Toulouse Theatre

The Toulouse Theatre at 615 Toulouse Street in the French Quarter traces its performance history to the late 1960s, but the space gained its legend through a remarkable succession of incarnations -- including The Neville Brothers' 1977 opening night, James Booker's weekly piano residency, and Vernel Bagneris' acclaimed vaudeville revue One Mo' Time. In 1999 it became The Shim Sham burlesque and rock club, then in 2002 transformed into One Eyed Jacks, one of the city's most beloved rock venues. Preservation Hall Creative Director Ben Jaffe and partners purchased the space in late 2020 and reopened it as the Toulouse Theatre, restoring the original name and completing a renovation that honors the building's layered history. Now the largest locally and independently owned live music venue in the French Quarter, the Toulouse books rock, funk, electronic, and genre-crossing acts on a stage where the ghosts of five decades of New Orleans music linger.