Clifton's Cafeteria
Encyclopedia
Clifton's Cafeteria, once part of a chain of Clifton's restaurants, is the oldest surviving cafeteria
style eatery in Los Angeles, California
, and the largest public cafeteria in the world. Founded in 1931 by Clifford Clinton
, the name was created by combining the first half of "Clifford" and the last half of "Clinton" to produce the name "Clifton's". The design of the restaurants included exotic decor and facades that were "kitschy and theatrical".
The second Clifton's facility opened in 1935. In 1939 its name was changed to "Clifton's Brookdale", and as the sole survivor of the multiple branches over 79 years, it is now known as "Clifton's Cafeteria" or more familiarly simply as "Clifton's". Located at Broadway
and 7th near Los Angeles' downtown
theater district, it has remained in operation for 74 years.
The restaurant chain was noted for each facility having its own theme, and for helping out those who could not afford to pay. This approach to business reflected the owner's Christian
ethos—he never turned anyone away hungry and maintained a precedent set by the first restaurant on Olive Street, known as "Clifton's Golden Rule".
In 1946, Clifford and his wife Nelda sold their cafeteria interests to their three younger Clinton children, and retired in order devote their attentions to a Meals for Millions, a non-profit charitable organization he founded in the wake of World War II
to distribute food to millions of starving and malnourished people throughout the world.
Clifton's Brookdale was sold to nightclub operator Andrew Meieran on September 21, 2010. Meieran stated that he intended renovations that would preserve the food and unique atmosphere of the establishment, and that they were re-introducing some of the restaurant's 1950-style recipes. During the first phase of planned renovations in 2011, the cafeteria closed on Mondays and Tuesdays during the summer, but remained open other days. In September 2011, the cafeteria began its second phase of renovations and closed for an expected three-to-six month, $3-million rehabilatation, in preparation for a 2012 re-opening. Their bakery remains open, during the restaurant closure.
in 1888 and purchased the Southern Hotel and its dining room in downtown Los Angeles. David's son Edmond settled in San Francisco, where he and his wife Gertrude became co-owners of a group of cafeteria-style restaurants named Dennets.
Clifford, one of Edmond's five children, learned the restaurant trade while working in his father's restaurants. Along with 2 partners, he bought his father's interest in Dennets. Due to differences in opinion over business practices, he relinquished ownership to his partners and moved to Los Angeles in 1931.
Establishing his restaurants during the height of the Great Depression
, and using knowledge gained from working in his family's cafeteria chain in San Francisco, Clinton made a point to never turn anyone away, even if they had no money, seeking to average only a half-cent profit per customer. During one 90-day period, 10,000 people ate free before he was able to open an emergency "Penny Caveteria" in a basement (hence the modified name) a few blocks away to feed two million patrons during the next two years.
and classic American
fare such as roast beef
, brisket
, meatloaf
, and turkey, with a wide assortment of traditional sides
. Revolving daily specials often include a fish plate and a fried chicken plate, both of which come with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and in keeping with the eatery’s retro spirit, there is also a selection of Jello salad
s, soups, vegetables, breads and classic desserts such as cakes and pies. Clifton's desserts were voted "Best Desserts" by L.A. Downtown News
' readers in 2001.
In 1939, the founders of Clifton’s remodeled the restaurant to change it from a conventional dining establishment to a more exotic setting and renamed it "Clifton's Pacific Seas". The exterior was decorated with waterfalls, geysers and tropical foliage. Brightly illuminated in the evening, it became a mecca for tourists and Angelenos alike, often being referred to in the same category as other prominent landmarks of downtown Los Angeles, such as Angels Flight
, Olvera Street
, and Pershing Square. Initially, the Los Angeles Architectural Commission was so unhappy with the facade and the decor that they threatened suit.
One of the many interior themes of the Pacific Seas included "The Garden" as a setting done in the period A.D. 33. The Garden was first conceived by Clifford E. Clinton in 1943 as an interpretation of the famous artist Heinrich Hofmann's
Christ in Gethsemane. Clinton commissioned sculptor Marshall Lakey to fashion a life-sized figure of Christ, kneeling in prayer. The mural behind Christ, depicting the city of Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane was painted by artist Einar C. Petersen.
Clifton's Pacific Seas was visited by Jack Kerouac
who wrote in On The Road
of visiting "a cafeteria downtown which was decorated to look like a grotto, with metal tits spurting everywhere and great impersonal stone buttockses belonging to deities and soapy Neptune. People ate lugubrious meals around the waterfalls, their faces green with marine sorrow".
