tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28500858299332706782024-02-19T09:08:58.795-08:00How Clifton's Cafeteria Changed Los AngelesDoc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-37968538490311131662015-07-04T14:50:00.001-07:002015-07-04T14:59:27.724-07:00Book Update<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clifford Clinton</td></tr>
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You haven't heard from us for awhile because we've been hard at work finalizing the manuscript for the biography of Clifton's Cafeteria founder Clifford Clinton. We have a few updates for you about the title, a special guest introduction, and unpublished photographs and a tentative publication month.<br />
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We have finalized the book's title with our publisher, Angel City Press, as "Clifton's and Clifford Clinton: A Cafeteria and a Crusader." The book is tentatively scheduled for publication in October of 2015.<br />
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The book is a retelling of the establishment of Clifton's Cafeteria during the Great Depression in Los Angeles and the vivid life of its founder. The book is based on Clifford's unpublished memoirs, and has been authored by Edmond J. Clinton III, his grandson.<br />
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We're pleased to announce that the introduction has been written by Los Angeles historian Tom Sitton, who has published books about the progressive movement in the 1930s through '50s, the Bannings, and the history of Catalina Island.<br />
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To illustrate the story, we will include several galleries of photographs, including some that have never been published.<br />
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The publishing of the book should generally coincide with the reopening of Clifton's Brookdale at 648 S. Broadway. The cafeteria is being restored by developer Andrew Meieran, the man behind The Edison lounge at 108 W. Second St. Stay tuned.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-86110123716255449282012-08-12T15:53:00.000-07:002012-08-12T15:53:00.378-07:00Meals for MillionsClifford Clinton left the Army in 1944 and went to work for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA). With the end of World War II in sight, Clifford, Nelda, and Clifton's public relarions director Ernest Chamberlain visited Cal Tech professor and biochemist Dr. Henry Borsook, who had done work on synthetic vitamins. Clifford hoped to develop a low-cost, nutritious subsistence meal for war-torn Europe.<br />
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This product had to provide 1/3 of daily nutrition in two ounces and "must not offend any religious dietary law," Cliff later wrote in his memoirs. It also needed to cost under five cents per meal, have a long shelf life, require no refridgeration, and taste good hot or cold.<br />
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Clinton provided a $5,000 retainer and Borsook began work. In less than a year, Borsook developed Multi-Purpose Food (MPF) -- a defatted soybean product with added multivitamins.<br />
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The development of MPF was the culmination of Clifford's lifelong goal of feeding underserved and needy people. The soy product still needed a distributor, so Clifford, son Edmond, and Chamberlain visited leading humanitarian advocates, agencies, and other hunger warriors.<br />
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He met with Pearl Buck, whose 1931 novel "The Good Earth" won the Pulitzer Prize for its description on life in China. He also met with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and cooked a sample of MPF for her.<br />
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In 1946, the three men formed Meals for Millions Foundation in donated space on the fourth floor of Clifton's Brookdale on Broadway St. in downtown Los Angeles. This became the headquarters dor distribution of MPF.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-63458131215352010522012-07-29T16:19:00.002-07:002012-07-29T16:41:57.317-07:00Running for MayorBy the early 1940s, Clifford Clinton had become disenchanted with reform Mayor Fletcher Bowron, whom he had help sweep into office during the 1938 recall election that removed Mayor Frank Shaw.<br />
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Believing he had a duty to serve his country after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Clinton enlisted in the U.S. Army in February of 1942. He left Clifton's in the hands of his wife, Nelda, and Ransom Calicott, the vice president of the company. Mayor Bowron won reelection six months earlier without the support of Clinton, who believed Bowron didn't do enough to smash protected vice in Los Angeles.<br />
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After basic training, Clinton was sent to Camp Wallace near Houston where he ran the mess. He was then sent to Fort Benning, Ga., and promoted to acting food service officer. There, he improved the quality of the food and cut down on waste.<br />
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While stationed at Fort Benning, Clifford began to receive letters from Aldrich Blake, his political advisor. Blake continued to brief Clinton on Mayor Bowron, who would face another election in 1945. Blake's poll of potential voters revealed strong support for Clinton as a mayoral challenger.<br />
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Clinton initially refused. When liberal county Supervisor John Anson Ford announced he would challenge Boweon, Clinton reconsidered because he didn't believe Ford could win. Ford had lost to Mayor Shaw in 1937.<br />
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He joined the race and published a treatise of his plan for the city in a 14-page pamphlet, "The Clock Strikes Twelve: It's Time To Act." During the campaign, Clinton pushed for better leadership to deal with ongoing corruption, infrastructure, and racial <br />
