SAVE THE TONGA ROOM!
Everything old is new again- unless it doesn't last that long.
I have a deep-rooted resounding love for the leftover stuff of bygone eras. Perhaps that's not the most productive or encouraging approach to things, suffering blow after blow as you watch the things you love deteriorate or fall under the proverbial (or in most cases literal) wrecking ball, but I am who I am. Certainly, there's not much value in never changing anything, and if something's broke- by all means, fix it or let it die peacefully in its sleep. But if it AIN'T broke...
Thus: San Francisco's Tonga Room- a place on my short-and-ever-shortening list of mid-century Polynesian Pop palaces that I have to visit at least once before I die.
The Tonga Room began life humbly as the indoor swimming pool area for SF's world-famous Fairmont Hotel in the 1920's. As cocktail parties became all the rage in the post-Prohibition era, the pool area was transformed into an ocean-liner themed bar and restaurant offering tropical drinks and then-exotic Cantonese dishes.
Rather quickly, the ship must've landed in it's port-of-call, and the tropical paradise of the Tonga room was born. Visitors sipped Mai Tai's and Zombies and ate pupu platters under grass huts. The pool became a lagoon, complete with floating bandstand. And every hour, there was a tropical thunderstorm, complete with lighting and sound effects.
As the historically-and-politically incorrect concept of "exotica" went out of vogue throughout the late 1970's and 1980's, and corporate board-room blandness became a way of life, numerous tropical wonderlands were converted to average, run-of-the-mill nightclubs and sports bars, or bulldozed all together. After the fracas, few locations remained. The tiki-chic revival of the mid-to-late 90's once again focused the spotlight on these oddball eateries, but it was too little too late to do much about several decades of neglect and a newly hyper-PC mainstream with little interest in experiencing the past.
Tiki fans have suffered innumerable blows in the last few years. Columbus, OH's world-renowned Kahiki, with it's dual Moai doormen and distinctive A-Frame entrance got the bulldozer treatment. Des Plaines, IL's Kona Kai was boarded up and long sat locked and dormant, only to be unceremoniously auctioned off after years of hope that they'd re-open and once again offer up their trademark libations. Then, just a few years ago, San Diego's beautiful Islands restaurant in the then-equally impressive Hanalei Hotel was purchased by the reliably-bland Best Western corporation who, not knowing a good thing when they see it, gut rehabbed the place, tearing out its indoor streams, wooden bridges and bamboo ceilings in favor of a nice, safe, featureless white room with unpleasant salmon-colored furniture offering fried chicken wraps and cheese burgers in lieu of its former Polynesian feasts.
So now- we have the Tonga Room. Perhaps not what it once was, but certainly something distinctive, historical, and an authentic relic of a bygone era. There's no lack of business forcing them to close up shop. If anything, it sounds to me like their business is the same or better than it ever has been.
But rather, an arbitrary decision from the Fairmont's owners has them planning to re-zone the building and it turn into multi-million dollar condos. And the fact of the matter is, anyone wanting to buy a multi-million dollar condo (especially during the worst recession in 60 years) doesn't know a Mai Tai from Shineola.
On a daily basis, our nation's cities are losing their history, charm, and character to the bland whitewashed nothingness favored by the marketing research groups and investment corporations of the world. If you're anything like me, and don't want to spend the rest of your life deciding between TGI Friday's and Applebee's, let's put our money where our mouths are and do whatever we can to keep the Tonga Rooms of the world alive and vivacious.
I don't live in San Francisco, but if I did, I can only imagine how more deplorable this situation would seem to me.
Click the image below, and sign the petition to keep the Tonga Room right where it's been for the last 70 years. And if you live in the area, or are planning a trip- for God's sake, go get yourself hammered on delicious, colorful cocktails and an egg roll or two.
If you want the HTML for this clickable banner to post freely on the internet to rally others to the cause, just make a comment, or send me an email at peterklockau@yahoo.com
Everything old is new again- unless it doesn't last that long.
