This commitment to tradition continues even onto the bar’s menu. “We haven’t changed much of anything from way back when. Upon immigrating to New Orleans, an Italian family, the Impastatos, bought the property from Girod and converted it into a functional establishment until 2015 when Napoleon House was purchased by The Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, a restaurant management company based in New Orleans.īut despite the changes in ownership, Smith said the bar’s long-standing history is still a integral part of its identity. Unfortunately, Napoleon died before he could be freed and before the infamous leader could ever stay at the house built for him. Helena off the African coast after losing the Battle of Brussels, he conspired with the the local pirate Jean Lafitte to break him out of incarceration. When Girod found out that Napoleon was exiled on the island of St. Girod, the mayor of New Orleans at the time was a French aristocrat and admirer of Napoleon. Napoleon House, built in 1812, was built to house Napoleon Bonaparte, according to Lewis Smith, bar manager.
Napoleon House, Tujague’s, Henry’s Uptown Bar, the Old Absinthe House,and Lafitte’s Blacksmith Bar are nightlife establishments in New Orleans that lead any visitor to be in the presence of celebrated history. While stumbling up and down Bourbon Street, the stereotypical New Orleans barhopper with a hand grenade in one hand and a daiquiri in the other, is unlikely to consider the history that is staring them in the face.īut barhopping in New Orleans can include sitting on the same bar stool as Andrew Jackson, Jean Lafitte, or even Lee Harvey Oswald.