Pacific Dining Car is a culturally significant luxury steakhouse business in Los Angeles California. It was founded in 1921 by Fred and Grace Cook in the backyard of a friend's house in Los Angeles. In 1990, it expanded to Santa Monica.[1] In 2020, it underwent a shift to delivery and takeaway services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then moved temporarily to online offerings and popups. In August 2024, the structure was heavily damaged by fire. Wes Idol III, the great-grandson of the founders, said restoration efforts would continue.
It was billed as the only 24-hour fine dining restaurant in the city, opened every day of the year including Christmas and other holidays. The restaurant served as a set for movies and TV series such as Training Day and Shameless.[2]
Drawing inspiration from a business with a similar theme, Fred and Grace Cook pitched the idea of a modified railway dining car experience to a friend, who let them use his backyard to construct the dining car. The Cooks retrofitted their dining car to be more spacious, with plans for comfortable seating arrangements, based on an understanding that the typical railway dining experience was too cramped. When the modified dining car was completed, it was moved to a site at 7th and Westlake in Los Angeles.[3]
In 1923, the Cook's 7th and Westlake location was bought out by a speculator, forcing the restaurant to relocate to its current site at 1310 W 6th Street in Los Angeles.
In 1927, a San Diego rancher offered to teach Fred how to select, hang, and age cuts of beef for steaks. This prompted the Cooks to age and hang their beef in a curing box on the restaurant premises.[3][1]
During the Great Depression, Pacific Dining Car staff would invite the hungry to eat with them in the evenings. At the end of the day, any leftovers were donated to a nearby mission.[3]
Pacific Dining Car founder Fred Cook died In 1947. Grace Cook continued to operate the restaurant until 1960, when she sold the restaurant to her daughter Virginia and son-in-law Wes Idol.[1]
Wes Idol died in 1970, with Virginia retaining ownership of the restaurant. Wes Idol II purchased Pacific Dining Car from his mother in 1975.[1] In 2000 Wesley Idol II promoted his son, Wes III, to the position of president, continuing the family legacy into the 4th generation.[4][1]
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant ownership closed the Santa Monica location, and shut down the original Westlake location, auctioning off all but several historically important pieces of the restaurants, and moving all sales of meat online.[5][6] In 2023 Los Angeles City Council designated the original Pacific Dining Car an historic-cultural monument.[4] The business owners began the next phase of restoration goals, with the plan of reopening the local landmark.[7] On August 3, 2024, the structure was heavily damaged in an early morning fire.[8] Wes Idol III, the great-grandson of the founders, said that the damage was not as extensive as previously reported and restoration efforts would continue.[9]
Menu and clientele
The basic menus of the Pacific Dining Car were categorized by time to Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Desserts. Additional menus include an Afternoon Tea menu, available only by appointment and a Late Night menu served between 10pm–6am. All the menus are available for delivery.[10]
Due to the location of the Pacific Dining Car, located at downtown of Los Angeles, there is a large variety in the client list of the restaurant, ranging from stockbrokers, lawyers, to newspaper reporters and the occasional celebrity.[11]
Columnist Louella Parsons alongside her husband, Dr. Martin, were among the notable guests of the Pacific Dining Car. Actor George Raft and columnist Sid Ziff also frequented the restaurant for steak. Infamous gangster Mickey Cohen and Mae West, a female icon of the era, were also regulars there.[1]
As one of the oldest restaurants in L.A., Pacific Dining Car has appeared in several films and TV series. In 2001, it appeared in the film Training Day. In it, Denzel Washington recommends the "baseball steak" to Jake (played by Ethan Hawke), which led the restaurant to name the meatball steak "Training Day" on its lunch menu.[10]
Pacific Dining Car has also been briefly presented in other films, such as Chinatown in 1974, Street Kings in 2008, and Rampart in 2011.[13][14]
