L.A. Rail: Best party venue ever

This isn't strictly food-related, but I'm often asked about cool places for weddings, parties and bar mitzvahs. So I had to share a few photos from Saturday's vintage birthday party hosted by Chris Nichols, of Los Angeles Magazine, the L.A. Conservancy's Modern Committee and the Restaurant Historical Society. Chris, who always
has his birthdays in amazing historic spaces with elaborate theme invitations, rented a beautiful art deco train car from LARail, hidden on a private track behind Union Station. Philippe's catered with French dip sandwiches, and period cocktails (no Cosmos, please!) were dispensed in the bar car. These private train cars, including one with sleeper berths, are available to charter for actual trips (starting at $4700 for San Diego) or for parties on the tracks, which are considerably less. Even when they're not going anywhere, these trains are awfully swank, and Chris's guests were nearly all attired in lavish period couture, although the effect was sometimes compromised when guests frequently consulted their Blackberries and Iphones.
(Check out the great train mural in the bar car at left)