Signs of the Times

Another in the series of observations in this crashing economy.

Last night the Mrs. and I decided to go to a favorite restaurant for dinner - The Old Spaghetti Factory which is located in the former Union Pacific Depot at the Fullerton train station. The place is usually jammed full with long waits for tables (unless you call ahead as we did) and I wondered if the economy would affect their Saturday night business.

Nope.

The people who were arriving when we did were getting a 40+ minute wait. (We only waited about 10 minutes since I called ahead during the drive up there.)

There were lots of large groups as well as twos and fours. Once we sat down I thought about it a bit and realized why OSF is almost recession proof. The offer good quality food and lots of it in an interesting venue at an excellent price. Quality + Quantity + Pricing + Atmosphere = Money.

The two of us had the garlic cheese bread appetizer, spaghetti dinners which include salad, desserts and drinks, and the whole thing came to only $23. You can't beat that with a stick. The high end frou-frou restaurants - you know, the ones that give you two asparagus spears on a tiny piece of fish and charge you $50 - they're gonna suffer. Places like OSF will continue to do just fine.

The other thing that makes that location interesting is the proximity to the main railroad tracks between Los Angeles and points east and south. All of the Metrolink and Amtrak Pacific Surfliners stop there, while we were finishing up the Amtrak Southwest Chief pulled in on its way to Chicago, and massive freight trains on their way to or from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles pass through the station.

Shortly after the Chief pulled out we saw the lights of a freight train coming from the east. It was a double stack freighter and came through the station on the track closest to we were standing at probably 50 mph. Those things push a lot of wind not to mention the ground shaking as the four heavy locomotives blasted by. Being only 10 feet away really amplifies the experience. For a train buff, it was pretty cool.

We may have to go back there again pretty soon.