Downtown’s Legendary Clifton’s Is Back… Again

Downtown’s legendary Clifton’s is back… again. The “Pacific Seas” portion of the storied venue, which started life as a cafeteria nearly 100 years ago , was open this weekend with tropical cocktails and complimentary hors d'oeuvres. Reservations are currently open for Fridays and Saturdays only. The rest of the five-story venue, which owner Andrew Meieran spent years rebuilding and reimagining, is scheduled to open by October 1.

Meieran purchased the building from the family of founder Clifford Clinton in 2011 and transformed it from a fantastical forest-themed cafeteria founded during the Great Depression into a labyrinth of lavishly decorated drinking parlors.

The fourth-floor tiki bar is the first room to come back online after a plumbing disaster caused the ceilings on three floors to collapse and destroyed a kitchen. The venue has been open sporadically and for special events since closing in 2018 and again in 2020 during COVID. Meieran sold the building in 2022 and now reportedly operates under a long-term lease.

The main entrance is covered with closed signs, but visitors will encounter a stone-faced guard at an unmarked door at the south end of the building and are directed to climb four flights of stairs through empty black rooms before reaching the tropical paradise of Pacific Seas.

Original owner Clifford Clinton was a very religious man and a social activist intent on eradicating hunger. He worked to develop new ways of feeding the poor. Clinton developed a protein powder that could be mixed with water and distributed around the world and consulted with hospitals and the military to develop faster ways of feeding large numbers of people efficiently. Clinton boasted that “no one shall be turned away for lack of funds” and the original restaurant continued to feed the underprivileged who lined up at their back door until the day they closed. Clinton was most famous for his chain of restaurants serving comfort food favorites like meat loaf and Jell-O to 10,000 patrons a day - at reasonable prices.

On a recent visit, guests were told that Clifton’s was once one of the world’s largest purveyors of the jiggly dessert – and about plans to bring it back in the form of a new line of Jell-O shots. “They have alcohol and bars,” Edmond Clinton told an interviewer about how the new Clifton’s compares to the creation of his teetotaler grandfather. “It's aimed at a different generation of people.”

Management reassured visitors that food will return to some of the beautifully designed spaces, but that there are no plans for a cafeteria of any kind. Several chefs have experimented with upscale dining options which have all been short-lived. The next iteration may include an experience where waitresses in vintage Pan Am stewardess uniforms serve meals from airline carts. The new Clifton’s, branded Clifton’s Republic , continues its journey as a high concept, boozy theme park for the new Downtown.