Magazine Street / Uptown

The Midtown neighborhood of New Orleans straddles Magazine Street, offering robust Garden District-adjacent dive bar-friendly drinking options.

Beyond the French Quarter, the heart of New Orleans stretches south and west, the bend of the Mississippi River mirrored by one of the main routes through the area, Magazine Street. A trip along Magazine provides an abundance of options to eat, drink, shop or even pop off to John Goodman’s house. There are, however, hotter spots than others, including concentrations of neighborhood dive bars that have grown up as the area around them has evolved.

In some cases, like Ms. Mae’s The Club, for example, that growth and evolution has meant revamping a once more “rustic” space into a slightly updated version of the original. In other cases, like Brothers Three (III) Lounge, the arrival of nuclear fallout to New Orleans probably wouldn’t be reason enough to change anything about the dive bar. Generally speaking, Magazine Street is a pretty polished, tourist- and walking-friendly part of town, but there are some destinations a little divier than the rest.

5101 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Why not start with a quintessential neighborhood bar, especially one that has stood on this same location, serving beer to locals, since 1900. Because it borders one of the less commercially-dense parts of Magazine Street, the vibe here is still one dominated by regulars. The building looks like a house and drinking inside feels the same, the perfect way to warm up for the string of dives to come.

4801 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Not to be outdone by Henry’s, Le Bon Temps Roule occupies a building that can trace its roots to 1890. The walls and floors are original, which will come as no shock after seeing them in all of their worn and beautiful glory. Today, Le Bon Temps Roule is one part dive bar and one part live music venue, a fact that has drawn in both the locals and the (in)famous, including one Lee Harvey Oswald. A plaque today denotes Oswald’s preferred stool.

4520 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115

The star of this particular dive bar crawl is no doubt Brothers Three, a venue that this reviewer has visited on numerous occasions, happily finding an unchanged building each time. After facing closure due to the death of a previous owner, Brothers Three has reopened the doors to this squat, canary yellow building once again. The drop ceiling sags, the floors are worn, the bar feels ancient – in other words, the building is dive bar perfection.

4336 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115

The story of Ms. Mae’s can feel conflicting. On one hand, the dive bar has seen a series of renovations that have painted over, literally and figuratively, some of the divey, classic aspects of the space. On the other hand, the bar faced closure before new ownership took over and made said changes. An open, slightly updated Ms. Mae’s is certainly better than a Ms. Mae’s gone and forgotten, to be sure, the feeling inside still very much one of a New Orleans neighborhood haunt.

4124 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70115

As counterpart to some of the dive bars on this particular walking tour, Port Orleans Brewing feels downright futuristic by comparison. Off of Magazine, down toward the Mississippi River along Tchoupitoulas Street, Port Orleans Brewing offers ample outdoor seating and a more-or-less standard array of beers (maybe an extra sour or too on last visit). A less formal back patio area offers maybe the best venue to enjoy a beer or three.

4529 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Working back along Tchoupitoulas, 45 Tchoup can trace its history to coworkers at New Orleans institution Parasol’s and a winning Kentucky Derby superfecta ticket. Opened in 2007, this is another dive bar built for the surrounding residents, a stream of food trucks, potlucks and crawfish boils ensuring that 45 Tchoup remains a neighborhood collection point.

5240 Annunciation St, New Orleans, LA 70115

Whether a dive bar crawl starts or ends with Domilise’s is a matter of your personal tolerance for daylight, but a stop here is a must. Founded in 1918, this bar turned po boy counter has maintained total family ownership, passing the tradition down from generation to generation. The menu features, you guessed it, po boys in all varieties, including catfish, oyster and hot smoked sausage.

Authenticity among the tourists is attainable.

Better drinking lies just around the bend.