Victoria Station was a chain of railroad-themed steakhouse restaurants. At the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, the chain had 100 locations in the United States. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 1986. The last remaining restaurant in the former chain was located in Salem, Massachusetts until it abruptly closed in December 2017.
Video Victoria Station (restaurant)
History
The concept evolved from a Cornell University School of Hotel Administration graduate project, according to original owners Bob Freeman, Peter Lee, and Dick Bradley, all 1963 graduates of the school. The first location was opened in San Francisco in December 1969 and was a 158-seat restaurant located on the Embarcadero at Broadway that was constructed out of five boxcars and two cabooses around a central lobby-service area. Another source incorrectly claimed a April 1969 opening date. The restaurant was grossing $90,000 monthly during its first year of operations.
By the end of 1978, Victoria Station had 97 restaurants, all company owned.
The chain was designed to attract members of the baby boom generation. The theme of the restaurant was loosely based on London's Victoria Station. Antique English railway artifacts were used as decor inside, and the exteriors were composed of American Railway cars, primarily boxcars, with a signature Caboose placed in front. On the "entry platform" to each restaurant was a London-style phone booth. Prime rib was the featured item on a limited menu that included steaks, barbecued beef ribs, and shrimp done in a variation of scampi style known as "Shrimp Victoria". Most of the restaurants used authentic railway cars for dining areas, often boxcars or cabooses.
The Victoria Station chain flourished in the 1970s, according to a memoir by former Victoria Station corporate marketing manager Tom Blake. The company was among the first restaurant companies to offer its employees stock options and an ESOP program. The peak of success of the Victoria Station restaurant chain took place at the time of the culmination of a joint venture with Universal Studios, which resulted in the opening of Victoria Station Universal City, a location on the "hill" near where Citywalk now stands. At its peak, the Universal City location of Victoria Station was among the highest grossing restaurants in the United States.
The U.S. operations of the Victoria Station chain began running into financial difficulties in the mid-1980s, causing gradual shutdowns of the franchise restaurants. In May 1986, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. bankruptcy court. Eight months later, it was reported in January 1987 that the company had a restructuring plan in place that would require it to sell a number of restaurants.
A new company, called Victoria Station Acquisition Corporation and was controlled by Lowell Farkas, purchased the Victoria Station trademark and 11 of the restaurants for $6.5 million and the assumption of a $1 million tax liability.
Maps Victoria Station (restaurant)
Known locations in the U.S.
The following locations in the U.S. are known to have at one time housed a Victoria Station restaurant:
- Amarillo, TX (now demolished)
- Arlington, TX (now demolished)
- Alexandria, VA (demolished - Public Storage now on site)
- Altamonte Springs, FL (Was on West SR 436, now demolished)
- Atlanta, GA (there were at least three, all now demolished. One was near Cumberland Mall, one near Northlake Mall, and another on Piedmont, just south of Lindbergh)
- Austin, TX (now houses a Papadeaux's)
- Birmingham, AL (opened 1975 on Morris Avenue, now home to Kinetic Communications)
- Bloomington, MN (now an Olive Garden restaurant)
- Boston, MA (Located near South Station, now demolished, old photo at [1]
- Burlingame, CA (now Kincaid's Bayhouse)
- Burlington, MA (Closed in 2005, demolished in 2006)
- Casselberry, FL (on Fernwood Blvd)
- Charlotte, NC
- Cherry Hill, NJ (Was on Rte. 70, now demolished, site of an Audi dealership / Cherry Hill Imports)
- Cincinnati, OH (the downtown and east locations are both demolished)
- Columbus, OH (Was on Hwy 161, now demolished)
- Darien, CT (building still standing, but the rail cars removed, now a Bertucci's)
- Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
- Denver, CO (demolished)
- East Brunswick, NJ (on Rt. 18 same lot as Brunswick Square Mall; now an Olive Garden restaurant. Rail cars were removed. No original structure remains. Unknown where rail cars went.
- Fairfax, VA (demolished; CVS/pharmacy now on site; next door to an Outback Steakhouse)
- Framingham, MA
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL (corner of E. Cypress Creek (NE 62nd St.) & Dixie Hwy, demolished, unknown disposition of caboose & boxcars)
- Gaithersburg, MD (now a Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse; burned March 10, 2005/reopened February, 2006)
- Golden, CO
- Honolulu, HI (on Kapiolani Blvd. in Waikiki; demolished)
- Houston, TX (now a Droubi's Imports)
- Indianapolis, IN (opened 1973 @ 7279 N.Keystone Ave, demolished 1988)
- Jacksonville, FL (Demolished, date unknown)
- Kansas City, MO
- King of Prussia, PA (later became "Bonkers" then eventually demolished. McDonald's now stands on this site.)
