Here we have a plate from Clifton’s Pacific Seas Cafeteria, 618 South Olive Street, downtown Los Angeles. Note the words at the bottom: DINE FREE UNLESS DELIGHTED. Clifton’s was a chain of LA cafeterias that opened at the nadir of the depression. Unwilling to turn away a guest just because they couldn’t pay, Clifton’s instituted a “Pay What You Wish” policy. Ironically, very few people paid nothing. At a time when dignity was scarce, the pride taken in the ability to pay for one’s meal, if only a few cents, was valuable.
I think this is an interesting detail, too – “The GARDEN for meditation”
Here we have a plate from Clifton’s Pacific Seas Cafeteria, 618 South Olive Street, downtown Los Angeles. Note the words at the bottom: DINE FREE UNLESS DELIGHTED. Clifton’s was a chain of LA cafeterias that opened at the nadir of the depression. Unwilling to turn away a guest just because they couldn’t pay, Clifton’s instituted a “Pay What You Wish” policy. Ironically, very few people paid nothing. At a time when dignity was scarce, the pride taken in the ability to pay for one’s meal, if only a few cents, was valuable.
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