polarization.<br />
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On election night, Clinton came in a distant second, losing to Bowron. Instead of being discouraged, Clinton felt relieved that he had fulfilled his political responsibilities to the city.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-378471617208650722012-05-28T15:37:00.000-07:002015-07-04T14:56:33.518-07:00Clifford Clinton Biography Is Coming SoonA 77-year-old neon tube and other artifacts being uncovered during the renovation of Clifton's Brookdale shed a new light on the restaurant's heyday in the 1930s. The discovery gives a glimpse into the origins of Clifford Clinton's cafeteria of the Golden Rule.<br />
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The <i><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-old-neon-20120526,0,7105298.story">Los Angeles Times</a></i> published a story about the neon tube and other artifacts from the cafeteria's early days found by Andrew Meieran earlier this month. The filmmaker and nightclub developer told <a href="http://blogdowntown.com/2012/05/6764-cliftons-renovation-secret-diaries-hidden">Blog Downtown</a> he'll display the artifacts for future patrons of the restaurant when its first phase reopens in about six months.<br />
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A biography of my grandfather will tell much more of the story. When I worked in the cafeteria in the early 1960s as a busboy, I carried many trays up stairs to the second-floor dining room that was surrounded by floor-to-ceiling "transparency" images of forests, mountains, and lakes. The neon tubes were mounted behind the walls to illuminate the scenes.<br />
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As Clifford's grandson, I've taken on the duty of telling the story of Clifford's extraordinary life and desire to give diners a peaceful respite along with their meal. Clifford believed the images helped achieve that.</div>
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Angels City Press has agreed to publish Clifford's biography later is year. The publication of the book may coincide with the first phase of the renovation.<br />
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The book reveals many new details about the development and history of Clifton's culled from Clifford's personal memoirs, which have been unavailable for public consumption. The book also reflects the first-hand experiences of the people who lived the story.<br />
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<b>Related:</b><br />
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<a href="http://cliffordclintonandlosangelesreform.blogspot.com/2012/03/cliftons-brookdale-reborn.html">Clifton's Brookdale Reborn</a></div>
Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-42936397924597750282012-05-12T19:17:00.004-07:002012-05-29T00:00:26.629-07:00The Founding of CIVIC<div>
Clifford Clinton placed his hand on a Bible on Feb. 16, 1937, to swear an oath to root out public corruption as a member of the Los Angeles County grand jury.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attorney A. Brigham Rose (left), Clifford, and Harry Ferguson<br />
Photo: USC Special Collections</td></tr>
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"It was a serious and rather awesome occasion and left me deeply impressed," he would later write in his memoirs. "When the citizens were represented by such a powerful body, serving each and every year, solely charged with protecting them from corruption and malfeasance in public office, why did so much exist?"</div>
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Gambling, payoffs on pinball and marble games, "one armed bandits," bookmaking, and prostitution may have been illegal, but these criminal activities went on unchecked in 1930s Los Angeles. Once seated on the 19-member grand jury, Clifford found three other members with a similar dedication to uncovering this illegal activity. This Minority Group included John Bogue, a Baptist minister; Harry L. Ferguson, a retired architect; and E.H. Kelly, a retired businessman.<br />
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In March, Clifford launched a private investigation with other Minority Group members. By the end of June, the group had accumulated a list of 1,800 bookies, 200 gambling spots, and 600 brothels. Bogue published names and addresses in a local newspaper. Clifford's many attempts to present this evidence to the grand jury as a whole were thwarted.</div>
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The Civic Betterment division of the Federation of Churches, a powerful women's group, were astounded and shocked by these revelations. Louise Blatherwick, the group's president, met with Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw to demand an explanation. Shaw denied the existence of protected vice and said the the Los Angeles Police Department was one of the best in the nation. He agreed to any fair and unbiased citizen organization who wanted to investigate vice in the city.</div>
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Los Angeles religious leaders met to discuss the formation of an investigating committee on July 19 at the German Methodist Church. They read aloud from Courtney Ryley Cooper's book "Here's to Crime," including the following passage:</div>
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<i>"Look about your town, if there are slot machines, horse joints--if the numbers racket flourished--if there is concerted gambling in any form whatever--than someone in your city and county administration is crooked."</i></blockquote>
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The group agreed to organize a committee that became known as CIVIC (Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee) on Aug. 19. Clifford's name was submitted as chairman of the committee.</div>