- Knoxville, TN
- Latham,NY
- Los Angeles, CA (including one in Hollywood just outside of Universal Studios)
- Louisville, KY
- Macon, GA (Macon Mall)
- Marin, CA (Larkspur) (Demolished, date unknown)
- Maumee, OH structure still there, converted to Fricker's restaurant, box cars and caboose are externally covered but can still be seen for inside
- Memphis, TN
- Miami, FL (2 locations first one in Miami on NW 36th Street just north of the airport & 64th Avenue (demolished in 1994) property for sale and inside the Dadeland Mall, demolished in the early 1990s, now a Victoria's Secret)
- Monroeville, Pennsylvania (Building still in existence; has had multiple occupants since closing)
- Montgomery, Alabama (in Eastdale Mall but now closed, mall still open)
- New Orleans, LA
- Newport Beach, CA
- Niles, IL (now a Russian restaurant called "Moscow Nights")
- North Miami Beach, FL
- Northbrook, IL (Across from Peacock Palace and Holiday Inn, site now a National Pride self car wash)
- Northridge, CA
- Oakland, California (Closed. Once a part of the former Jack London Village, the rust-colored caboose was still on-site in 2000). Building still stands in 2010, complete with boxcars and caboose, but is empty. Had been the site for Niman Ranch administrative offices.
- Philadelphia, PA (demolished)
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Portland, OR (demolished, caboose saved and relocated)
- Reno, NV (now an Olive Garden restaurant)
- Richmond, VA (Currently the home of Northstar Academy, a private K-12 school serving special needs children, railroad cars still on the premises and are used as classrooms.)
- Rocky River, OH
- Roseville, California (Closed, but bldgs remain as of Jan 2008)
- Roseville, MN
- Sacramento, CA
- Salem, Massachusetts (still run by Victoria Station, Inc.)
- Salt Lake City, UT
- San Antonio, TX
- San Diego, CA (Train cars moved to another city, location now a Del Taco, next door to In Cahoots, formerly Confetti's)
- San Francisco, CA (Original location, demolished after the quake of 1989)
- Schaumburg, IL
- Seattle, WA
- Southfield, MI (later became "Bonkers" then eventually demolished)
- St. Louis, MO
- Sunnyvale, CA (Now a Vietnamese soup restaurant)
- Tahoe City, CA
- Tampa, FL
- Torrance, CA (previously incorrectly listed as demolished-as of April 2007 location operating as the South Bay Grill, 23805 Hawthorne Bl, Torrance CA 90505. Boxcars and caboose are intact with building)(demolished as of mid 2010)
- Tulsa, OK (decorative train water tower still standing in 2018)
- Universal City, CA
- Vancouver, WA
- Virginia Gardens, Florida
- Villa Park, CA
- Villa Park, IL
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Wauwatosa, WI
- Wayne, NJ (now a market research facility)
- West Covina, CA
- West Palm Beach, FL (Located on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd @ I-95 (Demolished) now Olive Garden)
- Whippany, NJ (Demolished, now site of a CVS)
- White Plains, NY
- Willow Grove, PA (later Boston Sea Party, directly adjacent to Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange, formerly Exit 27, now Exit 343. Demolished, now site of Courtyard by Marriott
- Woodmere, OH (Rail car on Orange Place, which runs parallel to I-271. Restaurant and car no longer there)
- Woodland Hills, CA (later became "Bonkers" then eventually demolished)
- Yonkers, NY, ( Boxcars are offices for a Sanitation Company)
Worldwide Locations
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada (demolished)
- Malaysia
- Tokyo, Japan (still running under the name Victoria Station)
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada (demolished)
- Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (now closed)
- Yokohama, Japan (now closed)
- Osaka, Japan (now closed)
- Kobe, Japan (named "Central Station" which was Victoria Station's chain, now closed)
- Paris, France
- Sapporo, Japan- complete with Big Boy statues
International
In 1979, Daiei and Wendy's International formed a joint company called Wenco Japan Inc. that operated Victoria Station franchise steak houses and Wendy's fast-food restaurants in Japan. In 2002, Daiei sold Wenco Japan, which included the Victoria Station franchised restaurants, to Zensho for 4.60 billion yen. The brand continues to be operated in Japan under the Zensho firm.
See also
- List of steakhouses
References
Further reading
- Victoria Station is still working on its restructuring. March 19, 1986 - Los Angeles Times (re: Victoria Station at Larkspur Landing in California).
External links
- Prime Rib and Boxcars: Whatever Happened to Victoria Station? history of the chain (ISBN 0972796622).
- 1981 newspaper ad for the Seattle Victoria Station location.
- Zensho's Victoria Station website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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