Post #423071 by quickiki on Wed, Dec 10, 2008 12:34 PM

Thanks for your clarification, Sven. My observations of the Tonga Room were merely to point out the serious decline of the place, not to dissuade people from visiting it. I think people have this notion of what the place looks like based on sanitized, postcard photos (like the ones shown in this thread) as opposed to the reality of the TR. I would like to strongly urge anyone who has never seen this bar to venture out and experience it at least once, especially now where its fate is rather uncertain. Even with its present warts, it is interesting to someone who hasn't experienced it firsthand. To those of us that have seen it in years past can only shake our heads in disbelief. Even when I first started to go to this place in the 80's, you could see it was on the road to ruin. My folks used to glowingly talk about this place in the 50's and 60's - and I'm sort of jealous to not experience it back then. This place along with the old Bimbo's, the Starlight Room and the Top of the Mark were/are San Francisco landmarks from another era, which are sadly, for the most part, just a memory.

[ Edited by: quickiki 2008-12-10 12:35 ]