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On Aug. 3, Clifford and other committee members met with Mayor Shaw at City Hall that was also attended by LAPD Chief James Davis and Joe Shaw, the mayor's brother and chief of staff. The meeting got off to a rocky start, when Mayor Shaw pointed at the committee members and accused them of being "snoopers, busybodies, and self-seekers" who intended to smear his office.</div>
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Clifford responded by saying, "Mr. Mayor, this is beside the point. This committee pledges itself on two things. First, to act as a body not as individuals; second, we promise you if we find your statements to be true, we shall be your best supporters. We plan to deal in facts only, and if your administration's actions are as you claim, and if you wish to silence the critics, this is a certain and sure method."</div>
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Chief Davis had initially opposed the investigation, but following the meeting, he pinned Badge #4010 onto Clinton's lapel to deputize him as a private vice investigator. Chief Davis accused the committee of trying to launch a recall of Shaw.</div>
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Several days after the meeting, Shaw repudiated the group in the press, calling the committee a group of malcontents and snoopers whose only interest was to "besmirch the fair city of Los Angeles."</div>Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-54094451301804455562012-04-15T17:46:00.000-07:002012-05-12T19:18:47.574-07:00Citizen Clinton Enters PoliticsBy publicizing waste and <a href="http://cliffordclintonandlosangelesreform.blogspot.com/2012/01/la-county-hospital-food-investigation.html" target="_blank">graft in the Los Angeles County Hospital's food budget</a> in 1936, Clifford poked a beehive of municipal and county corruption. The report saved the county $120,000, and also drew the ire of city officials and the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> that<i> </i>called him a meddler.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radio broadcasts began at Clifton's in 1936.<br />
CC_Flickr: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/85941395@N00/1199679274" target="_blank">jschneid</a></td></tr>
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"We were very confused by this strange attack, but when we inquired we were told 'you have stepped on a lot of toes, bigger than you realize,'" Clifford later wrote in his memoirs. "A new city and county election was near however, and the more we saw and heard, the more convinced we became that the city and county needed some replacements in the ranks of its officials."</div>
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In September of 1936, <a href="http://da.lacounty.gov/history/fitts.htm" target="_blank">District Attorney Buron Fitts</a> faced reelection. A year later, Mayor Frank Shaw would defend his seat against challenger and County Supervisor John Anson Ford, who had recruited Clifford to investigate food service at the county hospital.<br />
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Clifford would set his sights on both races. To defeat Fitts, Clifford backed <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7943950" target="_blank">Harlan Palmer</a>, a county judge and publisher of the <i>Hollywood Citizen-News</i>. Time Magazine described Palmer as a "pious progressive from Minnesota."<br />
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To get the word out about reform-minded candidates, Clifford installed a radio broadcasting studio on the mezzanine at the Olive Street Clifton's Cafeteria. KNX broadcaster Walter Landor hosted the Morning Discussion Group program at 7 a.m. to discuss civic affairs topics with city officials, leaders, and notable city visitors.</div>
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Candidate Palmer appeared on the program to make his case for election, and Fitts ignored invitations to appear. Fitts won handily. In the 1937 race for mayor, Supervisor Ford appeared on the radio program. Sitting Mayor Shaw refused to appear, and also won his election.</div>
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Clifford began to receive "veiled threats to lay off," he later wrote. The city health department sent an order in 1936 to close Clifton's at 618 S. Olive St. due to what they claimed were unsanitary conditions. The order followed public broadcasts describing city corruption. Clifford refused the order.</div>
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Other forms of retribution from the Shaw Administration came in the form of "guests" to Clifton's who claimed they had been poisoned by the food. Stink bombs were set off in the Clifton's dining room. Professional "floppers" tumbled down stairs and filed injury claims. Clifford received anonymous phone calls telling him to stay out of civic affairs.</div>
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On Jan. 29, 1937, a process server delivered a court summons to Clifford at his Los Feliz home. Supervisor Ford had submitted his name to Superior Court Judge Fletcher Bowron, saying he was "highly qualified" to serve on a county grand jury. Clifford and 18 other citizens were picked at random to serve on the panel. At the swearing in, Judge William Tell Aggeler told panelists, "If you have reason to believe that any public official is guilty of corruption or willful misconduct in office, if you have reason to believe that graft or corruption exists ... I charge you to act diligently, faithfully, and courageously."</div>Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-31309905424321239082012-03-18T16:48:00.003-07:002012-04-15T17:46:25.647-07:00Bombing of Harry Raymond<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clifford visits Harry Raymond after the bombing.<br />
Photo: UCLA Special Collections</td></tr>
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Private investigator Harry Raymond knew he was being watched.</div>
