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

M midnite Member 37? 47' N, 122? 26' W Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 1230	M midnite Posted posted on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 10:09 PM Fresh from San Francisco's own Chronicle Newspaper, another long time Frisco establishment in dire straits: Sunset on the horizon for Fairmont's tiki bar "(02-24) 20:03 PST -- Looks like twilight time for the tiki torches in the Fairmont Hotel's famed Tonga Room. The Nob Hill hotel's owners are looking into a big-time condo conversion in the Fairmont tower, and the Tonga Room - with its tropical decor and Hurricane Bar - isn't included in the plans. The Tonga Room is one of the nation's oldest tiki palaces, dating back to 1945 when MGM's top set director, Mel Melvin, was brought in to transform the Fairmont's indoor swimming pool into a nautical bar. The result was a South Seas paradise - with a lagoon and a floating stage for the orchestra, a dance floor built from the remains of an old lumber schooner and even periodic tropical storms, complete with thunder and lightning. The bar underwent a $1 million restoration last year, as the Fairmont's owners sought to ride the wave of the current tiki bar revival.... The final outcome is being studied," said Susan Sagy, a spokeswoman for the project. " Read it, Learn it, Live It Translation: Two birds, one stone. I come bury Tonga, not to praise it. midnite antony

Fresh from San Francisco's own Chronicle Newspaper, another long time Frisco establishment in dire straits:

Sunset on the horizon for Fairmont's tiki bar

"(02-24) 20:03 PST -- Looks like twilight time for the tiki torches in the Fairmont Hotel's famed Tonga Room.

The Nob Hill hotel's owners are looking into a big-time condo conversion in the Fairmont tower, and the Tonga Room - with its tropical decor and Hurricane Bar - isn't included in the plans.

The Tonga Room is one of the nation's oldest tiki palaces, dating back to 1945 when MGM's top set director, Mel Melvin, was brought in to transform the Fairmont's indoor swimming pool into a nautical bar.

The result was a South Seas paradise - with a lagoon and a floating stage for the orchestra, a dance floor built from the remains of an old lumber schooner and even periodic tropical storms, complete with thunder and lightning.

The bar underwent a $1 million restoration last year, as the Fairmont's owners sought to ride the wave of the current tiki bar revival....

The final outcome is being studied," said Susan Sagy, a spokeswoman for the project. "

Read it, Learn it, Live It

Translation: Two birds, one stone.

I come bury Tonga, not to praise it.
midnite antony

Post #436262 by midnite on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 10:09 PM