You bet the Fairmont needs to preserve the ornate elegance of the main (old) building to become
once again an economically viable grand hotel! The Tonga Room can contribute to a Fairmont
revival (no hotel in the Moscone Center area will ever build anything like it), but nobody imagines
that the Tonga Room has any viability if the Fairmont becomes a second-rate hotel for people
who can't afford the room rates in the Moscone area.
A few facts about the situation that have not been emphasized in this thread:
{}The tower section in question, plus the Hollywood Arabian pavilion beside it, were not built to
anything like the elegance and construction quality of the original building, nor in the same style.
(If you're a long-time San Franciscan, think Jack Tar Hotel.)
{}The tower is an add-on that could be torn down and hauled away without damaging the Tonga
Room. The hotel's owners were eying the Tonga space because they wanted to replace the
existing grand ballroom with a smaller one in order to free up space. The lower-level areas
of the Fairmont have always been a warren of spaces for miscellaneous businesses without
the Fairmont cachet: a radio station, the Muzak studios, a Canlis restaurant come to mind.
{}Adjacent to the Fairmont are three other hotels that are nearly as high-toned as it is: the Mark
Hopkins, the Huntington and the Stanford Court. All three of them are currently for sale, to
anyone who cares to make an offer. And that's the neighborhood--excepting the quaint
brownstone home of the very-old-line Pacific Union Club, the concrete gothic towers of
Episcopalian Grace Cathedral, the University Club in red brick, and a none-too-busy
auditorium (not one of them a big draw) it's all medium-high priced residential.
{}As several members of this forum have pointed out, the current Tonga Room is doing a
booming business despite high prices, poor drinks, poorer food and music that's utterly
non-tiki. Any new owner who buys without a specific agenda is not likely to want to
tear out this gold mine.
{}The present owners are selling out only because they can't get permission to renovate as
they want, and the controlling opponent is the hotel workers union, which objects mostly
to a loss of union jobs if the tower becomes condos.
These facts should clarify the Fairmont/Tonga problem. I have my own ideas as to what
can be done to preserve (and greatly improve) the Tonga Room, but first I'd like to hear from
other members reacting in the light of the actual situation.
