Established in 1975 and operating under the same name since at least 1978, Pineapple Hill was purchased by Marsden in 2010, ushering in a period of sustained ownership that has helped cultivate a community-friendly dive bar environment. A very strip mall-like set of illuminated letters shouts the name of the bar from the plain white wall above the front door. A carved wooden sign to the left of the door has seen the opening hour of the bar scratched out, left to depict a closing time of 2 AM and the word “Dancing.”
The Pineapple Hill Saloon interior could not be more different from its strip mall exterior, the palette a rich collection of lounge-like colors characterized by deep brown wood and soft, stained glass-filtered light. Throwing the name ‘saloon’ into a dive bar name is not always the sign of a true saloon-like atmosphere, but Pineapple Hill fits the bill, down to the old timey font that depicts the names of cocktail types running along the top of the bar. Strips of stained glass ring the bar’s liquor selection, everything illuminated, the light bouncing off of the tin roof covering that part of Pineapple Hill.
The space is broken up into a few distinct areas, the bar commanding the main room with some supporting stools. A partition separates this large interior area, offering another ledge for stool-adjacent seating and separating the bar from a fireplace-centered lounge area. A plush booth curves around the front wall of this secondary space, dead ending into the Pineapple Hill fireplace complete with mantle. Atop the mantle and throughout the Los Angeles dive bar, the pineapple theme is well represented, here in the form of a pineapple statue.