Post #818265 by Hamo on Thu, Apr 23, 2026 9:56 PM

Here's another article with more details on the Clifton's sale:

A New Chapter for Downtown’s Legendary Clifton’s

Chris Nichols - Apr 10, 2026

https://lamag.com/dining/a-new-chapter-for-downtowns-legendary-cliftons/

Clifton’s Cafeteria was a place where generations of Angelenos celebrated milestones with free cake. It was place to meet up with a huge group of friends with no reservations necessary and a cheap place to grab a big plate of sometimes mediocre steam table food. All that and it resembled a rocky clearing in a vast, dark forest with a stream running through the middle. Gathering places that are popular, luxurious and cheap have nearly gone extinct. Much has been said of our “K-shaped” economy with the top and bottom growing as the middle is squeezed out of existence. Clifton’s was accessible to all.

These are the arguments this writer made to Clifton’s most recent owner Andrew Meieran, who spent millions unsuccessfully trying to reinvent the ancient and iconic restaurant for the 21st century. “Clifton’s has always been a passion project and a labor of love,” Meieran tells Los Angeles. “I never made money off of anything in that project. It never came close. I spent more than I should have restoring it and trying desperately to keep it alive. It was a rude awakening for me.”

Meirean, a writer and film producer, spent $4 million to purchase the sprawling 32,000 square foot enterprise from the descendants of founder Clifford Clinton in 2011 and began four years of work transforming the dilapidated landmark into a multi-story nightclub filled with taxidermy, burlesque dancers and tropical drinks with little umbrellas. In 2022, he sold the renovated building to the Robhana Group for $8.6 million. He has stayed on as a consultant and plans to license the name and intellectual property to his new landlords.

Downtown-based Robhana is led by Robert and Robin Hanasab. Their real estate portfolio features landmarks like the Oviatt Building, Tom Bergin’s Irish Pub and the Variety Arts Center sprinkled in amongst drab office buildings and supermarkets in the Valley. Preservation professionals we spoke to off the record seem to think the brothers are not a threat to their historic buildings, but are also not likely to spend millions restoring them.

President and CEO Robert Hanasab once tried to demolish a Brentwood home designed by pioneering Black architect Paul R. Williams before neighbors, including Disney chair Bob Iger, teamed up to have the house declared a Historic-Cultural Monument. The Hanasabs also run a film location company renting out their buildings and once had a chain of fast casual restaurants called Cabbage Patch that were definitely not hip nightclubs. They refused to comment for this story.

The doors of Clifton’s have been mostly closed for the last year with the exception of special events around holidays. Last Halloween, the Hanasabs threw their first event in the space, which does not appear to have turned the tide. On April 1, they applied for the transfer of the venue’s multiple liquor licenses. Meieran is staying on as a consultant.

Is Clifton’s closed for good this time? “I wouldn’t say it’s gone,” Meieran says. “It’s been a difficult, trying environment. I don’t have to explain how difficult 7th and Broadway is. For business to succeed it has to be relatively predictable and consistent. One day we would have a curfew, one day would be a riot and one day you’d have your door smashed open. We had staff members who were assaulted. People stay away.

Fans online plead with Clifton’s to bring back the cafeteria or to just let them inside to marvel at the beautiful spaces he created in the former upstairs offices. “You need X number of people plus utilities and cleaning and security just to open the doors,” Meieran says. “It’s literally just math. Forget about whether you have sales or how many drinks or show tickets you need to sell. It’s a huge number.”

During the era the Clinton family ran the chain, Cliftons expanded all over the county. Their location in Century City featured a replica of the art deco Los Angeles Stock Exchange, while the West Covina store paid tribute to Charles Dickens, and the plant-filled dining room was called “The Greenery.”

Meieran agrees that a community was fostered in the vast dining rooms, where groups like the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society fed young minds like Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen while they ate. He says these stories are the enduring legacy of Clifton’s rather than their cuisine. “It was a place to be nourished in a creative spiritual way,” he says. “Not just being nourished by meatloaf.”

Is there a new Clifton’s in the future? “Clifton’s had 12 locations at one point. There are certainly more opportunities in other places other than that location,” Meieran says. “I believe in the brand, the concept and the legacy but that was never tied to one specific place.”

[ Edited by leevigraham on 2026-04-24 02:58:46 ]