I have a deep-rooted resounding love for the leftover stuff of bygone eras. Perhaps that's not the most productive or encouraging approach to things, suffering blow after blow as you watch the things you love deteriorate or fall under the proverbial (or in most cases literal) wrecking ball, but I am who I am. Certainly, there's not much value in never changing anything, and if something's broke- by all means, fix it or let it die peacefully in its sleep. But if it AIN'T broke...
Thus: San Francisco's Tonga Room- a place on my short-and-ever-shortening list of mid-century Polynesian Pop palaces that I have to visit at least once before I die.
The Tonga Room began life humbly as the indoor swimming pool area for SF's world-famous Fairmont Hotel in the 1920's. As cocktail parties became all the rage in the post-Prohibition era, the pool area was transformed into an ocean-liner themed bar and restaurant offering tropical drinks and then-exotic Cantonese dishes.
Rather quickly, the ship must've landed in it's port-of-call, and the tropical paradise of the Tonga room was born. Visitors sipped Mai Tai's and Zombies and ate pupu platters under grass huts. The pool became a lagoon, complete with floating bandstand. And every hour, there was a tropical thunderstorm, complete with lighting and sound effects.
As the historically-and-politically incorrect concept of "exotica" went out of vogue throughout the late 1970's and 1980's, and corporate board-room blandness became a way of life, numerous tropical wonderlands were converted to average, run-of-the-mill nightclubs and sports bars, or bulldozed all together. After the fracas, few locations remained. The tiki-chic revival of the mid-to-late 90's once again focused the spotlight on these oddball eateries, but it was too little too late to do much about several decades of neglect and a newly hyper-PC mainstream with little interest in experiencing the past.
Tiki fans have suffered innumerable blows in the last few years. Columbus, OH's world-renowned Kahiki, with it's dual Moai doormen and distinctive A-Frame entrance got the bulldozer treatment. Des Plaines, IL's Kona Kai was boarded up and long sat locked and dormant, only to be unceremoniously auctioned off after years of hope that they'd re-open and once again offer up their trademark libations. Then, just a few years ago, San Diego's beautiful Islands restaurant in the then-equally impressive Hanalei Hotel was purchased by the reliably-bland Best Western corporation who, not knowing a good thing when they see it, gut rehabbed the place, tearing out its indoor streams, wooden bridges and bamboo ceilings in favor of a nice, safe, featureless white room with unpleasant salmon-colored furniture offering fried chicken wraps and cheese burgers in lieu of its former Polynesian feasts.
So now- we have the Tonga Room. Perhaps not what it once was, but certainly something distinctive, historical, and an authentic relic of a bygone era. There's no lack of business forcing them to close up shop. If anything, it sounds to me like their business is the same or better than it ever has been.
But rather, an arbitrary decision from the Fairmont's owners has them planning to re-zone the building and it turn into multi-million dollar condos. And the fact of the matter is, anyone wanting to buy a multi-million dollar condo (especially during the worst recession in 60 years) doesn't know a Mai Tai from Shineola.
On a daily basis, our nation's cities are losing their history, charm, and character to the bland whitewashed nothingness favored by the marketing research groups and investment corporations of the world. If you're anything like me, and don't want to spend the rest of your life deciding between TGI Friday's and Applebee's, let's put our money where our mouths are and do whatever we can to keep the Tonga Rooms of the world alive and vivacious.
I don't live in San Francisco, but if I did, I can only imagine how more deplorable this situation would seem to me.
Click the image below, and sign the petition to keep the Tonga Room right where it's been for the last 70 years. And if you live in the area, or are planning a trip- for God's sake, go get yourself hammered on delicious, colorful cocktails and an egg roll or two.
If you want the HTML for this clickable banner to post freely on the internet to rally others to the cause, just make a comment, or send me an email at peterklockau@yahoo.com
posted by Pete Klockau at 1:53 PM
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