The Pacific Dining Car’s original building and kitchen were recommended by the Cultural Heritage Commission to be a Historic-Cultural Monument Thursday, representing the period from 1921 to 1934.
The Pacific Dining Car, at 1310 W. Sixth St. in Westlake, operated as a restaurant at the location from 1923 to 2020, but the original building, which was designed to resemble a railcar, was first used as the restaurant a few blocks away beginning in 1921.
The property’s nomination was considered for playing an important role in Westlake and Los Angeles as a whole.
The application was prepared by Andrew Goodrich of Architectural Resources Group, which attempted to designate all of the restaurant’s buildings, including additions made in 1940, 1950, 1964 and 1982. The applicant claimed that the restaurant’s 99-year history made the it historically significant from 1921-2020.
Goodrich called the restaurants near-100 year operation, “pretty remarkable for any business, but it’s pretty impressive for a restaurant given the notoriously fickle nature of the restaurant industry.”
The Idol family operated the restaurant for the entire 99 years, evolving “from a humble eatery into an iconic local institution known for its fine dining and particularly its high quality steaks,” Goodrich noted.
The sole surviving owner of the property, Toby Idol, opposed the designation, but representatives for her successfully asked the commission to reduce the historically significant period from 1921-2020 to 1921-1934.
Idol’s late husband Wesley — who was the third-generation owner after purchasing the property from his father, who purchased the property from Wesley’s grandfather — ran the restaurant his entire adult life until becoming terminally ill, Toby Idol said. He died in 2019.
“He and I do not and never wanted our property to be designated,” Idol told commissioners. Wesley Idol left the restaurant to be run by his son, whom Toby Idol alleged “is responsible for the business’ failure.”
“He is the person who is apparently advancing this nomination because his father disinherited him for that very reason. Having killed a 100-year family tradition, he’s trying to save a shred of a legacy for himself and his ego.”
“If designated, I will be forced to board up the property and will not be able to sell it to support myself and allow for the future development of the site. I do not have the means nor the desire to restore the property or operate a restaurant,” Idol added.
Wes Idol, Wesley’s son and Toby’s stepson, called into the meeting to “wholeheartedly support the restoration of Pacific Dining Car … as a historically designated monument.”
Wes Idol began working for the restaurant in 1994 and became president in 2000, he told commissioners.
“From my great grandfather to my grandfather to my father and then to me, we all added to the development and running of this historical family legacy,” he said.
The meeting received several calls from people in support of the nomination, including many who expressed fond memories of visiting the restaurant.
Commission President Barry Milofsky reminded the callers that the commission is not able to designate uses for buildings.
“Even if we are to move this forward, it could be turned into a shoe store. We don’t have control over that … we’re really looking at just the structure, not the uses,” he said.
Milofsky motioned to have the property’s buildings that existed between 1921 and 1934 — the original dining car and the kitchen — recommended for monument status. It passed the commission unanimously and will next be considered by the Los Angeles City Council for final approval.