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A forced good-bye: LA’s iconic Pacific Dining Car demolished after fire
The Pacific Dining Car, circa 1935. The iconic L.A. restaurant was torn down this week after a devastating fire.
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Courtesy Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
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For as long as it existed, nothing in L.A. could match the film noir glam of Pacific Dining Car.
Designed to look like the inside of a railcar, the Westlake steakhouse gave off old L.A. vibes that landed it cameos in Chinatown and Training Day.
It’s where crime novelist James Ellroy, a regular at the 24-hour eatery, drew inspiration for scenes.
And it’s where, in its heyday, the city’s most powerful politicians cut deals over plates of top sirloin.
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LA’s iconic Pacific Dining Car demolished after fire
For as long as it existed, nothing in L.A. could match the film noir glam of Pacific Dining Car.
“It wasn't just a place to eat, but a place to actually make some decisions,” said Adrian Scott Fine, president of the L.A. Conservancy.
But as of Thursday, the century-old eatery is no more.
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The Pacific Dining Car was demolished after an early morning fire that had engulfed much of the restaurant just hours earlier.
The cause of the blaze that 100 firefighters battled on West 6th Street for close to an hour remains under investigation.
The Pacific Dining Car met its end on Thursday when it was demolished after a fire.
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Andrew Salimian
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L.A. Conservancy
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Firefighters work on the roof of the burned Pacific Dining Car restaurant after another fire last August.
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Myung J. Chun
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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A revival thwarted
Archive photo of two steers, part of the advertisement marquee for Pacific Dining Car.
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Gary Leonard Collection
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Courtesy L.A. Public Library
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The restaurant had actually closed in 2020 amid pandemic orders that kept away regulars and diners who reserved tables for special occasions. A sister restaurant in Santa Monica met the same fate earlier that year.
Family rifts also contributed to the demise of the restaurants. A restaurant website run by Wes Idol III, its president and a fourth-generation member of the family who founded the spot, describes business conflicts with the second wife of his father, Wes Idol II.
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Left vacant, the Westlake building over the years became occupied by transients and fires were a recurring problem, according to fire officials.
In happier days: Pacific Dining Car waiter Hugo Solis headed to a table with an order back in 2003.
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Brian Vander Brug
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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But Idol had expressed hopes of restoring the spot to its former glory. Such aspirations seemed more within grasp after a successful campaign to recognize the significance of the restaurant to the city.
In 2022, the railcar portion of the restaurant was designated as a historic-cultural monument, which confers protections from demolition or major alteration.
But then came Thursday’s fire — the second one in under a year. While Fine said a two-story section of the restaurant remains, the railcar is completely gone.
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Fine, who had hoped that the Pacific Dining Car could be reimagined for a different use if not as a restaurant, worries more historic places will be lost this way.
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“It’s both on the owners to take care of their buildings, but also the city to properly enforce and press to ensure that that takes place,” Fine said. “Without that, we see things like this happen.”
Asked about what was next for the restaurant, Idol responded that he was not available to comment at this time.
From here on out, those who want a taste of what it was like to eat at the Pacific Dining Car may just have to watch Training Day.
Denzel Washington’s cop character introduces his trainee to heavy hitters at City Hall, then brightly recommends the restaurant's famed “baseball steak.”
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