If you had to name your favorite object in a Southern California restaurant -- we're talking a painting, a sculpture, a fountain, or anything design-related -- what would it be?
It's a tricky question, because our whimsy-loving city offers a plenitude of wacky choices. Us? We've always been partial to that fishing bear by the stairs at Clifton's Cafeteria.
Now the bear and his forest buddies are due to get a whole new set of friends in the form of puffer fishes and tiki statues and life preservers and shells. If you're thinking, "huh, that sounds more Bahooka than Clifton's" guess what? You are 100% correct.
The recently shuttered Rosemead favorite, which called it a night (and forever) earlier this month, will have a second life, in a way, when Clifton's Cafeteria reopens later this year. Chris Nichols, our city's dapper plug-in to all that is kitschy and classy, reported on Thursday, March 21 that Clifton's honcho Andrew Meieran bought a swath of Bahookan decor upon the restaurant's closing.
Meaning? When Clifton's, which is undergoing a mondo-major renovation, makes its re-debut, Bahooka buffs will see some of their favorite bits of decor gracing the Broadway landmark.
It's a heartwarming asterisk, for sure, to a story that made many vintage eatery-loving people gnash their teeth.
But it isn't the only example of familiar design details ending up in a totally different business. Consider that the iconic CALIFORNIA sign, the one that sat in front of Disney California Adventure for over a decade, was donated to the Cal Expo in Sacramento in 2012.
The Scene
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(Actually, several California Adventure pieces ended up in new places during the theme park's recent re-haul. Here's the full list.)
Our favorite things? Sometimes they do live on, just elsewhere. Even better, too, when they remain in the public eye for everybody's further enjoyment.
