Mission Buzz” is a regular update on changes, tidbits and other news from the Mission’s commercial corridors. Got news? Send to tips at tips@missionlocal.com.
A pair of Mission District institutions, The Make Out Room at 3225 22nd St. and the Latin American Club at 3286 22nd St., are up for sale.
Marty Rapalski, their owner, says he’s been thinking about retiring for 15 years, and is ready to move on and do something else. “It’s a younger person’s game,” Rapalski told Mission Local. “It needs some fresh blood and new eyes. It’s time.”
Rapalski moved to the Mission in 1989, he said, and quickly became obsessed with the neon sign hanging above a bar called El Mariachito. It read “Latin American Club,” and showed a horse drinking out of a cocktail glass.
In 1993, he bought El Mariachito from its then-owner, Ramon Luna, and re-named it. “I just changed it back to the Latin American club because I wanted to keep the sign.”
More than 30 years later, the sign remains, and it is still common to see mariachi musicians come into the bar and serenade patrons for cash.
Three years later, Rapalski bought another bar down the street, called the Transfer Club, from Walter Castillo, and renamed it the Make Out Room, after a rumored area in the back of another neighborhood bar (then the Skyscraper, now Las Margaritas), where waitstaff would take drunken customers and relieve them of their money.
The Make Out Room became the third point of “The Bermuda Triangle,” a legendary trifecta that included Revolution Cafe and Cava 22.
The Make Out room, a bar and event venue, became known for hosting musicians like Jonathan Richman, who does a yearly residency. Other big names, like Tracy Chapman and Norah Jones, have also played there.
Rapalski has plans not only to leave the business, but the country, he said. His dad is from Winnipeg, and he’s currently in the process of obtaining his Canadian citizenship. He’s also contemplating a move to Portugal, where he already secured a tax ID and a bank account.
The Make Out Room is on the market for $450,000 while the Latin American Club for $350,000. There’s been a lot of interest so far, and that the businesses will be sold separately. He will start considering offers come July 1.
Rapalski would love to sell to someone who wants to keep both businesses the way they are, he said, but he’s not putting any official conditions on the sale.
“Overall, it was great,” said Rapalski of his years as a barman. “Of course there were difficulties and things over the 30 years. But I pulled through with my liver intact, and I’m happy to move on now.”
Local pupusa empire Panchitas officially opened its newest location on May 14 inside the former home of Arinell Pizza’s at 509 Valencia St., nearly two years after Mission Local reported on its plan to do so.
The new storefront serves as a to-go pupuseria and connects to Panchita’s main restaurant at 3091 16th St, which opened in 1989. It also helps Panchitas with its ADA compliance. The space’s decor draws inspiration from restaurants the sisters went to during visits to El Salvador.
The takeout space has been a vision of Panchita’s co-owner Doria Macchiavello for nearly 15 years, inspired by the layout of Sol Food in San Rafael.
“They have the takeout section, and I always loved it, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I wanna do that at Panchitas,’” said Macchiavello.
“She talked about that for a long time. That was one of her biggest dreams,” said Macchiavello’s sister and co-owner, Jackeline Vargas.
Panchitas is nothing short of a Mission District institution. Micchiavello and Vargas’ grandmother started working at an even older location on 17th Street between Mission and Hoff in the late ’70s, before taking over the business and inviting her daughter Doris Campos to work there.
Eventually, Campos and her husband, Micchiavello, and Varga’s parents, decided to move to 16th and Valencia streets, and the 17th Street business closed. Panchitas also had a short stint at 530 Valencia St., across the street from its newest take-out location, but it closed after one year.
Closing the 530 Valencia St. location, Macchiavello said, proved to be the right decision.
“It was too big. It wasn’t us. It didn’t have the essence,” said Macchiavello.
More Peruvian food is coming to the Mission District. Asu Mare is opening at 3364 26th St., between Mission and Capp streets, sometime next week, according to Veronica Solano, who’s opening the restaurant with her husband, Victor Reyes.
It is the restaurant’s second location. The first opened Oakland in late 2024.
Solano said Asu Mare will offer all types of Peruvian dishes, but it will specialize in Criolla and seafood cuisine. Everything will be cooked as soon as customers order, with the exception of the cabrito a la norteña, cau cau and arroz con pollo, which will be cooked every morning, said Solano.
Another East Bay business is crossing the Bay Bridge, to San Francisco. Binge Coffee House is opening at 530 Valencia St., between 17th and 16th streets.
Binge, which already has two locations in Berkeley, specializes in Vietnamese coffee, matcha drinks, milk teas, iced teas and boba. The business also offers pandan waffles and bánh mi sandwiches.
Eight months after Mission Local reported on Yemeni restaurant Mandi House’s plans to open at 680 Valencia St, the business has begun serving customers, and is planning a grand opening ceremony on Friday, June 12, from 4 to 7 p.m.
The Valencia location is Mandi House’s second restaurant; the first is in Los Angeles.
It’s owners describe it as a “palace-style restaurant and banquet hall.”
“The minute you walk in, you’re not going to think you are in America. It’d be a totally different place,” co-owner Adel Alghazali told Mission Local in October.
Mandi House is open seven days a week from 11 to 1 a.m.
Alamo Drafthouse announced today in an Instagram post that it plans to rename the iconic 110 year-old The New Mission Theater the Christopher Nolan Cinema.
Alamo Drafthouse told the San Francisco Chronicle that the theater’s signage, marquee and showtime listings will remain unchanged.
Nolan will attend an official ceremony later this year with a 70mm screening curated by the filmmaker.
The New Mission was built in 1916 and designed by the Reid Brothers, famous for landmarks like Fairmont Hotel, the Balboa Theater, the Cliff House, and the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland.
In 1932, Timothy Pflueger, another legendary local architect, added the 70-foot iconic blade sign and marquee during an art deco remodel. After closing in 1993, the New Mission was purchased by Alamo Drafthouse, which reopened it in 2015.