I was yesterday years old when I learned of The Choo Choo diner. Rosanne S. sent me this photo, asking if I had ever come across it, which I hadn’t. I’m guessing those waitresses took your order and it would arrive via the model train that chugged along the inner perimeter of the counter? It’s a cute idea, but I’m wondering how the train knew whose seat to stop in front of. Or were you expected to grab your plate as it rolled past? The Choo Choo was at 6324 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley. I don’t know when it opened, but it closed in 1962. If this photo is anything to go by, it was a popular place for kids parties, so now I’m imagining the din of excited children. I doubt this was the spot was your best choice if you wanted to go somewhere for a quiet coffee and donut.

Mary Ann VS says: “I went there as a kid! I grew up in The Valley. You ordered and that train magically stopped right in front of you! Wonderful and delightful!!!”

Leonard W. says: “It opened some time in 1954.”

Don G says: “From my small child memory, there was a raised platform, probably from where this photo was taken, where the manager or whatever he was (my dad called him the “engineer”) sat with his hand on the transformer which controlled the trains. After you took your seat on a stool at the counter, he would send a train with an order card and pencil on one of the train’s flatcars which you would fill out to place your order. He would then send the train on to the order taker at the kitchen counter. When your order was ready, it was put onto an open flatcar and the “engineer” would send the train to stop so the flatcar with your order was exactly in front of you. It was so fun they could have served you cat food on a hard roll and it would still have been a great experience. I wouldn’t call it a place where you could enjoy a quiet cup of coffee. Whenever we went it was packed with kids with the accompanying din. It was so fun. Certainly not without technical flaws. There were many times I saw French fries fall off the flatcar onto the tracks and derail the train, or at least make a mess. I wouldn’t have wanted to work there to have to clean off the debris and grease from the trains and tracks at the end of each day. But it was a brilliantly fun idea and brought those of us who loved trains and burgers a lot of childhood joy and some unforgettable memories.”