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They lived on their own for a few years and then moved
into a house at 1907 Haste St. from which they moved to
Los Angeles in 1931.
Clifford and Nelda had three children; they were all
born in Berkeley at Alta Bates hospital. The first child,
Edmond J., was born 15 June 1921 on his grandfather’s
birthday so they named him after his grandfather, Edmond
J. He was later a vice-president of the Meals for Millions
Foundation. He graduated from USC–after 17 years of night
school. The 2nd child, Jean M., was born on 12 June 1923.
Donald was the 3rd child, born 17 Dec. 1926.
In about 1921 Clifford became a manager at his father’s
restaurant company. Then in about 1928, when Clifford was
age 28, his father, E.J., wanted to sell his stock (ownership)
in his restaurant company to three of his close relatives:
Clifford (his son), Paul Mills (his son-in-law), and Robb
Crist (the son of his second wife); each of the three ended
up with equal shares. However Clifford became the
president of corporation that owned the chain of seven
restaurants in San Francisco.
E.J. (the former missionary) was now free to invest in a
mining venture in Bodie, California, now a ghost town near
Bridgeport (south of Lake Tahoe), where he stayed for
about two years and lost his venture capital.
In San Francisco, Clifford began to express his more
generous and selfless ideas for running the restaurants.
While he was attempting some new approaches it became
apparent that it was an incompatible threesome. The basic
problem was that he wanted a more cooperative working
arrangement with his employees, who he wanted to call
“associates” rather than “employees.” He wanted to
introduce profit sharing, medical benefits, etc. They would
participate in the restaurant business rather than just work
for it. John Cash Penney (J.C. Penney, the founder of the
very successful chain of American department stores) and
his ideas, his organization and life story had a big influence
as well. By this time he may also have been thinking about
how he could run a restaurant as a business but also never
turn away a hungry person who could not afford a meal.
In about 1930 (after he had looked around a bit in
southern California and was thinking of expanding in that
area) Clifford’s restaurant partners voted to retire his stock
(it was a partnership, not a corporation); they forced him
out, telling him that his ideas were a little too radical for
them–they’re too far out. But they agreed to pay him
something over a period of several years.
Fortunately Clifford and his wife, Nelda, had saved up
several thousand dollars, which became their nest-egg to
start over.
In 1931 he and his wife moved from Berkeley to Los
Angeles, where he took over the lease of a cafeteria
operated by Boos Brothers. Dad had flirted with the location
earlier and had liked it but Boos Bros. still operated it.
When the landlord got notice that Boos Bros. wanted out,
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 168
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the landlord asked dad if he’d be interested. The answer was
yes! and it was in fully operational mode. He, mother, and a
handful of others from the San Francisco cafeterias drove
down a few days ahead of the transfer. They kept on a few
of the previous Boos Bros.’ employees and opened under a
new lease July 1, 1931. The Boos people operated it until
the end and it was virtually seamless transition, with no
‘down time.’ They did no remodeling until 1939.
“When mom and dad arrived in Los Angeles they
rented an apartment on Winston near the cafeteria, across
from the public library, as they were working 14-16 hour
days. Mother was working right alongside dad, while the
Patterson’s (Nelda’s parents) took care of us kids in
Berkeley for six months. Later in 1931 they rented a house
on Westchester in Los Angeles which accommodated the
family of five plus the two Pattersons to make seven. Mom
and dad were still fully occupied getting the place going.”
The cafeteria opened in 1931 and was named “Clifton’s
Cafeteria: The Cafeteria of the Golden Rule.” The cafeteria
kept this name until 1939. His first cafeteria opened as the
Great Depression was getting really bad. It was at this
original Clifton’s Cafeteria (in about 1932-33), that 10,000
people who could not pay were fed for free. People
predicted that he would fail if he kept on feeding people like
this. This urgency (“Necessity is the mother of invention”)
led him to figure out a way to keep faith with his inner core
promise that “no one would be turned away hungry.”
So in about 1932-33 Clifford started the Penny
Cafeteria (also called Penny Caveteria). About 2 million
meals were fed there during the two years that it was open.
In about 1932-33 Clifford became a Presbyterian;
perhaps the main reason was that the family purchased and
moved to a house 245 South Wilton Place that was not far
from a Presbyterian church–4-5 blocks away at 3rd Street
and Western. But one of the missions were he worked in
China may have had Presbyterian affiliation. The whole
family regularly attended public worship at this church. The
children remained Presbyterians for most of their lives.
Clifford’s life and his religion were one; his life was not
divided into compartments, with business in one and his
spiritual life in another. In particular, his commitment to the
Golden Rule was especially strong and deep. Continued.
368. Clinton, Donald. 2010. From the life of Clifford E.
Clinton (Interview) (Continued–Part III, 1935-1969).
SoyaScan Notes. Dec. 19. Compiled by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Continued: In July 1935, Clifford’s second
cafeteria in Los Angeles, named Clifton’s Brookdale,
opened to the public. Clifford took the entire five-story
building (over 40,000 square feet at 648 South Broadway)
under lease; it had previously been a Boos Bros. Cafeteria.
Remodeling and redecorating commenced soon thereafter,
mostly at night but they never closed during that phase.