Author tells story of grandfather, altruistic restaurateur Clifford Clinton
The recent reopening of Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles after years of extensive remodeling has put a local landmark back on the map, drawing throngs of local diners and history aficionados eager to get a look at the multistory spectacle.
But for one La Cañada resident, Clifton’s is not so much a spectacle as it is a sanctuary, a reminder of home and the family whose hard work and values kept business thriving for seven decades since the first storefront was opened by Clifford Clinton in 1935.
Dr. Edmond Clinton III, grandson of the notable restaurateur, has worked for years on a book he hopes will capture the history of the popular cafeteria chain and the progressive powerhouse who fed the Great Depression’s hapless victims while campaigning to root out corruption in local politics.
The author admits he didn’t know much about his grandfather’s political leanings before beginning research for the book.
“It was kind of strange for us to hear he was involved in civic reform,” said Clinton, who worked at various Clifton’s locations during his high school and college years. “What we knew of him was as a cafeteria man setting up cafeterias all over Los Angeles.”
On Saturday, the author comes to Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse, where he will sign copies of his new book, “Clifton’s and Clifford Clinton: A Cafeteria and a Crusader,” from noon to 3 p.m.
The book — which took about a decade to conceive, research and write — was released Oct. 9 through Los Angeles publisher Angel City Press, just one week after local developer Andrew Meieran unveiled the newly revamped Clifton’s near 7th Street and Broadway on Oct. 1.
It includes Clifford Clinton’s own reminiscences on the political dynamics at work in the late 1930s, preserved in family correspondences and later distributed to younger generations.
“We all got copies of these, and we were young and free and didn’t read them all,” Edmond Clinton III recalled. “I put mine in a big, three-ring binder on a shelf in my house and they sat there for a long time.”
Dusted off decades later, the letters portray Clifford Clinton as a deeply religious person who incorporated Christian values into his own business model and believed such principles had a wider application. Those convictions, aided by the businessman’s own financial investments, helped fuel a crusade to see corrupt politicians brought to justice and unseat Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw in 1938, according to Southern California historian and author Tom Sitton.
“Clifford Clinton was probably the major force, if there was any, behind the success of the movement,” said Sitton, who wrote an introduction to Edmond Clinton’s new book. “Without him, I’m not sure the recall would have ever come about. He was a major player in the late 1930s and 1940s.”
Politics aside, “Clifton’s and Clifford Clinton” remembers the restaurant founder as a family man who was deeply involved in his grandchildren’s lives and tried to live according to the Golden Rule.
“He actually came to Los Angeles with this idea in mind that service to other people and treating people like your family can really pay dividends,” the author said of his grandfather’s business model. “He tried to treat everybody who came in as if they were honored guests in his home.”
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Edmond Clinton III will sign copies of “Clifton’s and Clifford Clinton: A Cafeteria and a Crusader,” from noon to 3 p.m. at Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 1010 Foothill Blvd.. For more information, call (818) 790-0717.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
