Another legendary American drinking/dining outpost is under threat of demolition. San Francisco's Tonga Room, located in the Fairmont Hotel, may be forced out after more than seven decades of pushing Mai Tai and pu-pu. It seems the tower of the Fairmont in which the Tonga and its adjacent Hurricane Bar located is slated for redevelopment into condominiums. Plans for the new construction do not include the restaurant. No definitive word has been said, but blogs and forums are buzzing over the developments and petitions are circulating to save the tiki landmark. Now, some may say that the Tonga's food is somewhat meh or the drinks are overpriced, but who can argue with an indoor rainstorm? Or an indoor lagoon with a band floating on a little raft playing luau music? Multi-headed goddesses and a buffet in a canoe?
The Tonga underwent a big-budget renovation only last year, so it seems silly to tear it down now but, hey, it also seems silly to build luxury condos during a real estate downturn.
Tiki has long been a beloved sub-genre of American culture, revered by those who love retro, irony, carved wooden heads, eccentric glassware and powerful, fruity drinks. All these things come together at the tiki hourse of worship: The tiki bar. Yet tiki bars are few and far between, with many having been torn down or stripped of their grandeur--only a few beloved relics like San Francisco's 
In 1934, a former bootlegger opened a 27 seat bar on McFadden place in Hollywood, California. This tiny little bar launched the career of one of the world's greatest bartenders and set in motion an unprecedented 30 year fad that influenced music, fashion, restaurant and hotel design and, of course, drinking.
There is an ingredient listed on the cocktail menu at Union which receives more quizzical looks, more gasps of surprise when sampled and generates more chatter than anything else we do in the bar. The complexities of it's aroma and flavors are hard to pin down, though everyone tries. This witches brew of cocktail goodness is popping up in scratch cocktail bars all over the nation, and in the well-stocked homes of cocktail aficionados all over the globe.
I hope the kind people behind 
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