At least three Union Pacific menus showed San Francisco’s Nob Hill. I’ve previously presented two of them, including one dated 1957 (though I’ve seen this photo on a 1950 menu) and one dated 1963 (whose photo I’ve seen on a 1959 menu). I previously listed the third one as “missing menu,” but in fact, I acquired that menu in late 2020 and forget to post it here last July when I next posted UP items. Since then, I’ve acquired a second one and so will post both today.
Click image to download a 1.1-MB PDF of this menu.
The first is a lunch menu for a “special train to Fresno” for the International Federation of Cotton and Allied Textiles Industries. Although I call this a Union Pacific menu based on the design, this was clearly used on the Southern Pacific.
Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this menu.
The second example is a 1965 dinner menu for the City of San Francisco. Like the previous menu, this one is also marked for Southern Pacific, namely with the statement listing “T.B. Lochhead, Manager, System Dining Car Operations, Southern Pacific Lines, Oakland, California.”
The interior has a logo for “Festival USA ’66,” which was not a specific festival but an effort by a short-lived agency called the United States Travel Service whose aim was to attract tourists from overseas. The menu is also marked “National Wine Week, October 23rd to 30th” and, like the previous menu, featured California red, white, and rosé wines.
Actually wouldn’t that be “Manager, System Automat & Dining Car Operations”?
All kidding aside, Lochhead (and Bob Jochner) had a difficult, and probably thankless job, trying to provide some kind of decent service while under constant pressure from up top to do more with less.