Matier & Ross reported this morning on the demise of the planned condo tower on the Fairmont Hotel property -- essentially because they wanted to raze the existing hotel tower, built in the 60s, and the powerful hotel workers' union got involved because it looked like it would cost hotel jobs, which obviously it would have, and voted no on the whole thing. There's now talk of a total sale of the hotel property, which allegedly hasn't been doing great, business-wise, but this sounds like another reprieve for the Tonga Room which has been under threat of closure for two years now! more ›

The fate of the Tonga Room, that beloved but not often crowded Tiki bar in the bowels of the Fairmont Hotel, is on the docket at the Historic Preservation Commission's meeting today. Though Planning has already ruled that the historic space must be preserved in some way, today the commission discusses with the developers what their actual preservation plan entails. more ›

Writing in the Chron, John King examines the current state of the Tonga Room preservation debate, in which preservation architect Chris VerPlanck is preparing a nomination package for saving the Fairmont hotel's pseudo-Polynesian paradise as a historic interior. "My preservation ethos gears me toward pop kitsch and industrial vernacular," says VerPlank, whose firm Kelley & VerPlanck is working on a 21-page report (link via Grub Street SF) to be filed with the Historic Preservation Commission. Unlike New York City, where places like Philip Johnson's Four Seasons Restaurant have been declared landmark interiors, San Francisco's preservation board doesn't yet have a protocol for preserving interiors -- only buildings, sites and landscape features. VerPlanck argues that the Tonga Room "represents a highly evolved and rare example of the so-called 'High Tiki' style," but King isn't buying it, playing devil's advocate and asking whether we should be saving anything that anyone claims a kitschy attachment to. more ›

While the news is a few weeks old, it stings fresh as this morning's rain. See, word has it that the new plan to turn part of Nob Hill's Fairmont Hotel (which, oh noes, is a CHAIN!) into condominiums will mean an end to its famed Tonga Room. Ack, is right. Plans call for deconstructing the tower and replacing its rooms with as many as 160 condos. (.pdf warning) And said plans do not include keeping the best place in the city to drink rum while watching a band perform KOIT classics in the middle of a pool. Does this mean the Tonga Room will go the way of the 711 Club and 177 Townsend (Club Universe)? Probably. But as Curbed points out seven tiki lounges will still remain in San Francisco. more ›

Madeleine Albright, it seems, "will also share her recommendations for the next president." more ›

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, gave a speech to the World Affairs Council at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel yesterday, but was upstaged by a few gay (or bear) activists. more ›

Tonight, grab a 7:30 p.m. low cost ($4) lecture on planets, stars and brown dwarfs with Dr. Ray Jayawardhana at the JCC. We love the JCC space, because it's organized, clean, and spacious. There's a friendly vibe, too, but be prepared to pop your trunk for a bomb search if you park in the JCC lot. Origins of Planets and Brown Dwarfs at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California Street. Phone: 415-292-1233. more ›

It's black history month and we're ashamed to admit that all we've done is buy James Baldwin stamps and curse Condoleezza Rice. So we were glad to receive a tip from a reader about what looks like a fascinating world music concert. The Abayudaya Jewish tribe of Uganda have a rich choral tradition of African religious songs, sung in both Hebrew and Luganda (a local Ugandan dialect), and their most recent album was nominated for a Grammy this year. (They were beaten by Maroon 5. Kidding, kidding -- Ladysmith Black Mambazo took home the Best Traditional World Music title this year.) As part of their Be-chol Lashon (In Every Voice) Think Tank to promote Jewish racial and ethnic diversity, the Institute for Jewish and Community Research is sponsoring a concert with the Abauyudaya Jewish singing group and the Temple Bethel Choir, an African-American Jewish group from Philadelphia. The Temple Bethel Choir is known for their "foot-stomping celebration" of Jewish music, so this should be a slightly different world music experience than, say, a "Putomayo presents: The Beauty of the Didgeridoo" concert. The concert is at 7 p.m. in the Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel, and tickets are $10. more ›

] more ›