A Pacific Dining Car Appreciation Post

This is a Pacific Dining Car appreciation post as I’m still heavy-hearted about the fire that tore through the historic restaurant on August 3. While the owner closed the restaurant during Covid and sold off all the interior furnishings, I still held out hope that this beloved eatery would make a miraculous comeback. Or at least a new business would bring life back this old building. But a devastating fire in a neglected structure… [heavy sigh].



The Pacific Dining Car was not only the site of my own martini-fueled mischief, but my mom had her own memories here as well. In the 60s and 70s, the historic steakhouse was a favorite among the Sunset Magazine staff as the office was in walking distance to the restaurant. So mom had a number of (perhaps martini-fueled?) work lunches here. An excerpt from an email she sent to her old editor in 2013:

“And of course, I have told Victoria about how we used to eat lunch there [at the Pacific Dining Car], walking over from the LA office. I remember especially the delicious coleslaw they had and the abalone steak which was good every other time. But I was wondering if it was as pricey as it is now…. In any case, lots of nice memories of dining at the Dining Car.”

Mom and I started coming to the Pacific Dining Car together on special occasions, usually Easter. But my last meal here was in 2019 when the restaurant offered $0.98 baseball steaks for 10 days —  think I came twice during that August special. While the restaurant was a bit out of my price range, I did frequent the bar and loved hearing the stories from the staff (even recorded a few).

By the time I frequented the place, the bar was never a scene but it was always a vibe — a quiet velvety vibe with palpable gravitas. More often than not, the patrons who came to the Pacific Dining Car bar valued the weight of the place. It was the perfect bar for one heading into her 40s — never a line, always a comfortable seat and quiet enough to hear the stories of both staff and patrons.

I will deeply miss this landmark that once drew in the city’s celebrities and power brokers. But for me, its magic was that it not only attracted a youngish Sunset Magazine staffer in the 1960s, but also her mischief-making daughter 50 years later.

With that, I raise my virtual martini glass to you, the Pacific Dining Car. 🍸