In 1960, even though the three-story structure with its cascading waterfall facade had become a landmark over the preceding 29 years, the original Clifton's Pacific Seas was closed, the building was razed, and the location is now a parking lot.
Having himself spent time as a youth the Santa Cruz Mountains
not far from the Brookdale Lodge, he chose to redecorate the facility in 1939 to pattern it after the lodge. Working with rock sculptor Francois Scotti, Clifford created a 20 foot waterfall "cascading into a quiet stream" which then "meandered" through the dining room, past faux redwood trees used to conceal the room's steel columns. Renowned Los Angeles muralist, Einar C. Petersen, created a life size forest on canvas to cover one wall, and a small chapel was set among the crags to fulfill Clifford's desire to feed the soul as well as the body of depression
-weary Angelinos. After refurbishment, he renamed the location "Clifton's Brookdale". The interior includes a stuffed moose head, animated raccoons, and a fishing bear.
The restaurant is described as one of the last vestiges of Old Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, with an interior that looks like a "slightly down-at-the-heels Disney version of a twilight forest". In June 2006, co-owner Robert Clinton took final steps to purchase the Broadway building they had been otherwise leasing for 71 years. With over 600 seats on three floors, and known today simply as "Clifton's Cafeteria", it is noted as the oldest cafeteria in Los Angeles and the largest public cafeteria in the world. The third floor includes a party room, a banquet room, and lots of pictures of Clifford and Nelda Clinton. There is a secret room on an upper floor. There is also another set of restrooms down the stairs in the bottom basement. The restaurant's busiest period was in the 1940s, with as many as 10,000 customers forming lines down Broadway, but as of 2009 Clifton's still regularly serves 1,800 to 2,000 daily. The restaurant can be seen in the Edmond O'Brien
1950's version of D.O.A.
In September 2010, Clifton's Brookdale was sold to nightclub operator Andrew Meieran, who stated that he intends to preserve the food and unique atmosphere of the establishment. On September 26, 2011, the cafeteria closed for remodeling, planned to last three to six months, during which the restaurant will get a new kitchen and a redesign of the serving area; the bakery remains open.
in Lakewood, California
, would in 1956 become the location for the third Clifton's location. In 2001, after 44 years of service, the restaurant closed the branch due to a business slowdown.
at the Eastland Shopping Center. In 1978 Clifton's moved to the West Covina Fashion Plaza, now called Westfield West Covina
, where it stayed in business until 2003.
and renamed itself "The Greenery" for its garden theme. In 2003 the branch closed, leaving "Clifton's Brookdale" at 7th and Broadway as the last of what was once an 8-store chain.
film Fight Club
were shot in the Silver Spoon's location.
across from the main entrance to Leisure World
. For the 12 years of its operation, senior citizens accounted for 90% of the restaurant's clientele. It closed in 1999, to the dismay of local long-time patrons from the community who frequented it as a gathering place.
. It remained at the mall until closing down in 1984.
: "...Clifton’s Cafeteria, that Depression-era palace of retroville." Los Angeles Downtown News
: "...Clifton's Cafeteria, the kitschy cool L.A. establishment that has been around since 1931".
In Los Angeles Off the Beaten Path, author Lark Ellen Gould describes Clifton's as "part national park kitsch, part Disney nightmare, part Grandma's house with fake squirrels, taxidermied deer, stuffed moose, and faux waterfalls", and it is described by Los Angeles Times
as one of the last vestiges of Old Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, with an interior that looks like a "slightly down-at-the-heels Disney version of a twilight forest".
Huell Howser
, host and producer of the KCET
series California's Gold
, featured Clifford's on one of his series episodes, where in 2001 he shared "Nestled in the bustling setting of historic Broadway, Clifton's Cafeteria is truly a 'jewel in the heart of the Jewelry District'". Howser returned in 2009, only to find much was (of course) still the same.
Benji Lanyado of The Guardian
lists Clifton's as among LA's top 10 cult locations and notes that it "survives as an astonishing woodland fantasia".
Michael Stern of Roadfood wrote that the surviving location of Clifton's was "an amazing place to eat", with a food line that was "immense", noting that choices included fried chicken with buttermilk biscuits, oxtail stew, turkey and dressing, and side dishes ranging from whipped or fried potatoes to 'cranberry jewel gelatin'. He wrote that for those with "fond memories of school lunch", Clifton's offers simple fare such as "grilled cheese sandwiches cooked crisp and pressed flat as a pancake". He remarked that its current location was in a part of Los Angeles that was once fashionable and wrote, "Once you arrive at Clifton's, though, you can feel the magic that used to be".
