Lincoln Discussion Symposium

I went hunting for the photo and found this page.

Continuing to hunt I found this page.

My guess is that the photo I posted is incorrectly labeled. My bad.

Roger -

I see that photo published all the time as "The Star Saloon" - it appears definitely to be the Absinthe House in New Orleans!

Thanks for enlightening!

Well, another myth of the assassination story dispelled. Good detective work, Roger.

Thanks Roger and Betty. The Absinthe House House has it's own great history. "Many celebrities have been welcomed through our doors in the nearly two centuries since its opening -- including Oscar Wilde, P.T. Barnum, Mark Twain, Jenny Lind, Enrico Caruso, General Robert E Lee, Franklin Roosevelt, Liza Minelli and Frank Sinatra. Indeed, the walls throughout this incredible building are covered in the framed photographs of several of our famous patrons." I hope they have their memorabilia nailed down.

J.W. Booth performed in New Orleans so he very well may have had a drink at the "Absinthe House"!

In a book published about 1976 "Saloon" by Toby Thompson, it also included Bonnie & Clyde and Lee Harvey Oswald as patrons of the Absinthe House. I doubt the information about Oswald. While he spent time in New Orleans, he was not much of a drinker.

The other issue that brought doubt about the picture was the number of bottles behind the bar. I feel that most saloons in 1865 had a rather limited inventory and since the Star was closed in 1865, there wouldn't be a picture with a large and various inventory, that would be more likely later in the century.

Was the Star seized because it was part of Ford's, Jim? It seems there was more to the building than the theater itself, with a few additions to the sides.

I believe it was shut down by the government and Peter Taltavul probably just decided not to re-open. Without the theater open, his business would have suffered.