Los Angeles keeps losing restaurants with a lot of history. The Pacific Dining Car, in business since 1921, burned irrevocably to the ground early the morning of March 20. It was the second or third fire there, depending on which source you believe, since the place closed in 2020 for COVID. The owners were still talking of reopening but now, there's no building on the lot to reopen.
Without evidence, people are suggesting one or more of the fires can be blamed on homeless people who'd been squatting in and around the vacant building. There are a lot of them in that area. I have heard people say the government shouldn't be spending "our" money on those people; that it's their fault they're homeless, they're all on drugs, they won't work, etc.
Even if that's true for some of them — and I would think very few — and even if one doesn't give an f-word about one's fellow human beings, I would think it's just common sense to help the homeless. They can lead to an increase in crime, diseases, fires like this one and all sorts of bad things. If you don't want to help them for their sake, help them for your sake.
The Pacific Dining Car was once a favorite eatery of mine but I hadn't been there in years. I had a very bad experience in one they opened in Santa Monica…the kind of experience that makes you vow never to return. I didn't go back to that one and it soon closed, no doubt because they lost me as an occasional customer. The original one — the one that burned down the other day — remained a wonderful but very expensive place to eat. There are restaurants that seem to assume everyone dining there is on an expense account and doesn't care what the bill is for food and drink. The last time I was there, I was paying and the check should have been printed on the back of an application to take a second mortgage on your house. Just not worth it.
Still, I'm sorry to see it's gone. I'm sorry the Original Pantry is closed too. I'm sorry you can no longer dine at a lot of great places to dine. If they can manage to rebuild the Pacific Dining Car and make it as good as it was, I may just have to take out that second mortgage and go.