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By January of 1938, Los Angeles Police <a href="http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-kynette-23692" target="_blank">Capt. Earle Kynette</a> and Lt. Roy Allen were spending more time at a small house in Raymond's Boyle Heights neighborhood. In September, Kynette rented a <a href="http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics22/00045676.jpg" target="_blank">spy house</a> down an alley across from 955 Orne St. A wiretap connected to telephone lines to monitor the investigator's conversations.</div>
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Raymond, a former chief of the San Diego and Venice police departments, had become a target of the LAPD's Metropolitan Special Investigation Unit (known as the "spy squad"). Raymond was the prime witness in a fraud trial stemming from Mayor Frank Shaw's 1933 election campaign. Raymond had uncovered evidence linking Shaw's administration to gambling and prostitution rings while working for Ralph Gray. His client was a campaign worker who was owed $2,900.</div>
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<a name='more'></a>On a nippy Friday morning in January, Raymond walked to his car that was parked in his wood-frame garage. He pushed the starter button and suddenly felt the impact of an explosion that tore the engine out of his car and filled his body with 186 pieces of automotive shrapnel. An ambulance rushed him to the <a href="http://harrymarnell.net/G-unit.htm" target="_blank">Central Receiving Hospital</a> (which is now the LAPD's Rampart Division station). He was in shock but conscious.</div>
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In the fall of 1937, Clifford had contacted Raymond to help with his <a href="http://cliffordclintonandlosangelesreform.blogspot.com/2012/01/1937-house-bombing.html" target="_blank">personal investigations of vice</a> as a member of a county grand jury. Clifford and other civic-minded citizens had founded CIVIC (Citizens Independent Vice Investigating Committee) to root out city corruption. Clifford found out about the blast and rushed to his bedside. He was joined by Gray; James Richardson, editor of the <i>Los Angeles Examiner</i>; and Buron Fitts, district attorney.</div>
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Richardson rushed in and asked, "Who did it, Harry?"</div>
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"That son of a bitch Kynette," Raymond whispered. "I want you to promise you'll get him for me."</div>
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"I'll get him for you, Harry," Richardson answered.</div>
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On Jan. 22, Los Angeles Police Chief James "Two Gun" Davis returned from a trip to Mexico with the LAPD pistol team and exonerated Kynette before reviewing the evidence.</div>
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On Jan. 31, the <i>Examiner</i> published an investigation accusing the administration of having ties to the underworld. The article identified former Police Commissioner Harry Munson as a courier of underworld money to the Shaw administration.</div>
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Investigators eventually traced fragments from the pipe bomb to Kynette. Three officers--Kynette, Allen, and Sgt. Fred Browne--were charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, assault with attempt to murder, and malicious use of explosives. During a trial that began April 19, three other members of the squad were asked about wiretaps to monitor Raymond's telephone conversations. They declined to testify.</div>
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The jury returned guilty verdicts against Kynette and Allen on June 16. Browne was acquitted. The press was unanimous in its verdict of the trial, recommending that the spy squad be disbanded and the three who refused to testify be fired. After a police board of review, the self-preserving patrolmen were reinstated.</div>
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"The verdict is really a vindication for the people of Los Angeles," Raymond told the <i>Los Angeles Times</i>. "It may prevent them from being constantly harassed by the undercover bunch of gunmen masquerading as a police intelligence squad."</div>Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-4347623734447652272012-03-04T18:03:00.000-08:002012-03-18T17:02:45.573-07:00Clifton's Brookdale RebornClifton's Brookdale's new owner took the first step toward restoring the cafeteria to its 1940s heyday, when he peeled off the aluminum-grill facade at 648 S. Broadway St. in early February.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Historic facade unveiled Feb. 9.<br />
Photo: Paul Clinton</td></tr>
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Nightclub owner and filmmaker <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/09/local/la-me-0209-clifton-facade-20120209" target="_blank">Andrew Meieran</a>, who acquired the cafeteria in 2010, plans to reopen Clifton's Brookdale, retaining the decor that made it famous. He plans to bring back menu items that diners remember fondly, including maceroni and cheese, beef stroganoff, and fresh strawberry pie.</div>
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On Feb. 9, the cafeteria's late-1930s facade revealed lodge-like windows that allow streams of natural light into a dining room that's reminescent of a big redwood forest. The theme has captivated and beguiled diners and Los Angeles visitors through the decades.</div>
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Clifford, who had taken over a failed Boos Brothers cafeteria at the location in 1935, immediately transformed the white-tile box-like interior, modeling it after a forest lodge in the Santa Cruz Mountains. As a young man, Clifford spent time at Mount Hermon and the <a href="http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=789&bih=354&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=Lkh7TKfCpmZVoM:&imgrefurl=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ca-hauntedhotels.html&docid=DB1Ct8LisHI9OM&imgurl=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-california/CA-BrookdaleLodge.jpg&w=400&h=257&ei=5CBUT8qNKuauiQL18Y20Bg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=385&vpy=39&dur=4140&hovh=180&hovw=280&tx=120&ty=208&sig=106348760421199377332&page=2&tbnh=104&tbnw=145&start=4&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:4" target="_blank">Brookdale Lodge</a> as a respite from the tribulations of business and family life. With its thick redwood trees, waterfall, and stream flowing through the dining room, the lodge had made an impression on young Cliff.<br />
