After a feud with the building's landlord, the owners of Place Pigalle are closing their bar on May 10th. The establishment has seen dramatic changes in its surroundings since it opened back around 1988, as a former bar manager tells Hoodline.

For better or worse, the beer-focused, oddly furnished bar has been out of keeping for some time with the Hayes Valley of today, a neighborhood where bars like Brass Tacks and Noir Lounge are popular. But, as the area continues to gain popularity for its nightlife, Place Pigalle had become a dependable place to actually get a simple beer.

Though it's possible to construe the coming closure of the 25-plus-year-old bar as further expression of some kind of contemporary dive bar plague... that would probably be a stretch. It's changed hands and been renovated a few times, and is currently managed by Parish Entertainment Group, who have many businesses to their name from Brick & Mortar (with a coming beer bar there to be called The Crafty Fox) to Oakland's The New Parish. Plus, they even say they want to relocate Place Pigalle if they can, perhaps adding food.

Also, Place Pigalle's troubles weren't necessarily business- or business climate-related, and no condos will be built on the site as far as we know. Jason Perkins, managing partner at Parish Entertainment Group, has sounded deeply frustrated with the bar's landlord for some time. The flashpoint was, as Eater put it, "a literal shitstorm" almost exactly a year ago. Perkins blames the raw sewage leak on poor upkeep from Hayes Valley Properties, who own the building.

Though it appears the lease has run out, the owner of the property group, Roger Perez, issued an eviction notice at one point last year. Though that must have been resolved, at the time, Perkins told Hoodline of the property group, "They never took care of our building, I had to fix their stuff for years... pay for contractors, and now we’re getting kicked out." Back then, Perez also hinted he'd like to give the bar to his son for an update to make it, as he reportedly described to Perkins, “more hip and cool.”

Place Pigalle, 520 Hayes Street between Octavia and Laguna Streets