The restaurant's uniqueness has also found its way into many books and novels, including The Long Embrace, Violin Dreams, Don't spit on my corner, A Few Good Women, Deep Heet!, and Remain Silent, among many others. In the novel Strange Angel, author George Pendel describes Clifton's as "a bizarre experience", and a "kitsch cafeteria provided millons of low-priced meals to the out-of-work and destitute during the darkest days of the depression", and that it provided a "surreal sanctuary from a broken world".
author Ray Bradbury
ate at Clifton's as a struggling writer, often taking advantage of the policy that anyone who couldn't afford to pay didn't have to, and in the 1930s
attended meetings of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, which met for years at the restaurant. Author/agent/fan/collector Forrest J Ackerman
later wrote, "...we moved to Clifton's Cafeteria, a feature of which was their free limeade and lime juice. Some of the members who didn't have more than a nickel or dime to spend guzzled a lot of that free juice.") Bradbury celebrated his 89th birthday at the downtown eatery in 2009.
Cafeteria
A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...
style eatery in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and the largest public cafeteria in the world. Founded in 1931 by Clifford Clinton
Clifford Clinton
Clifford E. Clinton was a Californian restaurateur who founded Meals for Millions, one of two parent organizations of Freedom from Hunger, in 1946....
, the name was created by combining the first half of "Clifford" and the last half of "Clinton" to produce the name "Clifton's". The design of the restaurants included exotic decor and facades that were "kitschy and theatrical".
The second Clifton's facility opened in 1935. In 1939 its name was changed to "Clifton's Brookdale", and as the sole survivor of the multiple branches over 79 years, it is now known as "Clifton's Cafeteria" or more familiarly simply as "Clifton's". Located at Broadway
Broadway (Los Angeles)
Broadway is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California, that runs from Lincoln Heights on the Eastside, through Chinatown, passing through Central Plaza and the Dragon Gate, the Los Angeles Civic Center, passing the Los Angeles Times building at First Street, and Broadway's historic commercial...
and 7th near Los Angeles' downtown
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
theater district, it has remained in operation for 74 years.
The restaurant chain was noted for each facility having its own theme, and for helping out those who could not afford to pay. This approach to business reflected the owner's Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
ethos—he never turned anyone away hungry and maintained a precedent set by the first restaurant on Olive Street, known as "Clifton's Golden Rule".
In 1946, Clifford and his wife Nelda sold their cafeteria interests to their three younger Clinton children, and retired in order devote their attentions to a Meals for Millions, a non-profit charitable organization he founded in the wake of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to distribute food to millions of starving and malnourished people throughout the world.
Clifton's Brookdale was sold to nightclub operator Andrew Meieran on September 21, 2010. Meieran stated that he intended renovations that would preserve the food and unique atmosphere of the establishment, and that they were re-introducing some of the restaurant's 1950-style recipes. During the first phase of planned renovations in 2011, the cafeteria closed on Mondays and Tuesdays during the summer, but remained open other days. In September 2011, the cafeteria began its second phase of renovations and closed for an expected three-to-six month, $3-million rehabilatation, in preparation for a 2012 re-opening. Their bakery remains open, during the restaurant closure.
History
The Clinton family's five generations as California restaurateurs began when David Harrison Clinton came to Los Angeles from MissouriMissouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
in 1888 and purchased the Southern Hotel and its dining room in downtown Los Angeles. David's son Edmond settled in San Francisco, where he and his wife Gertrude became co-owners of a group of cafeteria-style restaurants named Dennets.
Clifford, one of Edmond's five children, learned the restaurant trade while working in his father's restaurants. Along with 2 partners, he bought his father's interest in Dennets. Due to differences in opinion over business practices, he relinquished ownership to his partners and moved to Los Angeles in 1931.
Establishing his restaurants during the height of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and using knowledge gained from working in his family's cafeteria chain in San Francisco, Clinton made a point to never turn anyone away, even if they had no money, seeking to average only a half-cent profit per customer. During one 90-day period, 10,000 people ate free before he was able to open an emergency "Penny Caveteria" in a basement (hence the modified name) a few blocks away to feed two million patrons during the next two years.