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Cliff decided to recreate this scene in his new cafeteria. Renowned muralist <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1985-10-20/realestate/re-14192_1_100th-birthday" target="_blank">Einar Petersen</a> decorated the walls floor-to-ceiling with murals depicting the redwood forests. Columns in the dining room were covered with redwood trees. A cross-section of a sequoia in the dining room correlates the tree's growth with important historical events. Stuffed bear and deer look down on diners from platforms.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuI_xgwUyDovaey66ofc2QoR2MzHg2XSVI8j1oEofYz2YwsvPcH68xnyV0J1O0H94FJitxide7J-iUwuadq23pRIAcnr7C_MoChPukZ1BSxwRaw-UKmRv6OovWqn2hyphenhyphendhQ0-VMqvvQAsTb/s1600/CC_Brookdale+Chapel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuI_xgwUyDovaey66ofc2QoR2MzHg2XSVI8j1oEofYz2YwsvPcH68xnyV0J1O0H94FJitxide7J-iUwuadq23pRIAcnr7C_MoChPukZ1BSxwRaw-UKmRv6OovWqn2hyphenhyphendhQ0-VMqvvQAsTb/s1600/CC_Brookdale+Chapel.jpg" uda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meditation chapel at Brookdale.<br />
Photo: CC_Flikr/hey skinny</td></tr>
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On a mezannine, weekly live entertainment was performed at Melody Ledge at one side of the cafeteria. On the opposite side of this level was a small chapel with a blue neon cross offering a quiet space for meditation. A lighted diorama of a redwood forest inside the chapel featured a recording of Patience Strong's poem "The Groves-God's First Temples":<br />
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<em>If you stand very still in the heart of a wood, you will hear many wonderful things-the snap of a twig, and the wind in the trees and the whir of invisible wings. If you stand very still in the turmoil of life and you wait for the voice from within-you'll be led down the quiet ways of Wisdom and Peace in a mad world of chaos and din. If you stand very still and you hold to your faith, you will get all the help that you ask-you will draw from the Silence the things that you need-Hope and Courage and Strength for your task.</em><br />
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Clifton's Brookdale was created to provide sanctuary and a warm environment for people who were new to Los Angeles to find a home-like environment. "<a href="http://cliffordclintonandlosangelesreform.blogspot.com/2011/12/cliftons-garden-of-meditation.html" target="_blank">Food for the soul</a> is important too."</div>Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-62584400173312407212012-02-20T17:05:00.000-08:002012-03-04T18:14:02.348-08:00The Penny CafeteriaTo feed Los Angelenos with little money in their pocket during the Great Depression, Clifford Clinton opened the Penny Cafeteria at Third and Hill streets in October of 1932.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clifton's Brookdale opened in 1935.</td></tr>
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For one cent, the poor and hungry could buy a simple meal that included macaroni, beans, stews, thick soups, salads, bread, dessert, and coffee. Each meal cost 4 1/2 cents to provide. Clifford operated the cafeteria, labeled as "the Caveteria" by the <i>Los Angeles Times, </i>out of the basement. The main floor dining room was operated conventionally and food prepared there was brought downstairs.<br />
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Clifford opened the <a href="http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com/pages/history_story.html" target="_blank">Penny Cafeteria</a> partly out of necessity. He had been operating the Olive Street cafeteria for about a year, and feeding the multitudes had taken a toll on his business. Clifford had fed 10,000 people in the first three months. With the threat of bankruptcy staring him in the face, Clifford shifted his neediest clientele to Third and Hill.<br />
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In his memoirs, Clifford stated his philosophy that "no guest shall go hungry for lack of funds."<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSDBidbVu47BCAdaMs87tpJOzL9ZstHA9_q_vMHXFhXzotyqIVLJiOxMdmONr2YByu4Ynh3osVShJ8fsmb4MkiH92AJsOl-IydL2KFzYbpdgDa4HIqnH0Y4jzNBSmIXTlMOlV5JpwILKQ/s1600/Los+Angeles+Theater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBSDBidbVu47BCAdaMs87tpJOzL9ZstHA9_q_vMHXFhXzotyqIVLJiOxMdmONr2YByu4Ynh3osVShJ8fsmb4MkiH92AJsOl-IydL2KFzYbpdgDa4HIqnH0Y4jzNBSmIXTlMOlV5JpwILKQ/s1600/Los+Angeles+Theater.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The 1931 Los Angeles Theatre</td></tr>
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To gain entry to the Penny Cafeteria, guests presented a meal ticket given to them by charitable organizations or local groups. Tickets were sold at 618 S. Olive St.<br />
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By 1934, the need for the Penny Cafeteria was declining. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration" target="_blank">Works Progress Administration</a> and other federal New Deal programs reduced the number of hungry and unemployed. Downtown landlord Joseph E. Carr, sensing that he was in the presence of a kindred spirit, offered Clifford the lease on a four-story building at 648 S. Broadway St. in the theater district.<br />
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The location was in the heart of Los Angeles' theater district, meaning guests could dine while going to a movie at the Los Angeles, the State, or the Orpheum. The Bullocks department store was also across the street.<br />
