Though he sold Vickman's restaurant at 1228 E. 8th Street in 1986 (the restaurant closed in 1993), Harry B. Vickman and his wife Barbara will forever be known as the faces of Vickman's Feed Bag (or 'Vickman's' as it became known) restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Opening at 3am, Vickman's early morning catered to workers from the surrounding Produce District and later in the day became populated by Angelenos from all over the city who made Vickman's a destination. The bakery was legendary and their kiwi tarts helped popularize the fruit in the United States in the mid-1960s.
Vickman's dated back to 1919 when Harry's father Mordecai Vickman, then working for Baron Long at the Vernon Country Club, pooled $3000 with fellow VCC waiter James Ward and opened V & W Restaurant at 1st & Spring. Vickman's moved to their 8th Street location in 1930, Harry joined the operation in 1940 and his wife Barbara began working there in 1970 when Mordecai passed away.