Fare
The restaurants have always been cafeteria style with each dish sold on a pay-per-item basis. Featured are fountain softdrinksFountain drink
A fountain drink is a soft drink, prepared locally from a supply of flavored sweetened syrup, carbon dioxide, and water, either manually, in a device called a soda fountain, or in a vending machine which is essentially an automated soda fountain that is operated using a soda gun...
and classic American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fare such as roast beef
Roast beef
Roast beef is a dish of beef which is roasted in an oven. Essentially prepared as a main meal, the leftovers can be and are often served within sandwiches and sometimes is used to make hash...
, brisket
Brisket
Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the eight beef primal cuts. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectorals. As cattle do not have collar bones, these muscles support about 60% of the body weight of standing/moving...
, meatloaf
Meatloaf
Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat formed into a loaf shape and baked or smoked. The loaf shape is formed by either cooking it in a loaf pan, or forming it by hand on a flat baking pan...
, and turkey, with a wide assortment of traditional sides
Side dish
A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal.-Common types:...
. Revolving daily specials often include a fish plate and a fried chicken plate, both of which come with mashed potatoes and vegetables, and in keeping with the eatery’s retro spirit, there is also a selection of Jello salad
Jello salad
Jell-O salad, also called gelatin salad, jelly salad, and congealed salad is the common name for salad made with flavored gelatin, fruit and sometimes grated carrots or, more rarely, other vegetables...
s, soups, vegetables, breads and classic desserts such as cakes and pies. Clifton's desserts were voted "Best Desserts" by L.A. Downtown News
Los Angeles Downtown News
The Los Angeles Downtown News is a free weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, serving the Downtown Los Angeles area.The newspaper focuses on general news with an emphasis on real estate and business...
' readers in 2001.
Founding branch: Clifton's Pacific Seas
In 1931, Clinton leased a "distressed" cafeteria location at 618 South Olive Street in Los Angeles and founded what his customers referred to as "The Cafeteria of the Golden Rule". Patrons were obliged to pay only what they felt was fair, according to a neon sign that flashed "PAY WHAT YOU WISH."In 1939, the founders of Clifton’s remodeled the restaurant to change it from a conventional dining establishment to a more exotic setting and renamed it "Clifton's Pacific Seas". The exterior was decorated with waterfalls, geysers and tropical foliage. Brightly illuminated in the evening, it became a mecca for tourists and Angelenos alike, often being referred to in the same category as other prominent landmarks of downtown Los Angeles, such as Angels Flight
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet ....
, Olvera Street
Olvera Street
Olvera Street is in the oldest part of Downtown Los Angeles, California, and is part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. Many Latinos refer to it as "La Placita Olvera." Circa 1911 it was described as Sonora Town....
, and Pershing Square. Initially, the Los Angeles Architectural Commission was so unhappy with the facade and the decor that they threatened suit.
One of the many interior themes of the Pacific Seas included "The Garden" as a setting done in the period A.D. 33. The Garden was first conceived by Clifford E. Clinton in 1943 as an interpretation of the famous artist Heinrich Hofmann's
Heinrich Hofmann
Johann Michael Ferdinand Heinrich Hofmann was a German painter of the late 19th to early 20th century. He was the uncle of the German painter Ludwig von Hofmann. He was born in Darmstadt, Germany and died in Dresden, Germany...
Christ in Gethsemane. Clinton commissioned sculptor Marshall Lakey to fashion a life-sized figure of Christ, kneeling in prayer. The mural behind Christ, depicting the city of Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane was painted by artist Einar C. Petersen.
Clifton's Pacific Seas was visited by Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
who wrote in On The Road
On the Road
On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...
of visiting "a cafeteria downtown which was decorated to look like a grotto, with metal tits spurting everywhere and great impersonal stone buttockses belonging to deities and soapy Neptune. People ate lugubrious meals around the waterfalls, their faces green with marine sorrow".
In 1960, even though the three-story structure with its cascading waterfall facade had become a landmark over the preceding 29 years, the original Clifton's Pacific Seas was closed, the building was razed, and the location is now a parking lot.
Surviving branch: Clifton's Brookdale
With a still-existing motto of "Dine Free Unless Delighted", Clifton's second Golden Rule was opened in 1935 when Clifford Clinton purchased the lease of the former Boos Brothers Cafeteria at 648 So Broadway Street in Los Angeles.Having himself spent time as a youth the Santa Cruz Mountains
Santa Cruz Mountains
The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central California, United States. They form a ridge along the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco, separating the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco Bay and the Santa Clara Valley, and continuing south,...
not far from the Brookdale Lodge, he chose to redecorate the facility in 1939 to pattern it after the lodge. Working with rock sculptor Francois Scotti, Clifford created a 20 foot waterfall "cascading into a quiet stream" which then "meandered" through the dining room, past faux redwood trees used to conceal the room's steel columns. Renowned Los Angeles muralist, Einar C. Petersen, created a life size forest on canvas to cover one wall, and a small chapel was set among the crags to fulfill Clifford's desire to feed the soul as well as the body of depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-weary Angelinos. After refurbishment, he renamed the location "Clifton's Brookdale". The interior includes a stuffed moose head, animated raccoons, and a fishing bear.
