Reply To: Gulf Coast Lines China and Holloware Examples

[Bill Pollard]

Early Gulf Coast Lines dining car service is a challenge to today’s railroad historian. The June 1916 Official Guide Gulf Coast Lines entry does not mention cafe-observation cars on trains 3-4 between New Orleans and Houston. However, the GCL undated timetable (but with notice advising change of New Orleans station effective June 1, 1916), does list cafe-observation cars on trains 3-4, with the notation that dining service is under the direction of Hotel Grunewald Catering Department. The Nov 1917 Official Guide entry similarly mentions Grunewald Catering. The January 1920 Official Guide, with the railroad now under USRA control, still shows cafe-observation cars but does not indicate whether food service was being handled by the railroad or under outside contract. The 1923 Guide likewise continues to show cafe-obs cars but does not indicate any catering arrangements or whether cars were being staffed by the railroad.

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For those unfamiliar, the Hotel Grunewald was built in 1893, owned by Louis Grunewald, a German immigrant. After various expansions, the hotel was purchased by a group of New Orleans investors and renamed the Roosevelt Hotel in 1923.

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There is some speculation that this Hotel Grunewald Catering china was the original china used on the GCL cafe-observation cars when the cafe service first opened, with the Gulf Coast Lines china coming later, perhaps during or after the period of USRA operation.

Bill Pollard