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Clifford accepted the deal, paying $3,000 for the highly discounted lease. The Penny Cafeteria was closed and later relocated to the basement at the Broadway location. Shortly after taking over the failed Boos Brothers cafeteria, Clifford remodeled the interior after the Brookdale Lodge in the Big Redwoods near <a href="http://mounthermon.org/" target="_blank">Mount Hermon</a> in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After the remodel, it became known as Clifton's Brookdale.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-61187364106010571472012-01-29T18:01:00.000-08:002012-02-20T17:18:14.467-08:00L.A. County Hospital Food Investigation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYVA8uIlCA6qqbgyfgSwsJiIwocyQJWRE9TKOLoD_dI_ZO0N8EZu_3wGFs9wDy7a0_upqQmEOxrOjal81mzuclMSKK5V9piWYAPfy7DxyJZcXJTQ7HMmHfg5Dkk5WoBS6cH8WLknKqoTy/s1600/LACountyHospital_300w.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGYVA8uIlCA6qqbgyfgSwsJiIwocyQJWRE9TKOLoD_dI_ZO0N8EZu_3wGFs9wDy7a0_upqQmEOxrOjal81mzuclMSKK5V9piWYAPfy7DxyJZcXJTQ7HMmHfg5Dkk5WoBS6cH8WLknKqoTy/s1600/LACountyHospital_300w.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Los Angeles County Hospital. CC: <a href="http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/photos/losangeles/los-angeles-general-hospital.jpg" target="_blank">Peggy Hooper</a>.</td></tr>
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At lunchtime on a day in October 1935, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anson_Ford" target="_blank">Supervisor John Anson Ford</a> 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.<br />
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Ford, who had been in office for about a year, appealed to Clifford Clinton to help. The <a href="http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LA&p_theme=la&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EF66D984732EC97&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM" target="_blank">Los Angeles County Hospital</a>, 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.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Supervisor John Anson Ford.</td></tr>
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Committee members visited the hospital several times in preparing a report analyzing four areas, including facilities, costs, food, and employees. The review revealed an operation that was over-staffed with inefficient use of its facilities. Patients were served excessively starchy meals of corn pudding, cold mashed potatoes, and chunks of bread. They were also given raw apple deserts, raw cabbage salads, and under-cooked vegetables. Unseasoned food was slopped on cold plates and served by "an old man in overalls who was unshaven and discourteous," according to the report. While patients received stew, physicians and nurses received prime cuts of meat.<br />
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The committee delivered a litany of recommendations to county supervisors to reduce staff and improve customer service on April 11, 1936. Ford was grateful for a report that, when implemented, saved the county $120,000. City politicos, garbage collectors, and the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> refused to swallow the committee's findings.<br />
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Employees hired as patronage for their political support by former Supervisor Frank Shaw, who was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1933, were dismissed. County garbage collectors who had been selling the uneaten food to hog farms saw their graft source dry up. The Times excoriated the report with a headline, "Restaurateur Meddles in Hospital Report."<br />
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When he asked a colleague to explain the negative reaction, he was told, "Clifford, You've stepped on somebody's toes, somebody much bigger than you realize. Just keep quiet. It'll blow over."<br />
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Clifford was the kind of man who wasn't prepared to take that advice.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-81413983760941365252012-01-21T20:20:00.000-08:002012-01-29T18:08:55.802-08:001937 House BombingShortly 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.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clifford Clinton surveys the damage at his home.<br />
Photo: USC Special Collections Library.</td></tr>
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The blast was meant as a stern warning. As a member of a county grand jury investigation launched in January to investigate city and police corruption, Clifford was a target. The grand jury probe had become a thorn in the side of Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw. Clifford had formed a minority group of four of the 19 grand jury members to independently investigate vice and corruption. He believed the jury was stacked with Shaw loyalists.</div>
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In April, Clifford began documenting the locations and activity of brothels (known as "houses of ill fame"), bookmaking operations, tango parlors, pinball joints, and underground casinos run by the Los Angeles Syndicate. Police enforcement was often lacking, because cops took payoffs to look the other way.<br />
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Clifford began feeding information about the illegal activity to his friend Judge Harlan Guyant Palmer, the publisher of the <em>Hollywood Citizen News</em>. Palmer published the names and locations of these illegal operations, which caused them to close down. Clifford photographed police officers who protected these operations.<br />
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Los Angeles Police <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33455118@N08/4711683056/" target="_blank">Chief James "Two Gun" Davis</a> began to view Clifford's activities as a threat to the Shaw administration. The department's Metropolitan Special Investigation Unit (known as the "spy squad") began monitoring Clifford and installed listening devices on his home telephone.<br />
