Will the Dining Car recover?

L.A.'s Pacific Dining Car destroyed as arson fire deals blow to the iconic eatery, but owner plans to rebuild

There’s some good news among the ashes of Westlake Village’s iconic Pacific Dining Car as eatery’s owner told SFGate Monday that the multi-alarm fire was contained to roof of the 103-year-old restaurant, and plans to rebuild have begun.

In a statement to SFGATE, Pacific Dining Car President Wesley Idol III shared that the damage seemed to impact only a portion of the attic and that restoration efforts are underway.

Scene from “Training Day” adapted as an Instagram post by the Pacific Dining Car.

In some ways I owe my true crime writing career (such as it is) to a dinner at the Dining Car with novelist James Ellroy. At the time, he was celebrating the release of his book “White Jazz” and plotting the personal story arc that would lead to the very personal “My Dark Places.”

At dinner, he said, “Get out of the newspaper gig and write true crime.”

It took me a few years to get what he was saying, I thought then I might have the next great American Novel in me and disdained true crime. Turns out he was right and so far, I’ve been wrong. I don’t think I’m wrong about “White Jazz”, which I believe is by far the best of the quartet.

Sometime in 1994, we met there again. This time with Los Angeles Sheriff’s homicide Detective Bill Stoner. It was after the Northridge Earthquake and Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau had moved from the severely damaged Hall of Justice to headquarters in a Commerce office park not far from the very famous LASD watering hole that is Steven’s Steakhouse.

Stoner likely agreed to go to the Dining Car that afternoon because he didn’t want to be seen with a reporter and his weird novelist buddy who loved writing about bad cops. Lunch was great. I had the baseball steak and a Budweiser. I think Stoner had a salad. Ellroy, who didn’t drink, probably ordered a prime rib.

What was beautiful about the Dining Car was its tie to L.A’s deep and often ignored history. It was an eatery that existed in the timeframe of Ellroy’s novels and he made sure to include it as a location for meetings that moved sometimes convoluted plots along.

This was a place where proper utensils were always properly placed, napkins were referred to as “serviettes”, water and wine glasses were made of the finest Waterford Crystal and the cars in the parking lot were a lot nicer than my beat up mid ‘80s Toyota Celica with the bad radiator and a club anti-theft device on the passenger seat.

The next time I saw Ellroy he was staying at the St. James on the Sunset Strip. There I had a $9 hamburger and thought it was the best and most expensive burger. I had ever eaten. Now, most of us routinely pay $9 at Mickey D’s for far more questionable fare.

Since the mid-90s I’ve probably visited the Dining Car a handful of times. Even though the food was still good, it had got a bit shabby. I think the last time I was there was with Mark Seal, who was writing about Clark Rockefeller for Vanity Fair. I’ve since spent a lot more time at Taix, or Musso & Frank’s. Both have maintained that old school feel that ties all Angelenos to our past in ways that the city government has often dismissed as it bulldozes, renovates and continues to remake itself into something it never was.

If I go anywhere in Westlake now, its to Langer’s, but honestly that’s getting harder and harder to do.

Here’s hoping the Dining Car does come back as old school as it ever was. And, if it does maybe I’ll see you there.