Portlanders visiting SF Dec. 13-15.

I will be in San Francisco celebrating my wife's birthday Dec. 13-15. We are travelling with another couple and plans are to visit The Bueno Vista for Irish Coffees,
Chinatown for food, A pool hall called Chalkers for getting hustled (anyone know where that is?)and ...Boooohahahahaaaaaaaaa, my secret tiki agenda.
From what I understand, the Tonga Room should be done for Happy Hour and vacated before the cover charges kick in. Seems like Trader Sam's gets mixed reviews. I'm wondering what are the best bets for a night of tiki by the bay? I would be up for a TC rendevous if anyone is up for it.
Any advise would be much appreciated. I believe we are staying at the north end of town and will not have a car.

On 2002-12-03 16:15, mrtikibar wrote:
I will be in San Francisco celebrating my wife's birthday Dec. 13-15. We are travelling with another couple and plans are to visit The Bueno Vista for Irish Coffees,
Chinatown for food, A pool hall called Chalkers for getting hustled (anyone know where that is?)and ...Boooohahahahaaaaaaaaa, my secret tiki agenda.
From what I understand, the Tonga Room should be done for Happy Hour and vacated before the cover charges kick in. Seems like Trader Sam's gets mixed reviews. I'm wondering what are the best bets for a night of tiki by the bay? I would be up for a TC rendevous if anyone is up for it.
Any advise would be much appreciated. I believe we are staying at the north end of town and will not have a car.

Right on! Welcome to the 'hood. I won't be around until Saturday, but in the meantime.

The Buena Vista just celebrated the 50th anniversary of Irish Coffee in SF last month. Always a classic.

Try R & G Flower Lounge at 631 Kearny or Great Eastern at 649 Jackson both in Chinatown. They're seafood restaurants and it's dungeness crab season right now, and it's really good this year.

Chalkers is downtown in the Financial District inside the Rincon Center. It's clean and nice, I suppose, but nothing special. I wouldn't go out of your way if I were you.

You will also want to visit Trad'r Sam's early. Try the Bamboo Hut on Broadway- near Chinatown. And don't miss the Emeryville Vic's across the bay.

-martin

Martiki,
Thanks for the info. Emeryville looks like it would be close to the BART system. We have two flights into the bay area on hold. One is to SF International, the other is to Oakland. If we choose to fly into Oakland, we could try to visit Trader Vic's coming or going. We have to make up our minds quickly.
More later.

Sadly, the Emerville Vic's is nowhere near BART or any public trasportation that I know of. You'll want to get a cab or a rent a car.

The closest BART stations are Ashby or Mac Arthur. You would have to take a cab from each. My guess is that the Mac Arthur staion is closer than Ashby.

You can take the BART shuttle bus from the Oakland Airport (costs $2 per person) to the Oakland Coliseum Station Bart station take the "Richmond" train to the Mac Arthur Bart station take a cab to Trader Vic's, party, take a cab back to the Mac Arthur Station (if it is before midnight) take a train into San Francisco and your ground transportation costs could still be less than a cab ride from the SF Int'l Airport to SF and you will have more fun!!!

I will make an effort to get to Emeryville.
Unfortunately, we will be just a few days late for the big Trader Vic's birthday bash. Don't go and drink all the rum.
I think I should be able to get our group to The Bamboo Hut, probably Saturday, the 14th. The Tiki Bar Review Pages say it is closed Sundays and getting their Friday might be a stretch. I have a vague notion that The Tonga Room is up at the top of a hill and The Buena Vista is near the water to the north with The Bamboo Hut somewhere in between. No? Should be able to stumble along nicely no matter.

The Buena Vista is in the North part of the city near Fisherman's Wharf & Ghiradelli Square, The Tonga Room is atop Nob Hill in the Fairmount Hotel, and the Bamboo Hut is not really in between the 2, but is just East of North Beach and Chinatown near lots of strip clubs.

Try and make it to the Tonga Room and Trader Vic's, but the Bamboo Hut is nothing special. If you have to see everything then it might be worth your while. But be warned they have awful drinks.