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On Oct. 3, Clifford met with Dave Hutton, the ex-husband of <a href="http://www.foursquare.org/about/aimee_semple_mcpherson" target="_blank">Aimee Semple McPherson</a> (of Angelus Temple fame). Hutton then arranged a meeting between Clifford and Los Angeles radio evangelist Rheba Crawford to collect testimony about Crawford's connection to Mayor Shaw. When the two met in the Los Feliz home's office, spy squad investigators listened as the two discussed details of Clifford's findings.<br />
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Later it became clear that these recordings had been saved and used by the spy squad as they continued surveillance of Clifford and other private citizens without search warrants. Investigators later linked the house bombing to the spy squad when the conversation between Clifford and Hutton was played during the 1938 trial of <a href="http://www.lapdonline.org/" target="_blank">LAPD</a> Capt. Earle Kynette for the bombing of private investigator Harry Raymond.<br />
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In the aftermath of the bombing, Clifford sent his own message. He would not be intimidated by a violent act. "They are not going to stop me," he told the press. "They can blow up the entire house, but I will keep on."Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-59374747700097623112012-01-01T17:31:00.000-08:002012-01-21T20:50:23.644-08:00Opening a Friendly DoorAfter 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":<br />
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<em>Some doors have hearts, it seems to me,</em></div>
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<em>They open so invitingly;</em></div>
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<em>To all the warmth you find within.</em></div>
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<em>Some doors, so weather-beaten, gray</em></div>
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<em>Swing open in a listless way,</em></div>
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<em>As if they wish you had not come;</em></div>
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<em>Their stony silence leaves you dumb.</em></div>
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<em>As if their beauty might be marred</em></div>
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<em>If any sought admittance there,</em></div>
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<em>Save king or prince or millionaire.</em></div>
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<em>Oh, may mine be a friendly door;</em></div>
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<em>May all who cross the threshold o'er,</em></div>
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<em>Within find sweet content and rest,</em></div>
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<em>And know each was a welcome guest.</em></div>
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The poem reflected Clifford's belief that a business should exist not only to generate profit, but to serve its customers and to enrich their lives. This philosophy emerged from Clifford's experiences as a missionary's son in China and while working in the San Francisco cafeteria started by his father Edmond "E.J." Clinton.<br />
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In 1929, Clifford had started scouting downtown Los Angeles locations to start a new cafeteria with the help of noted <a href="https://digital.lib.washington.edu/architect/architects/417/" target="_blank">architect Charles Plummer</a>. Clifford has taken over as the president of the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfplsanfranciscohistoricalphotographcollection/5149252159/" target="_blank">Clinton Cafeteria</a> Company, which operated a dining room on Powell Street, a year earlier in a three-way partnership. A year of bickering over operational policies had pushed him to the breaking point.<br />
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One day, he received a phone call from Plummer with the opportunity to take over a defunct Boos Brothers' cafeteria at 618 S. Olive St. During his trip to Los Angeles to sign the lease, he received a telegram from his two partners terminating him from the company. He then returned to Berkeley to gather up wife Nelda and brother Joe. With $2,000 in his pocket, 2,500 recipe file cards, and his Operation Manual, Clifford drove south.<br />
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To differentiate himself from his father's cafeteria and cut ties with the past, Clifford decided to come up with a distinctive name for the new venture. The result was an amalgamation of his first and last names, Clifton's.<br />
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Clifton's opened for business on July 1, 1931, and became known as the <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=bl0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA100&lpg=PA100&dq=The+Cafeteria+of+the+Golden+Rule+November+los+angeles&source=bl&ots=D_9sOYNOXm&sig=BGPhJsj1Gcucd2-uJhwUCWa4LeY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iDgCT8y_GoahiAKp8ImcDQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=The%20Cafeteria%20of%20the%20Golden%20Rule%20November%20los%20angeles&f=false" target="_blank">Cafeteria of the Golden Rule</a>.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-21393594323559112962011-12-26T17:54:00.000-08:002012-01-29T16:33:23.762-08:00Clifton's Garden of Meditation<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Patrons who visited Clifton's Cafeteria on Olive Street after it opened in 1931 wouldn't have missed a small sign, as they carried their trays to cashier stations to pay for their meals. The sign read, "Food for the soul is important too."