Clifton's Cafeteria

Last night I experienced the wonder that is Clifton's Cafeteria. Clifton's is an old school cafeteria style dining establishment that has been a part of downtown LA since the 1930s. The wild west style dining room is full of green fake foliage, stone boulders, lagoon pools, waterfalls and mounted deer heads. There is speculation that Clifton's was the inspiration behind Adventure Land at Disneyland and after visiting, it seems totally possible. Clifton's is a spitting image of Adventure Land if it were to crammed into a restaurant, the only thing missing are the Country Bears and the Tiki Room.

So in the pouring rain, Tony and I drove to downtown LA and walked through the jewelry district until we hit 6th and Broadway. One we walked through the front door, we felt as though we entered a time warp. Guests are greeted by a host stand next to a mini waterfall and a brief photo history of Clifton's, it's founders and their promises to their customers. After taking in a brief history of the establishment, we walked back to what seems like a huge cafeteria line straight out of the 50's. Full of steel counters and a white tile floor, we selected our trays and wandered through a sea of retro comfort food favorites. They had a huge assortment of salads, soups, hot entrees, dessert and gelatin products. I chose a meal of lentil soup, bean salad, hard boiled egg, mac and cheese, ambrosia salad and chocolate pudding. Tony selected green salad, fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing and for dessert tapioca pudding and strawberry pie. Our fully packed trays only cost of $29 and of course we selected way more than we could eat.

Once in the dining room we chose a table on the 2nd floor so we could do some people watching. Clifton's is filled with an assortment of characters. I'm sure back in the 30s, 40s and 50s, the cafeteria was filled with business men, families and police officers. The current patrons at Clifton's ranged from young church groups, and large families to the homeless and crackheads who had just wondered off skid row. One of my favorite guests was a woman sitting below us in her late 60s wearing a hair net. She had a tray of dessert and a cup of coffee and repeatedly dosed off to sleep, nearly burying her face in her banana cream pie.

Overall, I LOVED Clifton's. The environment is fun, uniquely themed and a one of a kind experience. On top of that, the food was delicious and the price unbeatable. Plus, the people watching is phenomenal. I also saw on our way out that if you host your birthday party there, they will give you a whole cake for for free. I'm thinking 27 will be celebrated with the help of
Clifton's.

A Film To See....

After hearing weeks of hype, I finally went to go see Juno. I was trying to pretend I didn't hear all all the great reviews so I wouldn't build the film up too much and then be disappointed. I wasn't disappointed at all, it was a deliciously witty and wonderful film. The characters were all wonderful and quirky and I really got attached to all of them. If you are toying with the idea of going to see Juno, do yourself a favor and see it. You will walk away feeling happy, nostalgic and grounded.

Take that Ebert and Roeper!

PS. She has a hamburger phone in the movie that is rad. If anyone has a hamburger phone lying around, I will happily buy it off you.

"New Year's Day is every man's birthday." ~Charles Lamb

Ah yes it's that time of year again. The time of year where everyone returns from their various holidays, recovers from week long hangovers and stews over the big question in life of "what is really important?" Or at least, that is what I do.

Over the holidays we packed up the car and headed north to see my family. We spent several days in Napa and a few in San Francisco. It's always great to leave LA and get back to normalcy a bit. Everyone in San Francisco is so friendly and normal and it always takes a few days for me to get use to LA again. For example, when we returned to LA, I went to the grocery store to replenish our fridge and I was instantly shocked at how put together everyone was there. All the woman had a full face of make up, leggings and obnoxious and unnecessary sunglasses in doors. All I could think of was..people are so weird here. But I'm sure after another week it will all seem totally normal.

Basically, the nice long break made me stop to think about what's really important in life. My answers are family, friends and balance. It's so easy to get caught up in the ever going stresses of work and life which I definitely do. And all that BS doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. Realizing this made me think, we should just pack up all our crap and move to San Francisco or Portland or some city where there is life and culture without ridiculous unessary things like seven series BMWs, Louis Vuitton purses and low carb bread. I was day dreaming of working for a small environmental firm in San Francisco, or working for Nike in Portland. These are all far fetched day dreams (for now anyway)but it was fun to dream. Don't get me wrong, I do like my job and co-workers and I love my friends. I even like Los Angeles a whole lot, but sometimes it's easy to forget that outside of this bubble there are real people who when bring up the subject of music or movies, they just want to talk about the really awesome base line of their favorite song, or their favorite quote from a film, not about the how the actor in the film they love is sleeping with a friends assistant, or how that bands manager is a huge coke head.

Anyway, long blog short....having realized all this.. these are my "Goals for 2008."

- Re-introduce myself to skills I once mastered (i.e. playing the violin, tennis, cooking, knitting etc.)
- Remain active and healthy and use any any extra time I have on weekdays to pick up one of the for mentioned former skills of my younger years
-Live as eco-friendly as I can
-Remember that above all, these are the things that bring me happiness..... my husband, friends, family, health, humor, the outdoors, cooking, music, a great cup of coffee, a good book, great film and great conversation