Clifton's Cafeteria

Though I express nothing but utter refinement in my home furnishings--none of you know where I live--I admit to a certain love for the. . . I hesitate the use of the word kitschy, but where else in downtown El Lay are you going to find a waterfall? Especially inside?

Clifton’s Cafeteria, almost on the corner of 7th and Broadway, is truly a cafeteria, where you pick up a tray--don’t forget to grab some utensils!--and slide it along the handy little runway on the counter in front of mostly already-prepared dishes, though you can still order a burger or such. For my part, I’m more than satisfied with two, sometimes three, side dishes and a dessert, so I’ve never ordered from the grill, not even French fries.

Though I might this time, because the last time I ordered my usual mashed potatoes, they tried to serve them with garlic! Are they out of their minds? Were they trying to kill me? Luckily I’ve been there too many times to hold a grudge, but c’mon, a little warning, huh?

Okay, on to better stuff. The corn, for example, is sooooo friggin’ sweet! Somehow the cottage cheese tastes better than anything you can get at home or the store. Though this last time, after my visit to the Autry museum, I was hungry enough to order more, it being around four in the afternoon and I hadn’t had lunch. The grill was closed, but they had some meat dishes next to the rest of the stuff. The ribs looked interesting, but instead I bit the bullet and got the beef patty, which I guess is the ultimate in naked burgers, and it turned out to be excellent, amazingly juicy, with no need for bread or cheese. The cornbread was also as wonderful as usual--I think the butter in the little white container that is included has some honey it, which somehow brings out the cornbread’s flavor even more. Though next time I may go with the pound cake, just to see if that tastes better than store bought too, which reminds me, there’s also an excellent bakery by the exit. In all, the beef patty, side of corn, cornbread, and two small cartons of milk cost me eight bucks, and that’s with the $2.50 for the milk. Not bad at all.

But the good food is only a part of it. You may choose to sit in one of the few tables on the ground floor, or go around toward the entrance, where there’s a small dark corridor of tables for two, or more likely one. There are huge dining rooms on the second and third floors, but if you look to the right after the checkout counter, you’ll see a waterfall and seemingly tropical flowers and leaves, amongst which are a few tables; hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to snag one of those. If not, to the very front of the restaurant, on the second floor still, are a few more tables, some of them strangely shaped, possibly cut from a giant tree trunk; one of these is my favorite, by the stained glass front windows, when I can’t sit next to the waterfall. And the table next to the moose head is much prized as well.

When I was done with my meal this time--and still not in the TravBuddy habit of photographing my food--I walked over to get a shot of the waterfall. . . only to find it turned off! Must be due to the water shortage, for that had never happened before. It was quite disappointing, though I figure it was much too dark in there to catch it anyway. Besides, I’d seen a waterfall earlier at the Autry. Still, a letdown.

To my amazement, when I was doing some research on a Ray Bradbury short story for a friend some weeks ago, I came across a tidbit that claimed this cafeteria was the location for the meetings of the first ever science fiction fan club, the Los Angeles Science Fiction League, started over 65 years ago! If you’re at all a science-fiction fan, you have to be in awe of some of these names: Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Ray Harryhousen, Forrest J. Ackerman, and many others. Just sitting there eating while imagining these great fertile minds around you is quite a mind-blowing experience.

If there’s one downside, it’s the restrooms. Just inside the bakery is a heavy wooden door, like something out of a castle, and then some steep stairs to the basement, where you can gawk at some photos of the place through the years, but needless to say it is not wheelchair accessible.

So, this is my go-to place in downtown El Lay; I can’t imagine going anywhere else. . .