The Dungeon in New Orleans is a great spot to escape the typical French Quarter crowd but keep your phone in your pocket. The one thing you’ll hear shouted regularly throughout the night is, “No pictures allowed in The Dungeon!”

But guess what? Gasp! I took pictures.

I actually managed to snap a few blurry photos on our last visit to The Dungeon, and I did it without getting yelled at, so that’s a bonus.

The Dungeon in New Orleans

I first went to The Dungeon in New Orleans in the late 90s. It’s located at 738 Toulouse Street, tucked away down a narrow alley. The entrance now looks a lot fancier than it did in the 90s. I don’t recall there being a sign out front back then, and you just had to look for this tiny alleyway off the main street.

The decor and vibe inside is alternative/goth and there is a bar downstairs and upstairs. Upstairs has two rooms with a dance floor and DJ, while downstairs is mostly a bar and a jukebox. The upstairs has a St. Andrew’s Cross (or X-Cross) for all your flogging needs.

The crowd was a bit touristy overall. A lot of people wandering through and just looking around. Even a couple bachelorette parties on the prowl. The only goth looking people were the ones behind the bar, and my friends Jenna and Heather. I was just in jeans a t-shirt that evening, because it was a long day, and I didn’t feel like dressing up.

Best Jukebox in New Orleans

On our visit, the music upstairs wasn’t my favorite. It was very new goth/industrial, and I only know old school goth. So instead of dancing, I snuck bad blurry photos of my friend dancing.

Photography is strictly prohibited, and if they see you taking a photo, they will yell loudly across the bar, “No pictures allowed in The Dungeon!” This happened several times on our visit, but I managed to keep my picture taking on the DL.

We eventually ended up downstairs because the jukebox was full of all our old school alterna favorites, so we loaded it up and danced on the tiny dancefloor by the stairs. Twice we had people walk over from the bar to load more money into the jukebox and request that we keep picking out songs!

One lady fed $20 into the machine and said she loved everything we were playing and to keep it going. We were the unofficial DJs for the night.

Overall, it was the best night out dancing that I’d had in a while. Getting to play DJ was pretty awesome. I think we danced until almost 1AM, which is a rarity for me these days.

I’d definitely recommend checkout out The Dungeon if you find yourself in New Orleans and are looking for a bit of a different scene. While it’s a little more touristy than it was back in the day, it’s still a pretty cool spot. Just don’t let them catch you taking any pics!