The Tonga Room is right on the cable car line and it's a steep hill so I usually ride the cable car up and walk down. And near the Tonga Room are some great places:

The Crown Room atop the Fairmount is sadly gone, but across the street there is the Mark Hopkins Hotel and the swanky 60-year old "Top of the Mark" bar with great views.

Down the hill at the corner of Post and Taylor (where Tiki Bob's used to be) stands the old Tiki Bob that has been painted all brown.

On the same corner is C. Bobby's Owl Tree bar that is full of owl-related stuff (you just have to see it to believe it).
http://bayarea.citysearch.com/review/886156/editorial/

Chinatown and North Beach are within walking distance and offer many great bars and restaurants. You could start at the Tonga Room at happy hour (weekdays) and walk all the way to the Buena Vista stopping at the above spots and have a blast (if you like to walk). Favorite bars of mine along the way are the Li Po lounge in Chinatown and Tosca, Vesuvio, and Mr. Bing's in North Beach (all on Columbus Ave.). The Buena Vista is open until 2 AM and their Irish Coffee certainly hits the spot on a cold night.

Have a great time!

Kitty and I were in San Francisco a few years ago and I remember the downhill walk from The Fairmont to Buena Vista. We had very good Italian food somewhere in there. Also had a couple drinks at a place that I think was Vesuvio. I remember a very cool place with an upstairs balcony, some poetry readings, and a view of an alley with some murals? This owl bar looks good. I'm a semi-avid birdwatcher, so if I can combine activities, great. Birds cooperate so much better when they are stuffed.
Our friend, Janet, who will be with us, is from a family that has been in the Chinese restaurant business in Portland (the old Tuck Lung's.) We will probably let her guide us through Chinatown as she knows the ropes in that district.
Maybe we'll skip The Bamboo Hut. Gotta find old Tiki Bob's though. Love the info. Keep it coming.

"Also had a couple drinks at a place that I think was Vesuvio. I remember a very cool place with an upstairs balcony, some poetry readings, and a view of an alley with some murals?"

That was Vesuvio. It has an upstairs where you can sit at tables and look out on Jack Kerouac alley. The murals are painted on the alley side of City Lights bookstore. A place with a lot of beat-era history. Kerouac and friends used to hang out at Vesuvio.

Good call on C. Bobby's Owl Tree, jabbo. It's really great. The owner is real surly until you warm him up. I gave him an owl. (I work for a company called O.W.L.) Also- acroos the street from Vesuvio's is a fantastic bar called Spec Adlers Museum Cafe. Full of great old time SF stuff. Try to check it out.

-martin

Great stuff. I'm going to print this up and take it with me. Maybe I will bring an owl along. I imagine we will use Buena Vista as a sort of basecamp. It would be fun to tip a few with you bay people. Think about Saturday night, or even Sunday.
We are staying at the Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf so this should be close to several of these places.

Unfortunately you can no longer see the Tiki Bob pole, as it has been recently encased in what amounts to a vertical casket. So you may want to check that off your list, unless you like depressing sights. I'll post a pic later from home.
-Randy

Why would anyone do that? I still might check it out if it's close. I guess we are not exactly getting away from the rain this weekend. The remnants of a typhoon from Guam is due in. That kind of sounds tiki. We probably will hole up at Buena Vista more than we thought.

Here's the recent photo of the Tiki Bob pole in its current state, actually looking kinda 2001-ish. Hopefully they just boxed it up to protect it while they do some work around there or something.

-Randy

A nice time in San Francisco was had by all. We had a bit of bad luck with the cable cars. One ride a drunk guy took out a Toyota side mirror with his butt. A couple other times the line went down on it's own. This just gets to the point that the two blocks directly north of the Fairmont Hotel are steep by foot. However, our Tonga
Room experiences were well worth the climbs. Good Happy Hour deals on drinks and pu-pus. The service was surprisingly friendly as well. And the layout, of course, is the real tiki deal. Unfortunately, we never managed to visit Emeryville. But that is a nice reason for a return trip.