City Lights:

For a moment there, it sounded like the end of an institution.

Perqs Nite Club & Sports Bar, the venerable bar at Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway, was under new ownership, and to one of its favorite performers, at least, that smelled like trouble.

Walter Trout, the world-famous blues guitarist who had played at Perqs for more than three decades, gave a pair of shows in late September that he said might be his last at the venue.

Gary Mulligan, the bar’s longtime owner, had died the previous year, and with Mulligan’s silent partners set to take over Oct. 1, Trout wasn’t sure if his brand of pulsating rock would still have a home on Perqs’ foot-high stage.

“There is the real possibility the new owners will sell the property and it will become just another downtown pink boutique,” the guitarist told Van Novack, our movie critic who had slipped briefly into rock journalist mode.

As it turns out, that won’t be the case at all. But first, a bit of history on Perqs.

The bar occupies one of the oldest buildings in town, which was constructed in 1904 and served as a brothel during the 1930s and 1940s. Mulligan, who took over the establishment with a partner in 1974, earned a reputation over the years for fighting for his right to party; in 2004, he won a $1.5-million settlement from the city’s Redevelopment Agency, which he believed was thwarting his attempts to improve the property.

Stories from the Independent’s archives indicate the reputation — or maybe the allure — that Perqs attained over the years.

“To some, Perqs is a seedy, prehistoric dive bar that detracts from the upscale image that city officials are working to promote downtown,” reporter Jenny Marder wrote in 2004.

She added that the bar’s clientele was “a flannel and leather-clad bunch,” but noted that to some, the bar was “a haven, homey and unpretentious, the essence of Surf City history.”

Reporter Dave Brooks, in a 2005 feature on Huntington Beach’s old-school venues, was more blunt.

“You haven’t lived,” he wrote, “until you’ve been kicked out of Perqs, Huntington Beach’s ode to alcohol, rock ‘n’ roll and nonconformity.”

Monday morning, I paid a visit to see if Perqs had gotten more conformist since the new owners came in.

The couple in charge, Richard and Susan Walker, are a chummy pair who reminded me more of Boy Scout parents than two people who would run a prehistoric dive.

But clearly, rock ‘n’ roll attitude was on display.

The stage in the corner, where Trout and his band performed countless times, still stood. The photo collage of the Golden Bear, Huntington Beach’s other legendary rock venue, hung on the wall nearby. The thick scent of beer permeated the air.

“We’re a rock ‘n’ roll bar,” Susan Walker told me.

“It’s what I always wanted to do with it,” Richard Walker said.

Perqs has lost none of its old ambience, but the management began expanding its operation last year to bring in a sports clientele, screening football Sunday and Monday and giving out free food during the games. Last week, the Walkers instituted a Monday night dart tournament.

As for Trout, the owners hope to have him play again in the future. Of course, the shows in September were billed as “Trout and Mulligan’s Last Stand.” But then, considering how many farewell tours the Who have had, maybe that’s just rock ‘n’ roll.

City Editor MICHAEL MILLER can be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at [email protected] .