Not For The Faint Of Heart

Deep in the heart of the ‘hood in west Philly, this is the quintessential dive bar. I thought twice about getting out of my car during the day at 4:00 p.m., and I wouldn’t think once about going here at night.

It’s at the corner of 54th and Pearl Streets. There’s a door right at the corner, but it was locked. The entrance is actually on the side on Pearl Street and up a couple of steps. There were a couple of rough looking dudes hanging around outside. One of them asked for a $10 cover.

La Pearl is actually two clubs in one. La Pearl is downstairs at the entrance level. The Outer Space club is up a flight of stairs. The dude who took my cover told me the upstairs was closed because they were still waiting on the bartender.