee is a coffee in which coffee beans are “cut” with chicory nuts. It’s a legacy of the Confederacy, when coffee became extremely hard to obtain due to the Union blockade of the South and has a very distinctive taste. Beignets are a French pastry, which is deep fried, served piping hot and covered with powdered sugar. Café DuMonde is also the setting for the second verse of “The Wino and I Know.”

Tujague’s - 823 Decatur St.

** Built in 1827 on the site of an old Spanish armory, Tujague’s is home to the very first “stand-up” bar in New Orleans and one of the oldest establishments in the city. The tall mirrored back bar at Tujague’s was already 100 years old when it was shipped over from Paris. In the 1800s Tujague’s opened at 5 a.m. and did a brisk business catering to local laborers. In the 1920s during prohibition, New Orleans was ranked as the easiest city in America to obtain a drink. Although the walls behind the bar were bare, bartenders would keep contraband booze in their apron pockets to serve.

Tujague’s has always been one of Jimmy’s favorite restaurants and is mentioned in the short story “Take Another Road” from Tales from Margaritaville and Where is Joe Merchant? It was also used as the set for Jimmy’s 1985 album “Last Mango In Paris.”

Margaritaville Café / Store - 1104 Decatur Street

** With your tour complete, we suggest checking out the music calendar at the Storyville tavern, dining at the Margaritaville Café and stocking up on plenty of Parrot Head and Margaritaville goodies from the Margaritaville Store!