L.A. County Hospital Food Investigation

Los Angeles County Hospital. CC: Peggy Hooper.

At lunchtime on a day in October 1935, Supervisor John Anson Ford left his Broadway Street ad agency office and headed one block north to Clifton's Brookdale at 648 S. Broadway St. He walked into the dining room and introduced himself to the owner.

Ford, who had been in office for about a year, appealed to Clifford Clinton to help. The Los Angeles County Hospital, located in Boyle Heights, was part of Ford's district. Hospital administrators had complained to the supervisor about cost overruns and the quality of the food service at the hospital. Ford asked Clifford to survey the hospital's food service to address numerous patient and staff complaints about inedible and uneaten food. Clifford agreed to lead a committee.

1937 House Bombing

Shortly after midnight on Oct. 29, 1937, a thunderous explosion ripped through the kitchen floor of Clifford Clinton's Los Feliz home as his three children slept in second-floor bedrooms. A tin can pineapple-type bomb attached to a floor joist blew a large hole in the outside wall of the house. Luckily, no one was hurt.

Opening a Friendly Door

After opening his first Los Angeles cafeteria on Olive Street in 1931, Clifford Clinton kept a poem on his desk he believed encapsulated his feelings about his new business venture. It was called, "Doors":