Let's talk Trader Vic's, the other tiki bar. OK, one of a few others. We know all about the ruckus over the planned boot of the Tonga Room in Nob Hill's Fairmont Hotel, but with the Fairmont Tower renovation years away, the Tonga's got time yet to savor its Mai Tais. Vic's, however? Dead, and long gone. But the owners of the defunct operation, Mai Tai Investors LP, are now suing the city, which is razing the building next door for a brand new SFPUC headquarters. The allegation? That the operation next door preemptively forced Trader Vic's to close back in December 2007, since "the City needed to invade the air space above the Mai Tai Property with cranes and access the land beneath the Mai Tai Property." The assumption perhaps being that a tiki bar located in a dank Civic Center alley would have done just fine otherwise. An SFPUC spokesman is not loving it, calling the suit "an attempted shakedown." Might we suggest everyone chill out over a drink? Say, mai tais at the Tonga Room.
· Mai tais and stimulus funds [City Insider]
· Deconstruction Watch: Piece by Piece in the Civic Center [Curbed SF]
· Fairmont Tower's Condo Conversion: Whither Tonga? [Curbed SF]
· Back From the Grave: SF PUC Eco-Palace [Curbed SF]
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