The sound of thunder booms through the air as sheets of rain fall down into a shimmering pool in what may be one of the fiercest San Francisco storms in recent memory. Above the cacophony, a confident voice greets the hundreds of people gathered here with a simple “aloha.”

The controlled chaos is par for the course in San Francisco’s Tonga Room, the iconic tiki bar and restaurant located inside the 119-year-old Fairmont Hotel. 

The venue originally opened in 1945, taking over the space that formerly housed the hotel’s pool and repurposing it into the eye-catching centerpiece of the restaurant. The special effects of rainfall and thunder sounds give the space a sense of enchantment — San Francisco’s own little slice of Disneyland (which the bar predates by 10 years). A boat sits alongside on the edge of the pool, set up on a pulley system that sends it sailing out into the middle of the cavernous room. PA speakers are wedged in the roof, with power supplied via a heavy-duty extension cord connected to the dock. The voice booming from the speakers belongs to Island Groove bandleader CJ Simbre.

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The Tonga Room is located within the Fairmont Hotel and is accessible from a side entrance on California Street in San Francisco, as seen on May 30, 2026.

From left, Larz Delago, CJ Simbre, Keith Madrid and Steve Landaker of the Island Groove band post up for a photo op between performances at San Francisco’s Tonga Room on May 30, 2026.

Larz Delago of the Island Groove band Rickrolls the Tonga Room crowd with “Never Gonna Give You Up” at the iconic bar in San Francisco’s Nob Hill on May 30, 2026.

Since 2007, Simbre has played aboard the Tonga Room’s tiki barge, originally performing alongside his father-in-law, who spent 20 years playing the venue before retiring shortly after the pandemic. Simbre is an animated performer, sometimes to the chagrin of his bandmates.

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“I’m normally dancing a lot, so the boat is rocking,” he said, sitting........

© SFGate