The Record Collection at the Victor Cafe in Philadelphia

[Garret]

Has anyone ever seen it? Any interesting or rare oddities? The restaurant itself claims they have over 200,000 records...

Garret

[Henry]

Well, that's a new one on me. I thought I knew Philadelphia pretty well. Guess not. Here's a link: https://victorcafe.com/history . They're located at 1303 Dickinson St. in South Philadelphia, 2.5 blocks east of S. Broad, looks like maybe a mile or so below Center Square (City Hall). If anyone has been there, let us know how the food is!

[Garret]

Well, that's a new one on me. I thought I knew Philadelphia pretty well. Guess not. Here's a link: https://victorcafe.com/history . They're located at 1303 Dickinson St. in South Philadelphia, 2.5 blocks east of S. Broad, looks like maybe a mile or so below Center Square (City Hall). If anyone has been there, let us know how the food is!

I want to know about their collection. If you look at photos of the restaurant, they have some very, very interesting Victor advertising items spread throughout, so I am extremely curious about the records.

[Nat]

My father used to take my mother there in the early 30's, when they were courting, and later after they married. I went there with Dad in the 60's, but living in Seattle, I haven't had a chance to return for quite some time.

I remember that we ordered their generous plates of pasta and largely sat in silence while the music played. I requested a record by Anton van Rooy. They had it, but had to go to the "warehouse" to fetch it. When I was there, they had a chair reputed to have been Caruso's. No idea if it was authentic, or still there!

Golden memories. How I's love to go back!