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Clifton's Pacific Seas Cafeteria. Los Angeles, 1950s
Gigantic neon flowers, lushly landscaped rock wall, and a multi-colored waterfall dwarf a sea of dining tables in what truly may be the ultimate Polynesian restaurant ever!
Clifton’s Pacific Seas is the younger and shorter lived “sister” cafeteria to Clifton’s Brookdale, which has been serving up steam table savories and delicious desserts in downtown Los Angeles since 1935. Clifton’s Pacific Seas came four years later, in 1939. It was located on the west side of Olive just below Sixth, and then closed (for what reason? I don’t know) in 1960 after just twenty-one years. A parking lot replaced it.
Picturesque bamboo huts, grass shacks and hand painted murals gave the spectacular hyper-themed dining room even more ambiance than what you see in this slide. Employees wore tropical print uniforms accessorized with flower leis. Polynesian entertainers performed live on a tropical stage. And there was even a “rainstorm” every twenty minutes in the Rain Hut Dining Room. And, God forbid, you should leave without a souvenir, a gift shop was well stocked with exotic keepsakes. This was Adventureland before Adventureland – the Tiki Room before the Tiki Room.
Themed interiors and environments were not invented in Southern California, but they certainly were perfected here. Miraculously many of the oldest and most charming examples still exist in the heart and soul of Los Angeles. Yes, even without our dearly departed Clifton’s Pacific Seas Cafeteria, downtown is still a hotbed of unique, unusual, bizarre and breathtaking vintage places to experience.
Here’s to you and Clifton’s Pacific Seas Cafeteria
Posted Thursday, March 3rd, 2005 under Slide of the Week.
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You know, it’s still a parking lot.
I say: rebuild the Pacific Seas!!!!
Oh, my gosh! The description sounds like the Rainforest Cafe! It’s creators must have been to Clifton’s Pacific Seas Cafeteria! I would have loved going there! I was only 2 when it closed.
My mother used to take me there in the ’50’s. It was a magical place. What I remember was walking down stairs and there being a water fall that went alongside the stairway on the left. I wish I could see it again!
My mother and her parents and later her husband used to dine at the Pacific Seas. She would take me there in the forties and early fifties and I am sure she told me her history but I was too young to appreciate it. LA was trully a magical place. I remember the rock walls and sitting and eating right next to the cave like walls at seven and eight years old. I only hope that downtown can continue to be rehabed and we can bring back the beauty and granduer of the downtown classical building and movie theatres. They would rival Disneyland. Is there a Clifftons in business downtown today? I drove down broadway a couple of weeks ago and I’m sure I saw a Clifton’s Cafeteria with people eating.
I stumbled upon an old b&w postcard a few months back of a tropical restaurant, but there was no identification. As I looked at the details, I realized it might be Clinton’s. Sure, enough, I’ve since found that labeled image Online. As a very little girl in the mid-=1950’s, Mom and Dad took me to Clinton’s and it was wondrous!!! The neon palms, water falls, hidden tables in caves overlooking the main seating area… The visions are still clear. At the end of the meal, I remember the large Treasure Chest from which (as a child) I could pick out a treasure. Wow!!! Clifton’s way, way out-rainforested the Rainforest Cafe. Would love to crawl into that photo for just an hour and relive that happy experience.
I would like to know what was served or is served at Clifton’s. Did the waiters serve? It’s been years since I’ve been in Los Angeles, but I remember the old restaurant.
Does anyone know which of the Polynesian/Hawaiian restaurants in LA in the 1950s-1960s had stage shows with hula dancers? I know there was something called Hawaiian Paradise on Melrose, and also Gene’s Hawaiian Village on Vermont but I’m looking for details about the shows and the tenure of the various places. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!