SF's Most Famous Bar Started As a Hotel Pool
In this short video, Austin Klar narrates the evolution of the Tonga Room, the famed bar inside San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel. He explains that the space began as the 75‑foot indoor Fairmont Plunge swimming pool built in 1929. After years of underuse, the hotel hired MGM set designer Mel Melvin in 1945, who transformed the pool into the SS Tonga restaurant and bar, adding theatrical elements such as rainstorms with thunder and lightning, a floating bar, a bandstand, and a lagoon. In the 2000s the venue faced demolition due to redevelopment plans, but community advocacy saved it, leading to a $1 million restoration in the late 2000s that preserved its distinctive décor and kept it a beloved spot for San Franciscans. The video ends with a call to share the story and follow for more city history.