The restaurant is described as one of the last vestiges of Old Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, with an interior that looks like a "slightly down-at-the-heels Disney version of a twilight forest". In June 2006, co-owner Robert Clinton took final steps to purchase the Broadway building they had been otherwise leasing for 71 years. With over 600 seats on three floors, and known today simply as "Clifton's Cafeteria", it is noted as the oldest cafeteria in Los Angeles and the largest public cafeteria in the world. The third floor includes a party room, a banquet room, and lots of pictures of Clifford and Nelda Clinton. There is a secret room on an upper floor. There is also another set of restrooms down the stairs in the bottom basement. The restaurant's busiest period was in the 1940s, with as many as 10,000 customers forming lines down Broadway, but as of 2009 Clifton's still regularly serves 1,800 to 2,000 daily. The restaurant can be seen in the Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
1950's version of D.O.A.
D.O.A. (1950 film)
D.O.A. , a film noir drama film directed by Rudolph Maté, is considered a classic of the genre. The frantically paced plot revolves around a doomed man's quest to find out who has poisoned him – and why – before he dies.Leo C...
In September 2010, Clifton's Brookdale was sold to nightclub operator Andrew Meieran, who stated that he intends to preserve the food and unique atmosphere of the establishment. On September 26, 2011, the cafeteria closed for remodeling, planned to last three to six months, during which the restaurant will get a new kitchen and a redesign of the serving area; the bakery remains open.
Lakewood
In January 1955, it was announced that the Lakewood CenterLakewood Center
Lakewood Center is a super-regional shopping mall in Lakewood, California. It is anchored by JCPenney, Macy's , Forever 21, and Target. Macy's formerly operated a . store in the mall, but closed due to the Federated-May merger. At , the Lakewood Center is ranked among the largest retail shopping...
in Lakewood, California
Lakewood, California
Lakewood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 80,048 at the 2010 census. It is bordered by Long Beach on the west and south, Bellflower on the north, Cerritos on the northeast, Cypress on the east, and Hawaiian Gardens on the southeast. Major thoroughfares...
, would in 1956 become the location for the third Clifton's location. In 2001, after 44 years of service, the restaurant closed the branch due to a business slowdown.
West Covina
In 1958, a Clifton's opened in West Covina, CaliforniaWest Covina, California
West Covina is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. Located some east of Downtown Los Angeles in the eastern San Gabriel Valley, it is a mostly middle class suburb of Los Angeles...
at the Eastland Shopping Center. In 1978 Clifton's moved to the West Covina Fashion Plaza, now called Westfield West Covina
Westfield West Covina
Westfield West Covina, formerly Plaza at West Covina, and before that West Covina Fashion Plaza and West Covina Plaza, is a large regional shopping mall in West Covina, California, owned by the Westfield Group...
, where it stayed in business until 2003.
The Greenery
In 1978, after moving from its West Covina location due to an expiring lease, Clifton's relocated to inside the Westfield Shoppingtown West CovinaWestfield West Covina
Westfield West Covina, formerly Plaza at West Covina, and before that West Covina Fashion Plaza and West Covina Plaza, is a large regional shopping mall in West Covina, California, owned by the Westfield Group...
and renamed itself "The Greenery" for its garden theme. In 2003 the branch closed, leaving "Clifton's Brookdale" at 7th and Broadway as the last of what was once an 8-store chain.
Century City
In 1965, ground was broken in Century City, California, for a 1966 opening of a new branch. The outlet operated for over 20 years before closing at the end of 1986.Silver Spoon
In 1975, the company opened "Clifford's Silver Spoon" at 517 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles. The Marshall Lakey statue of Christ, which had been placed in storage upon closure of Pacific Seas in 1960, was returned to display when a new Garden was created in the new location. In 1997 the Silver Spoon location was closed and in 1998 the Lakey statue of Christ was relocated to The Holyland Exhibition in Los Angeles. Scenes for the Brad PittBrad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
film Fight Club
Fight Club (film)
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...
were shot in the Silver Spoon's location.
