How do you get into The Tunnel?
We have not confirmed it. The Tunnel is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
The drinks at The Tunnel
How the venue describes itself: “Our Great Gatsby style speakeasy, The Tunnel at the Hilton Capitol Center, is activated throughout the year for a once in a lifetime experience.” (from its own website, retrieved 9 October 2026)
Beyond what the venue publishes we have not verified a list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Bronx, Monkey Gland, and Hanky Panky are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
The building
Documented — The Tunnel occupies the Heidelberg Hotel, a property listed on the National Register of Historic Places under reference number 82002769. The listing is a federal record maintained by the National Park Service, and the nomination document is the primary source for the building’s architectural and social history.
National Register reference 82002769 · NPS nomination document
Where The Tunnel sits
The Tunnel is in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the East Baton Rouge Parish, in the Deep South of the United States.
This is currently the only verified hidden bar our directory lists in Baton Rouge. If you know another, tell us.
Louisiana holds 17 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Louisiana speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Louisiana
Louisiana came under national prohibition on 17 January 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment took effect and the Volstead Act defined an intoxicating beverage as anything above one half of one per cent alcohol — a threshold strict enough to close breweries that had expected to survive.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Louisiana.
What the newspapers recorded in Louisiana
Searching the Library of Congress run of Louisiana newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Louisiana:
- St. Landry clarion, May 1, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The St. Charles herald, May 22, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Bogalusa enterprise and American, July 22, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The weekly Iberian, September 4, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach The Tunnel by phone on (225) 906-5763, through its own website, and on Facebook and Instagram.
The address is 201 Lafayette St, Baton Rouge, LA 70801. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For The Tunnel we hold street address, telephone number, official website, social accounts, an online booking link, and a listed-building record. We do not yet hold opening hours or a published drinks list.
It is in the directory because the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Overture Maps carries this venue; OpenStreetMap has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.