Buffalo Billiards is one of three Dupont dives closing this summer.

Mr.TinDC / Flickr

Say goodbye to three of Dupont Circle’s biggest happy hours: Sign of the Whale, The Front Page, and Buffalo Billiards are all closing.

A staple of D.C. nightlife, Sign of the Whale announced Tuesday on Instagram that this would be their last week in business. Co-owner Samuel Gobrail confirms the bar’s last day will be this Saturday, and says, “we’re throwing a huge party.” Customers can get a well drink for $3 or anything else for $6 all week.

Folks familiar with the bar will remember their half-off happy hour deals, college night on Thursdays, and, of course, the chance to win a free happy hour every week. (Entrants would give their name and email address for a chance to win a few hours of free booze and discounted drinks for their friends.) For all of these reasons, Sign of the Whale became the place to go, for a certain set of younger D.C. residents.

The bar went through a period of rebranding as DC Tap House, which opened in October 2017 and closed after just a few short months in February 2018. It reopened in May of last year, with a fresh coat of paint and a few changes to the menu, including shareable “chum bucket” cocktails. According to Eater, the bar reopened because of huge demand from customers for their “favorite bar.” But before that, Sign of the Whale had been open for nearly 50 years, per On Tap.  But according to Gobrail, the bar just “didn’t have enough to keep going” financially.

Meanwhile, Washingtonian reported Wednesday that Buffalo Billiards and The Front Page, both of which share a building on New Hampshire Ave. NW, will have to move out of their spaces by the end of August. Both bars have been hotspots of nightlife in Dupont for ages—Buffalo Billiards has been around for 25 years, and The Front Page for 32 years. The building is reportedly going under new leadership as a joint venture between WeWork and the Meridian Group, and they’re going to split the space into four to six areas, rather than two large ones.

“They’re trying to get what they consider market rent in the $60 per square foot range,” Dick Heidenberger, owner of The Front Page, told Washingtonian, explaining, “it’s just too rich for us.” Owners for both establishments say they would like to relocate.

“I’d say [the bar and nightlife scene in Dupont] has declined, specifically M Street,” over the past few years, Gobrail says.

Notably, both Sign of the Whale and The Front Page were named by Complex as one of the 25 Douchiest Bars in D.C. in 2012—an accolade that eluded Buffalo Billiards.

This story has been updated with comment from Sign of the Whale co-owner Samuel Gobrail.