Latin American Club

The Most Important Tag a Bathroom on 22nd Has Ever Seen

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

I spotted this Most Important Tag in the Latin American Club bathroom last night, suggesting it could mean one of two things:

  1. A reference to Louis C.K.'s bit about sucking a bag of dicks, encouraging me to suck this almost certainly cootie-infested spot on the wall.
  2. A botched depiction of “dickbags”.  Perhaps it's about the weekend clientele at the establishment?  Perhaps it's about me?

Anyway, this made me giggle and hold up the bathroom line while I took this very picture.

Cinco de Mayo Crackdown

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Admittedly, I'm a fan of Latin American Club.  Reasonably priced drinks, outdoor seating, and easily some of the strongest pours in the Mission.  Plus, sometimes it's nice to take a break from the Jameson/PBR doldrums of Mission dives and have yourself a pint of tequila.  What's not to love?

The problem is everyone else is a fan of LAC, and I don't mean that in the “I was a fan before you were a fan” sorta way.  Rarely a night goes by when the place isn't packed—hot and sweaty, slow service from irritated bartenders, and so on.  So imagine my surprise last night, Cinco de Mayo of all nights, to walk past this place and see it only a third full.  Figuring I'd seize the opportunity, I went up to go in only to get denied.  “I hate to say it, but we're at capacity.”  What the what?  According to the bouncer, SFPD went around to bars, began enforcing capacity limits, and promised to return and make sure everyone was sticking to the limits.

No doubt a bummer to the bartenders, as last night was a key night to clean up vomit and bank a grip of cash from bros wearing blinking LED necklaces.  I just hope this doesn't become a new thing in the neighborhood.

Latin American Club: The Coolest Bar in the Mission

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

BRAINSLIP, a blog I'm not quite sure how I started following but I'm glad I do, recently posted a list of Clooney's lingo:

Easterners (aka Pirates) - Raiders fans. Not welcome inside or outside of Clooney's; no exceptions, get tha hell outta here.

Spillers - patrons prone to fighting; results in spilled drinks and bloodshed; also the best customers.

Crybabies - those coming from nearby mortuaries; not the best tippers.

(full list)

His post reminded me of my prediction that Clooney's would be the hot Mission dive for 2010.  In 2009, Bender's was clearly the bar in the Mission: the crowds increased steadily throughout the year, the Weird Fish grill was on top of its game, the staff was friendly and the beer was hella cheap.  The Bold Italic even dedicated an entire story to the community that made Bender's.  However, Weird Fish left the grill at the beginning of this year and the thrill for many was lost, leaving a opening for another spot to become the Mission's buzz-bar.  In spite of their cheap Busch pints, free hot-dog days, and N'synced jukebox, Clooney's never took over as the hottest dive in the 'hood.

I had to wait outside the velvet rope for 2 hours to snap this pic.

I asked a few friends what they thought the bar of today was, and Latin American Club was the resounding winner.  ”They reinvented the margarita!,” exclaimed one.  “Legend has it that if you ask the right bartender for a water, they'll serve you a watered down gin and tonic instead” hinted another.  “What the fuck is the Latin American Club?” asked a third.  Are they right?  It's seems like it was just a year ago that you could go there pretty much any weekday night and get a table, now it's pretty much packed seven days a week.  They even raised the price of their signature pint of vomit and lost memories margarita by a buck.  Is L.A.C. really the spot in the Mission that has ascended to the height of popularity over the past 8 months?

(First photo by clarkrem)