Clifton's Cafeteria - Los Angeles, CA

Clifton's Cafeteria, once part of a chain of eight Clifton's restaurants, is the oldest surviving cafeteria style eatery in Los Angeles. and the largest public cafeteria in the world. Founded in 1931 by Clifford Clinton, the name was created by combining "Clifford" and "Clinton" to produce "Clifton's"

On the ground floor, the revamped cafeteria should feel familiar to anyone who's ever grazed at the deli section of a high-end supermarket - except that this cafeteria will stay open until 2 a.m. every day. The ground floor is also occupied by The Mill bakery, which serves Verve coffee, and a gift shop stocked with wine, chocolate, dates and other California-produced edibles.
On the second floor you'll find the Monarch Bar, which serves craft beer, sodas and floats, as well as a miniature chapel designed for kids. (Sadly, the neon cross that illuminated the original was broken during renovations.) The other major attraction will be hard to miss. At the center of an atrium that Meieran cut into the building stands a 40-foot-tall fake redwood tree. Its base is located near the Monarch Bar on the second level and it reaches up to the ceiling with reinforced branches designed to hold aerialists.

The third floor is home to the Gothic Bar, which features a booth named after sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury, a patron of the original Clifton's who became a pal of Meieran's. Belly up to a 19th-century gothic altar-turned-bar for cocktails created by bartenders Damian Windsor and Dustin Newsome. The third floor also features Clinton Hall, a ballroom space intended for private events, and lots of taxidermy dioramas created in consultation with experts from the Natural History Museum.

UPDATE : Clifton’s Republic ceased serving food at the first floor cafeteria.