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Tiki Central / General Tiki / Otto's Forbidden Island at the Conga Lounge

Post #49448 by AquaZombie on Wed, Aug 27, 2003 6:32 PM

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I think you're all forgetting (or failing to mention) a key fact: OAKLAND IS ONE OF THE BIRTHPLACES OF TIKI CULTURE! Sure, now it's better known as the Home of the Drive-By, but it's also the Home of the Mai Tai (courtesy of Vic Berguron, who opened the first Trader Vic's, as Hinky Dink's, here on San Pablo Ave in 1934 - cattcorner from ANOTHER tiki bar, the Zombie Village)! It's true, the Conga Lounge is in a terrific, safe and clean neighborhood (Rockridge, easily accessible by BART) that the Cleavers could happily reside in, but that describes not some but MOST Oakland 'hoods, including Piedmont, the Grand Lake/Lakeshore area (where Otto lives now), the Montclair District, etc., contrary to biased and warped media coverage of our soaring crime rate. True, we have more than our share of gang-related violence, in certain areas, but it's not like bullets are whizzing by your head as soon as you cross the Bay Bridge! I'm sick of the media erroneously perpetuating this myth.

Dig it: OAKLAND SWINGS, BABY!

And now we have Otto and the Conga Lounge, too!

AND The Parkway, where my FIFTH film noir fest begins Sept 5, AND ex-Roxie programmer Elliot Lavine, now an Oakland resident, booking his own noir series at the Grand Lake, AND the sumptuous Paramount Theater, AND Children's Fairy Land by Lake Merritt, Walt's inspiration for Disneyland! ALL the Bay Area hipsters are moving to Oakland and its environs, as the surging presence of so many great new venues and swingin' events proves! Take THAT, Frisco - you just priced yourself out of the "cool" market, baby!

But hey - if anyone out there continues to dis Oakland, GOOD! Stay the f*** out! We're running out of room already!

Aloha from Oakland, Home of the Mai Tai and don't you forget it.