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VICTORIA STATION — At last report, there was only one outlet remaining of this once-proud chain...in Salem, MA stands the last of the railroad-themed restaurants known as Victoria Station.  The first of them, which was opened in San Francisco in the late sixties, was an outgrowth of a graduate project by three students at Cornell University Hotel School, Bob Freeman, Peter Lee and Dick Bradley.  Their new eatery, colorfully decorated with pieces of old trains and London-style phone booths, caught on big and soon there were approximately a hundred of them in existence, including the one I frequented.  It was at Universal Studios, not far from where the famous studio tour commenced.  The Victoria Station there was huge and it was said to be one of the top-grossing restaurants in America.  Based on the crowds, I wasn't surprised to hear that.

The specialty of a Victoria Station was prime rib but you could also get a steak or ribs or roast chicken or Shrimp Victoria, which was like scampi but without vast amounts of garlic.  The food was all pretty good but I recall some long, long waits for a table and if you weren't going on the Universal Tour (and I never was) the parking could be quite inconvenient.  It was a place I'd never choose to dine but business associates kept asking me to meet them there for meals, and its banquet room housed many a party I felt I had to attend.

One nice feature of that Victoria Station (and perhaps others) was the employee morale.  The folks who worked there liked working there, and the chain was often written up as one of the more benevolent employers in the country, offering its workers stock options and other unusual benefits.  In keeping with the railroad theme, Johnny Cash did their commercials.

So what happened to this successful chain?  Its one-time Director of Marketing, Tom Blake, authored a whole book on the subject that charged arrogance and mismanagement at the company's highest levels destroyed the business.  News reports at the time seemed to substantiate his view, which was a shame.  All the folks who worked there seemed so happy to be working there.

TRACTON'S — Here's everything I remember about Tracton's, a restaurant my family frequented for many years: It was on La Cienega down near Rodeo, across from what was then a Fedco membership department store (we were members) and is now a Target.  The place was friendly inside and they served big hunks of meat.  I usually had the chopped steak, which was basically just a very thick hamburger patty.  I also remember an odd argument with a waitress once when my aunt asked for a doggie bag so she could take the rest of her dinner home and the waitress accused her of not having a dog.  Which was true.  My aunt didn't have a dog but what business was that of the waitress?

I also remember that when Tracton's closed, the building became one of those places that's a different restaurant every time you drive by as one after another goes out of business.  Finally, one closed down and stayed closed for a couple years until the building was torn down.  And that's all I remember about it.

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HOGIE HUT — The best submarine sandwiches in town used to come from a place called Hogie Hut which was located near (not on) the Southeast corner of La Cienega and 3rd Street.  I lived about a block away for a while so I was often in there having the meatball sub, which was quite delicious and filling.  Half of one could feed you for a day but alas, meatball sandwiches don't keep well.  There never seemed to be any point taking half home so I'd always overeat, stuffing down a half more than I really wanted.

Their house special was a thing called the God-father, which was quite an array of Italian cold cuts, lettuce, tomato and provolone.  All of their sandwiches were available in lengths of three feet and above for parties but the manager there told me once that most people who bought by the yard ordered the God-father.  He told me this as his staff was wheeling out the components of one that would look like it was eight feet long at some party.  Of course, it was really eight foot-long sandwiches lined up and cut into even smaller pieces than eight.

I was surprised when this one went away.  It seemed like an institution there on Third Street, right across from the Souplantation.  There were times I'd be sitting in the Souplantation eating soup and healthier fare, looking out the window and thinking how nice a big meatball sub, bulging with meatballs and dripping cheese and marinara sauce would be.

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