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

C congawa Member Long Beach, CA Joined: Aug 11, 2008 Posts: 358	C congawa Posted posted on Thu, Jun 16, 2011 10:23 AM I was at the Tonga Room a few weeks ago on a Saturday night, and it was packed with a $7 cover. But it was essentially functioning as the hotel disco--the band playing in the boat was a disco band playing Michael Jackson, Bee Gees, etc. We paid the cover, had shots of bourbon and scotch (knowing the drill about their tropical drinks from previous excursions over the years) and just enjoyed the atmosphere and each rainfall (while aurally trying to filter "Night Fever" out of our ears). However, there is a bigger picture at the Fairmont beyond Tiki: the entire original part of the hotel--the bars (including Cirque), the ballrooms, the hallways, the lobby--are such a great and rare surviving artifact of the Victorian era, those areas need to be kept intact and not remodeled as much as the Tonga Room. It seemed like the whole hotel was pretty busy--I'd hope that new owners would keep it as a hotel (rather than a luxury condo conversion) and keep the unique elements from a place that lived through the 1906 earthquake. Caltiki Brent http://www.facebook.com/dingdongdevils http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dingdongdevils [ Edited by: congawa 2011-06-16 10:23 ] [ Edited by: congawa 2011-06-16 10:27 ]

I was at the Tonga Room a few weeks ago on a Saturday night, and it was packed with a $7 cover. But it was essentially functioning as the hotel disco--the band playing in the boat was a disco band playing Michael Jackson, Bee Gees, etc. We paid the cover, had shots of bourbon and scotch (knowing the drill about their tropical drinks from previous excursions over the years) and just enjoyed the atmosphere and each rainfall (while aurally trying to filter "Night Fever" out of our ears).

However, there is a bigger picture at the Fairmont beyond Tiki: the entire original part of the hotel--the bars (including Cirque), the ballrooms, the hallways, the lobby--are such a great and rare surviving artifact of the Victorian era, those areas need to be kept intact and not remodeled as much as the Tonga Room. It seemed like the whole hotel was pretty busy--I'd hope that new owners would keep it as a hotel (rather than a luxury condo conversion) and keep the unique elements from a place that lived through the 1906 earthquake.

Caltiki Brent

http://www.facebook.com/dingdongdevils
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/dingdongdevils

[ Edited by: congawa 2011-06-16 10:23 ]

[ Edited by: congawa 2011-06-16 10:27 ]

Post #593937 by congawa on Thu, Jun 16, 2011 10:23 AM