Gentle reader,
If you’ve been following our Pacific Dining Car reporting, you knew even before the fire department knocked the abandoned restaurant down in March, after the worst in a series of fires, that despite landmark designation and some P.R. spin, this neglected cultural and culinary treasure was extremely unlikely to ever reopen.
An insurmountable family feud between PDC operator Wes Idol III and property owner Toby Idol stood in the way, and we are all the worst for it.
Late last month, the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners sealed the deal: the remains of the burned and derelict structure must be cleared from the lot.
But wait!
We suspected that there was still a bit of the original landmark intact within the ruins. And thanks to our peskiness, and the graciousness and courage of LAFD Heavy Equipment Captain Rich Diede, L.A.’s Office of Historic Resources has determined that the original 1934 all-steel kitchen is in fact intact within the collapsed restaurant walls, and it remains a protected Historic Cultural Monument.
So while the property must be cleared of rubble, something of the Pacific Dining Car can still be saved—and it’s up for grabs to the right person or entity.
So here’s the deal: we have just one day, until Friday, June 20, to find an interested party to coordinate with the property owner, and initiate a plan to salvage the kitchen and save it from the dump.
Maybe that’s a restaurateur who sees value in serving meals cooked on the same griddle that delighted generations of Angelenos, or a passionate home cook who has been thinking about a kitchen remodel and likes the industrial styling of the early 20th century, or a railroad history museum that recognizes that the PDC’s stationary set up was meant to mimic the appearance of a real 1930s passenger train dining car, or maybe it’s just someone who loves the Pacific Dining Car enough to step in and care for this precious relic of old Los Angeles until a good home can be found for it.
Interested? Send us an email at tours@esotouric.com and we’ll connect you with the Office of Historic Resources. Hopeful? We are, too, but it’s not safe yet—so please, pass this on to anyone who might be able to help!
Fires and blight are not how we wanted the sweet story of the Pacific Dining Car to end. But right now, it’s still possible to pull something bright and shining from the wreckage, and revive a legendary Los Angeles landmark for future generations to fall in love with, and to help ease the pain of every one of us who is still mourning a very special, all night oasis.
Let’s do what it takes to save the Pacific Dining Car kitchen!
This weekend, we are offering two time travel trips for L.A. lovers: on Saturday, it's Know Your Downtown LA: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore and the Dutch Chocolate Shop. Sunday at noon—yes, you can sleep in, and street parking is free—meet us at the La Brea Tar Pits to discover some weird and wonderful history on the Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness tour. The nicest folks take our tours, so come make new friends and fall in love with the city. And next time some silly person tries to tell you Los Angeles doesn’t have any history, you'll have all the tools you need to set them straight. Join us, do!
Finally, with all that’s happening on the streets, it’s hard to know what to say, except that we love Los Angeles—such a kind and beautiful and diverse and strange place—and we love Angelenos. Our profound hope is that the cruelly indiscriminate immigration actions cease, and that if you’re here in town that you are able to find ways to be of service to others while keeping safe and sane, and still finding space to enjoy this magical city at the edge of the continent. Los Angeles is the best of America, and our spirit and our community can’t be broken. If you’re reading this somewhere else, and feeling like you don’t belong, know that you are welcome here.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles' past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city's soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING WALKING TOURS
• Know Your Downtown LA: Bradbury, Basements, Dutch Chocolate Shop (6/21) • Miracle Mile Marvels & Madness (6/22) • Westlake Park Time Travel Trip (6/28) • Film Noir / Real Noir (7/12) • The Real Black Dahlia (7/19) • Early Hollywood’s Silent Comedy Legends (7/26) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice (8/9) • Weird West Adams / Elmer McCurdy Museum (8/16) • Christine Sterling & Leo Politi: Angels of Los Angeles (8/23) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (8/30) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown Los Angeles (9/6) • Film Noir / Real Noir (9/20) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (9/27)
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