Monday, June 01, 2009
Victoria Station Restaurant
Tom Blake published a book about his eight years as a key executive in the 1970s for the Victoria Station restaurant chain. The title: Prime Rib & Boxcars. Whatever Happened to Victoria Station? http://www.vicsta.com/
It's a very personal story of the one-time fastest growing company in the United States (1970-1975), the darling of Wall Street, and how a greedy expansion policy drove it into bankruptcy. Blake speaks as a true insider and doesn't mince words. He takes responsibility for some of the problems, but certainly not all.
A must read. Go to http://www.vicsta.com/ for more information and to order the book.
It's a very personal story of the one-time fastest growing company in the United States (1970-1975), the darling of Wall Street, and how a greedy expansion policy drove it into bankruptcy. Blake speaks as a true insider and doesn't mince words. He takes responsibility for some of the problems, but certainly not all.
A must read. Go to http://www.vicsta.com/ for more information and to order the book.
Prime Rib & Boxcars. Whatever Happened To Victoria Station:
Author and columnist Tom Blake is the author of "Prime Rib & Boxcars. Whatever Happened to Victoria Station?" a memoir about the 1970s popular restaurant chain. Here is the preface page as described by Herb Caen, the famed columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle."Funny about restaurants. Some open with great fanfare and
never get off the ground, whereas others open quietly and
are eternally crowded from the first hour onward. The latter
phenomenon would seem to be the happy fate of Victoria
Station, an imaginative collection of seven freight cars
grouped around a “station” entrance at the foot of Broadway.
?The wheels parked outside attest to the types inside: Ferraris,
Alfas, Jags, Fiats and MG’s. Those old freight cars are
there to stay but the young owners are obviously going places. . . ."
—Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle, January, 1970
never get off the ground, whereas others open quietly and
are eternally crowded from the first hour onward. The latter
phenomenon would seem to be the happy fate of Victoria
Station, an imaginative collection of seven freight cars
grouped around a “station” entrance at the foot of Broadway.
?The wheels parked outside attest to the types inside: Ferraris,
Alfas, Jags, Fiats and MG’s. Those old freight cars are
there to stay but the young owners are obviously going places. . . ."
—Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle, January, 1970
For information about the book: http://www.vicsta.com/
