Make-Out Room owner says he’s leaving the biz with his liver intact

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.”