Victoria Station (restaurant)

Victoria Station is a chain of railroad-themed prime rib houses that was at the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, but filed for bankruptcy in 1986. The company once had some 100 locations in the U.S. and Canada, but the number has dropped to one, in Salem, Massachusetts. Other locations with the name Victoria Station may be under different management (unverified).

The concept evolved from a Cornell University Hotel School graduate project, according to original owners Bob Freeman, Peter Lee, and Dick Bradley, graduates of the school. Innovative and unique, the first restaurant was located in San Francisco. The Baby Boom generation was coming into their own, and in the early 70's was looking for casual lounges and restaurants to adopt as their own. The theme of the restaurant is loosely based on London's Victoria Station. Antique English railway artifacts provided the decor inside, but 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 an iconic 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 chain flourished, often flamboyantly, in the 1970s, as recounted in a memoir Prime Rib and Boxcars:Whatever Happened to Victoria Station? 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. Many early employees of the company saw their shares soar from a dollar a share to fourteen. This created an espirit de corps that accounted for the upbeat tone in most of the units. Many feel its peak was the culmination of a joint venture with Universal Studios that resulted in Victoria Station Universal City, a landmark on the "hill" near where Citywalk now stands. At its peak the Universal City location was among the highest grossing restaurants in the nation.

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:

• Arlington, TX (now demolished)
• Alexandria, VA (demolished - Public Storage now on site)
• 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 a former nightclub)
• 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 a BMW dealership)
• 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. McDonalds 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
• Memphis, TN
• Miami, FL (inside 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 2011)
• Universal City, CA
• Vancouver, WA
• 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)

Virginia Gardens, Florida

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

External links

• History and pictures of Victoria Station
• A book titled Prime Rib and Boxcars: Whatever Happened to Victoria Station? (ISBN 0972796622)
• Other restaurant named Victoria Station in Townsend, TN and Perth, Australia.
• The Old Spaghetti Factory and Spaghetti Warehouse are two chains with a theme similar to that of Victoria Station
• Crowne Plaza Hotel in Indianapolis has sleeping rooms constructed of real Pullman train cars
• Barstow Station, a mini-mall in Barstow, California at 34.891308°N 116.999052°W / 34.891308; -116.999052 is made up partly of old passenger cars
• Another list of restaurants with train themes
• Victoria Station Employee Reunion on MySpace.com
• An article that recalls the great beef ribs at Victoria Station]