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Later, a small pamphlet called "Food for Thot" could be found in a metal holder on tables. The booklet offered inspirational phrases, Biblical passages, and poetry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Perhaps the most elaborate expression of Clifford Clinton’s Christian message came with the creation of the Garden of Meditation in the basement of the cafeteria in 1943. Clifford constructed four inter-connected rooms to dramatize the story of Christ on the eve of his crucifixion. The rooms--a reception area, grotto, well court, and corner of the Garden of Gethsemane--were meant as a potent reminder of the power of Christian faith in turbulent times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Clifford spent $80,000 to construct the display during an eight-month period. From its opening to the public in 1943 to 1960, an estimated 7 million people visited the garden.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Visitors entered the garden from cafeteria’s ground floor and descended a stairway to enter the reception area, where they were greeted by three female attendants dressed in the period attire of First Century Galilee. Period-authentic oil lanterns hung from the ceiling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Next, a rocky grotto offered up bench seating and an inspirational audio program called “The Influence of One Life,” a reading of an original essay written by Clifford and publicist Ernest Chamberlain. A third room was a Well Court, providing the “waters of life.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">In the fourth room was a corner of the Garden of Gethsemane referenced in the New Testament. It was here that Jesus prayed the night before the crucifixion. In this room, Clifford constructed a <a href="http://jpg1.lapl.org/00088/00088343.jpg" target="_blank">life-size statue of Christ kneeling</a> on a rock, praying. The image was inspired by Heinrich Hofmann’s painting <i>Christ In Gethsemane</i> (1890).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Clifford first viewed the painting while working for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Relief_and_Rehabilitation_Administration" target="_blank">United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA)</a> in New York City. He discovered the painting hanging in a small chapel in the <a href="http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/" target="_blank">Riverside Church</a> near Harlem, where it can be still viewed today. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The feelings he experienced while viewing this painting inspired him to re-create this experience in his own cafeteria in Los Angeles. Many individuals travelled from all over the world to visit Clifton’s meditation garden and many wrote to tell of the profound influence this had on them. </span></div>Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2850085829933270678.post-6270239538778902022011-12-16T11:30:00.000-08:002012-01-01T17:46:07.955-08:00Clifford Clinton: A Life of ServiceClifford Clinton operated <a href="http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com/" target="_blank">Clifton's Cafeteria</a> as a respite for the weary souls of Depression-era Los Angeles. It became known as the cafeteria of the Golden Rule: treat others as you would like to be treated.<br />
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Clifford extended his philosophy not only to customers (he called them "guests"), but to employees (called "associates"). He also felt a sense of responsibility to the community that supported his business. Clifford was my grandfather, and hopefully this blog will help tell the story of a man who had a lasting influence on the development of the city of Los Angeles.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clifford Clinton, member of the '37 grand jury.</td></tr>
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He was raised in Berkeley (born in 1900) by Salvation Army parents, who instilled the message of Christian service. He spent his formative years travelling with them to China for Christian missions. In northern and southern China, he witnessed rampant starvation, untreated diseases, and later beheadings.</div>
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Clifford returned to San Francisco in 1911, where he worked in his father's cafeteria, learning the restaurant business from the ground up.</div>
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By 1931, he moved to Los Angeles to open his own restaurant. He purchased a defunct Boos Brothers cafeteria and reopened it at 618 S. Olive St. in the heart of downtown. He operated the business with the help of wife Nelda and three children who grew up in the business.</div>
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When called into public service by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/05/obituaries/john-anson-ford.html" target="_blank">County Supervisor John Anson Ford</a>, Clifford agreed to help review the Los Angeles County Hospital's food budget. What he found was a cesspool of city government graft and corruption. As a member of a county grand jury, in 1937, his attempts to investigate municipal malfeasance were thwarted. Eventually he led a coalition of reform-minded individuals who successfully recalled the sitting mayor, <a href="http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/shaw.html" target="_blank">Frank Shaw</a>.</div>
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Returning to private life, he pursued his mission to feed the hungry. He formed <a href="http://www.mealsformillions.org/" target="_blank">Meals for Millions</a>, a foundation that invented a food supplement, MPF (Multi-Purpose Food), for distribution throughout the world.</div>
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This blog is both a tribute and educational resource to Clifford Clinton. Future posts will expand further on his story.Doc Clintonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14895259493904219028noreply@blogger.com2