Tonga Room SF (Not) to be demolished? - General Tiki

D donhonyc Tiki Socialite The Quiet EAST Village Joined: Jan 13, 2003 Posts: 1197	D donhonyc Posted posted on Tue, Dec 9, 2008 9:22 AM The best way to keep anything from happening to the place is to keep the barstools full! You have to go to the Tonga Room often, make yourself known, become like Norm from Cheers so that everyone knows your name. And you have to tell everyone you know the same. The more asses in seats the less likely anything will get knocked down. If the place is making money as the Tonga Room the less likely it is to be remodeled into a Martini Bar or whatever the owners think is the newest hottest thing. I went to the Tonga twice over a four day period this past August and both nights the place was pretty hoppin'. Even more so on the second night I was there which was a Friday during happy hour. The bar area was packed, customers were at the restaurant tables, the band was playing on the floating band stand, and the dance floor was pretty occupied with both young and old. In short this place was not deserted by any means and looked like it was doing some damn good business for a 70 year old spot. The bottom line is that those in power, these corporate A-holes with the money, don't know what's good for popular culture. They think they do, but the absolutely don't. They may look at one example of success that worked ie. a really 'trendy and hip' martini bar, or what have you and think it's going to work for them. Their other problem is ego and power. These people love to demolish things just for the purpose of demolishing them. In posts like this I keep pointing out the example of what's happening in New York. Character is being substituted for hollow symbols of wealth and cultural genericization. Now that the economy is tanking the white washing of Manhattan is slowly grinding down. There are already reports of condo structures being abandoned due to financial snags. If there is any silver lining in this economy it may be that alot of places like the Tonga have a chance at being saved because right now is the absolute WRONG time to be making financial decisions. In other words 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

The best way to keep anything from happening to the place is to keep the barstools full! You have to go to the Tonga Room often, make yourself known, become like Norm from Cheers so that everyone knows your name. And you have to tell everyone you know the same. The more asses in seats the less likely anything will get knocked down. If the place is making money as the Tonga Room the less likely it is to be remodeled into a Martini Bar or whatever the owners think is the newest hottest thing.

I went to the Tonga twice over a four day period this past August and both nights the place was pretty hoppin'. Even more so on the second night I was there which was a Friday during happy hour. The bar area was packed, customers were at the restaurant tables, the band was playing on the floating band stand, and the dance floor was pretty occupied with both young and old. In short this place was not deserted by any means and looked like it was doing some damn good business for a 70 year old spot. The bottom line is that those in power, these corporate A-holes with the money, don't know what's good for popular culture. They think they do, but the absolutely don't. They may look at one example of success that worked ie. a really 'trendy and hip' martini bar, or what have you and think it's going to work for them. Their other problem is ego and power. These people love to demolish things just for the purpose of demolishing them. In posts like this I keep pointing out the example of what's happening in New York. Character is being substituted for hollow symbols of wealth and cultural genericization. Now that the economy is tanking the white washing of Manhattan is slowly grinding down. There are already reports of condo structures being abandoned due to financial snags. If there is any silver lining in this economy it may be that alot of places like the Tonga have a chance at being saved because right now is the absolute WRONG time to be making financial decisions. In other words 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.

Post #422812 by donhonyc on Tue, Dec 9, 2008 9:22 AM