Anyone here remember "Victoria Station" Restaurent Chain?

[Anonymous]

Victoria Station had about 50 to 60 restarents scattered about the US they had great Prime Rib and used railroad cars and passegers railroad cars in there contruction. What happed to all there Equipement when the Chain Closed?

[DPD1]

Yeah, we used to get inebriated in the one up on Universal City hill after work way back when. It was a hang out for a lot of the studio people back then, before City Walk opened. I had forgotten all about it until now. It did look kind of cool inside. I remember the euro style train arrive/depart board over the bar. Funny how businesses have a finite life span. I do recall it was often slow though. I guess that had something to do with it.

Dave
Los Angeles, CA
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline

[MP57313]

There is one on Hawthorne Blvd. in Torrance. It has been a Seafood Broiler restaurant for years now. It still has a caboose and at least one boxcar, but they are painted ordinary gray and they are trying to just blend the cars into the building.

I tried to find out the ancestry of the caboose (it is steel with a centered cupola - could be UP?) to send in a listing to ARCHES (www.arches.org), the caboose preservation group. I went in the restaurant to talk to the staff but no one had a clue about the RR cars, and the menus gave no hint to the history of the building.

[Anonymous]

Hmm. I knew Victoria had "Secrets"... but never a "Station". She must have been the greatest woman alive... dressed well (cough cough sputter) and a foamer to boot!

Erik

[dldance]

Victoria Stations are not the only chain to incorporate rr equipment -- most of the Spaghetti Factory restaurents i've been in included a tolley car body.

[vsmith]

Carney's, a hot dog joint on the Sunset Strip uses an old UP streamline car as the restaraunt eating area. Dont know where it came from or how it is inside, I eat at Pink's Hot Dogs on Melrose !

[CShaveRR]

When they built the Victoria Station in the next suburb over, they used three or four former SSW double-sheathed box cars and a former Southern bay-window caboose (to which they added a cupola for some reason). I think the cars were demolished with whatever portions of the building the redeveloper didn't want.

P.S. We ate there only once...didn't like the food, pricing, decor, or anything about it once we got inside.

[Anonymous]

There had been a Victoria's Station in East Brunswick NJ. The place is swimming in theme resturants, I supose the max had been reached and natural selection took the weak ones........ God only knows about the place that serves food courtesy of a Big Rat! (sorry Chucky C!)

[locomutt]

They had one here in Louisville in mid-late 80's,I think it had several cabooses
and box cars around it. Never did get there to dine,just saw it a couple of times.
All the people that I know who ate there,said about the same thing Carl did;it
was way over priced,and food wasn't that good. I don't know what happened
to the equipment,it was sort of like it was there one day,and gone the next.[:)]

[Anonymous]

Found this link
http://www.sonic.net/~stadelma/rtrdc/victoria.htm
also
http://www.victoriastationinc.com/
They still have two places in Salem Mass and Boston
Got to go there sometime..

[Anonymous]

and another link from England
http://www.wheels.co.uk/restaurant/list.htm
If You are In Cleveland I recomend "The Puffer Belly" In Beria OH next the the NYC mainline. The station is 10 mins away from the airport by Cab

[Anonymous]

and you can buy stock too..
http://www.antiqnet.com/search/images.jsp?id=79032
Okay its time for bed..Better get my sleeping bag ready..

[MP57313]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR
P.S. We ate there only once...didn't like the food, pricing, decor, or anything about it once we got inside.

Never had a real meal there. We would get strawberry-banana daiquiris and play Space Invaders in the arcade area (that should tell you how long ago this was--over 20 years ago)

[Anonymous]

The only one I've ever seen was in Vancouver BC. I thought it was cool to eat in an old boxcar or caboose.

[dknelson]

When the Victoria Station in Milwaukee was demolished I am pretty sure that the boxcars were demolished too. I hope and assume the railroad artifacts inside were saved. I think most of them were British. The one here in Milwaukee was on Highway 100 and the C&NW mainline was right behind it - if you parked in the back there was a decent chance you'd see a train go by. My clearest recollection is that the food was rather ordinary.
There was also a chain with several restaurants locally called The Ground Round that at one time had lots of railroad stuff inside, also British: station signs and such. Then they redecorated into antiques. Then they went belly up. Maybe it was the same stuff bought cheap.
Dave Nelson

[Big_Boy_4005]

I remember them very very well, and miss them greatly. For the longest time we didn't have one in the Twin Cities, so whenever the family would travel we made a point of seeking them out. Over the years we must have hit over a dozen different restaurants all over the country. Eventually we got 2 stores here in the Twin Cities.

In the end, General Mills bought them up, and turned them into Olive Gardens, as if there aren't enough places to get Italian food. At the time it was trendy as people were moving away from red meat. I'll bet with this low carb craze, the general wished they had them back. I for one have never given up red meat!!!! (Or carbs for that matter.)[dinner][dinner][swg]

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainfinder22

Found this link
http://www.sonic.net/~stadelma/rtrdc/victoria.htm
also
http://www.victoriastationinc.com/
They still have two places in Salem Mass and Boston
Got to go there sometime..

If you go to the first link, I have that first postcard, as well as a few other souvenirs, like match boxes and cocktail napkins. I didn't think there were any left. Looks like I have an excuse to go to Boston.[:p][;)]

[Anonymous]

There was one in Dallas when we moved here in 1978. It closed a couple years later. Food was average, but nice railroad theme. Over the bar was a photo mural of the Milwaukee yards somewhere. Couple of old boxcars with all road markings removed were incorporated into the restaurant. Behind the restaurant was the seldom used Sonnatrim siding of the SP which used to connect with the KATY about 2 miles south. This line has been abandoned and replaced with DART's light rail line to Plano Texas. All is not lost at the site of the restaurant. The old restaurant pad is now the parking lot for DART's Park Lane station. I do not know what happened to the rail artifacts when the restaurant was demolished.

[Anonymous]

Yes, The equment is still there on Homestead Road west of Wolfe in Cupertino / Sunnyvale Ca. Now an Oriental restaurant .