Post #531493 by Otto on Thu, May 20, 2010 11:19 PM

With quotes like the ones below taken from the SF Gate, it is clear that the only way to save the Tonga Room is to visit it now, visit it often, take pictures, and save it in your memories. If you don't have any past memories of the Tonga Room now is the time to start making some. Wouldn't you hate to have to say, "I wish I could've seen it before it was destroyed."

All might be forgiven if the Tonga Room was making money, but, as the hotel owners told planners, the restaurant "has varied success and an inconsistent attraction mostly on weekends to transient hotel guests and some narrow local constituencies."

That's no surprise to Robert Varni, who lives near the Fairmont and wants to see it upgraded. San Francisco's old tropical-themed restaurants and bars, like Trader Vic's and Zanzibar, had their day and disappeared, he said.

http://www.nobhillassociation.org/Fairmont_Social.asp?id=14

FYI, Robert Varni appears to be a minor political figure and old-money Nob Hill socialite. The type who frequent $100+ per person restaurants and find Pop Culture pedestrian.