Woodland Hills
Clifton's opened a branch in Woodland Hills, California. It is also closed.Laguna Hills
In 1987, Clifton's opened a branch in Laguna Hills, CaliforniaLaguna Hills, California
Laguna Hills is a city located in southern Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods—are similarly named.-Geography:...
across from the main entrance to Leisure World
Laguna Woods Village
Laguna Woods Village is an age-restricted community for active mature adults aged 55 and over. The development, formerly known as Leisure World, was developed by Ross Cortese.-Location:...
. For the 12 years of its operation, senior citizens accounted for 90% of the restaurant's clientele. It closed in 1999, to the dismay of local long-time patrons from the community who frequented it as a gathering place.
San Bernardino
In 1974 Clifton's opened a branch at the Inland Center Mall in San Bernardino, CaliforniaSan Bernardino, California
San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...
. It remained at the mall until closing down in 1984.
Reception
The restaurant has made an impression on many who have visited. LA WeeklyLA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
: "...Clifton’s Cafeteria, that Depression-era palace of retroville." Los Angeles Downtown News
Los Angeles Downtown News
The Los Angeles Downtown News is a free weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, serving the Downtown Los Angeles area.The newspaper focuses on general news with an emphasis on real estate and business...
: "...Clifton's Cafeteria, the kitschy cool L.A. establishment that has been around since 1931".
In Los Angeles Off the Beaten Path, author Lark Ellen Gould describes Clifton's as "part national park kitsch, part Disney nightmare, part Grandma's house with fake squirrels, taxidermied deer, stuffed moose, and faux waterfalls", and it is described by Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
as one of the last vestiges of Old Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, with an interior that looks like a "slightly down-at-the-heels Disney version of a twilight forest".
Huell Howser
Huell Howser
Huell Burnley Howser is an American television personality best known for California's Gold, his travel show for the Los Angeles based KCET.-Early career:...
, host and producer of the KCET
KCET
KCET, channel 28, is an independent, non-commercial public television station licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KCET's studio is located on West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is atop Mount Wilson. Al Jerome is the current CEO and President, serving since 1996.KCET was...
series California's Gold
California's Gold
California's Gold is a public television travel program that explores the numerous natural, cultural and historical wonders of the Golden State. The show, now in its 17th year, is produced and hosted by Huell Howser...
, featured Clifford's on one of his series episodes, where in 2001 he shared "Nestled in the bustling setting of historic Broadway, Clifton's Cafeteria is truly a 'jewel in the heart of the Jewelry District'". Howser returned in 2009, only to find much was (of course) still the same.
Benji Lanyado of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
lists Clifton's as among LA's top 10 cult locations and notes that it "survives as an astonishing woodland fantasia".
Michael Stern of Roadfood wrote that the surviving location of Clifton's was "an amazing place to eat", with a food line that was "immense", noting that choices included fried chicken with buttermilk biscuits, oxtail stew, turkey and dressing, and side dishes ranging from whipped or fried potatoes to 'cranberry jewel gelatin'. He wrote that for those with "fond memories of school lunch", Clifton's offers simple fare such as "grilled cheese sandwiches cooked crisp and pressed flat as a pancake". He remarked that its current location was in a part of Los Angeles that was once fashionable and wrote, "Once you arrive at Clifton's, though, you can feel the magic that used to be".
The restaurant's uniqueness has also found its way into many books and novels, including The Long Embrace, Violin Dreams, Don't spit on my corner, A Few Good Women, Deep Heet!, and Remain Silent, among many others. In the novel Strange Angel, author George Pendel describes Clifton's as "a bizarre experience", and a "kitsch cafeteria provided millons of low-priced meals to the out-of-work and destitute during the darkest days of the depression", and that it provided a "surreal sanctuary from a broken world".
In popular culture
Science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
author Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
ate at Clifton's as a struggling writer, often taking advantage of the policy that anyone who couldn't afford to pay didn't have to, and in the 1930s
1930s
File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: Dorothea Lange's photo of the homeless Florence Thompson show the effects of the Great Depression; Due to the economic collapse, the farms become dry and the Dust Bowl spreads through America; The Battle of Wuhan during the Second Sino-Japanese...
attended meetings of the Los Angeles Science Fiction Society, which met for years at the restaurant. Author/agent/fan/collector Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan...
later wrote, "...we moved to Clifton's Cafeteria, a feature of which was their free limeade and lime juice. Some of the members who didn't have more than a nickel or dime to spend guzzled a lot of that free juice.") Bradbury celebrated his 89th birthday at the downtown eatery in 2009.