'Historic' Clifton's sign is in a DTLA back alley. But it's not junk, owner says

Clifton's, the legendary downtown Los Angeles mainstay that began as a Depression-era cafeteria, has had its shares of nips, tucks and makeovers in its nearly century-long history.

Its latest reincarnation is Clifton's Republic, a drinking establishment that harkens to its idiosyncratic past while promising a fantastical, kaleidoscopic future.

Since its relaunch this year, three lounges have now opened, with the remaining five set to debut by March 2025.

And the sign that once graced the front of the building now hangs in an alley behind the restaurant. But despite rumors to the contrary, it's not junk.

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Andrew Meiran, the building's current owner, is reminding the public of what he sees as the significance of the sign and the property. And he's warning would-be thieves and vandals to keep their hands off.

The vertical Clifton's sign has been sitting in the back alley of the restaurant since around 2010.

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Photo by jeffkingla via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr

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"It's so beautiful and dramatic, and it gives it all of that narrative and that history," Meiran said. "It's important that people respect these things and really do keep them as placemakers and part of their cultural and historic context."

The story behind the sign

When Meiran took over the business in 2010, one of the many things he did was take down the cafeteria's namesake neon sign.

"It's about two-and-a-half, almost three stories tall, and it weighs over a ton," Meiran said. "It's this incredible historic sign."

The sign had been on the facade of the Broadway building since the 1960s, when it was moved from Clifton's very first location on Olive Street.

Meiran's idea was to restore the sign to its original 1930s period of influence, before eventually hanging the thing back up. But he couldn't get the permits for reinstallation.

"We decided to go ahead and salvage and keep the sign and save it in the back alley," he said.

It's been tucked away there for about a decade, behind locked gates, safe and sound — save for a couple times when it had to be moved for movie shoots in the alley, Meiran said.

'Somebody was trying to wedge it off'

That's until several days ago, when Meiran got a phone call from someone in the neighborhood, asking if he had commissioned work on the sign because "somebody was trying to wedge it off the building."

The person or people left before they could cause any damage. But the incident was the latest in a series of odd events surrounding the vintage sign that added up to more than just a coincidence.

"I had been told that there was some rumor out there that we were getting rid of the sign," Meiran said, adding that someone had offered to take it off his hands.

"And I said, 'We're keeping it as part of our legacy and our history. So no, we're not getting rid of it.'"

Rumors on the internet

Meiran said he doesn't know how or where the rumor first got started.

But visitors of the Los Angeles subreddit might remember a post (since deleted) from a month ago that suggested the sign was free for the taking.

The title read, "It’s in the alley if anyone wants it."

Quickly, readers came to the sign's defense, dispelling the intimation that it had been discarded. The conversation, like so many Reddit conversations, then splintered off into Clifton's memories, neon sign reveries and hot takes and non-sequiturs.

Just a few days ago, another post went up on the subreddit, after Clifton's Republic posted about the suspected theft or vandalism. Another round of the same reactions ensued.

Meiran said nothing on the internet surprises him.

"When we first took over Clifton's and started doing work, there was a rumor that we were going to turn it into a parking lot," he said.

But he does want to make one thing clear: The sign is spoken for.