HCM #997. Arthur W. Larson's 1928 Spanish Colonial Revival on Los Feliz Boulevard, and the cafeteria king who fought City Hall from its kitchen.
What is the Clifford Clinton residence in Los Feliz?
The Clifford Clinton residence at 5470 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles 90027, is Historic-Cultural Monument #997, a Spanish Colonial Revival estate designed by architect Arthur W. Larson in 1928. It was the home of Clifford E. Clinton, the founder of Clifton's Cafeterias and the reformer whose corruption investigation brought down a Los Angeles mayor in 1938. The city designated it on May 18, 2011.
Some Los Feliz landmarks earn their monument number on architecture alone. This one earned it twice: once for what Arthur W. Larson drew in 1928, and once for what happened inside it a decade later, when the man who fed Depression-era Los Angeles for free decided to take on the most corrupt city government in America. If you have ever driven Los Feliz Boulevard and wondered what lives behind that long run of hedge between the Oaks and Laughlin Park, this is the house, and any Los Feliz realtor who cares about the neighborhood's history should be able to tell you its story. Debbie Pisaro tells it below.
The house does not perform for the street. A hedged and gated frontage runs roughly 230 feet along the boulevard, which is its own kind of statement on a stretch where most lots announce themselves. Behind the hedge: red clay rooflines, Juliette balconies, decorative ironwork, tiled courtyards, and the kind of quiet that money alone does not buy in this city. It is part of the same monument roster as the Ennis House, and Debbie Pisaro profiles the whole series at Los Feliz historic homes.
The house Larson built in 1928
Arthur W. Larson designed the estate at the peak of the Spanish Colonial Revival wave, when the flats and lower hillsides of Los Feliz were filling in with the romantic Mediterranean houses that still set the neighborhood's tone. Larson is one of the quieter names in the LA canon. His documented work includes Spanish Colonial Revival courtyard apartment architecture in Hollywood, and this commission is his most visible surviving residence.
Inside, the details are the argument. A classic magnesite entry opens to a formal living room with a coffered ceiling, a grand fireplace, and stained glass windows. The dining room carries a stained glass picture window that frames the front courtyard like a painting. There is a paneled office with its own fireplace and a stenciled ceiling, and the kitchen still holds its original robin's egg blue tile, wood countertops, and a butler's pantry with period lighting. That blue tile is the detail Debbie Pisaro points out first on any walkthrough of a house from this era: nearly a century of kitchen renovations swept tile like this out of almost every 1920s house in Los Angeles, and here it simply survived.
In 1936 the property gained a pool, a sun deck, and a bath house. Hold that date. The reason for the pool is the best part of the whole story, and it comes after the bombs.
Who was Clifford Clinton, and why does his Los Feliz home matter?
Clifford E. Clinton (1900-1969) was the founder of Clifton's Cafeterias and the civic reformer whose grand jury investigation toppled Los Angeles Mayor Frank Shaw in the 1938 recall election. His Los Feliz home matters because it is where he lived through that fight, and because the city judged both the man and the architecture worth a monument number.
Clinton arrived from San Francisco in 1933 and bought the Boos Brothers Cafeteria on Broadway, renaming it Clifton's Brookdale. He had spent part of his childhood in China with his missionary parents, where he saw starvation up close, and he built that memory into his business. Through the worst of the Depression, no diner was turned away from a Clifton's for lack of money.
That line was printed on every check at the Brookdale. It was not marketing. It was policy, and the cafeteria survived anyway, then grew into a Los Angeles institution that still stands on Broadway today.
Then his life turned into the plot of an LA noir novel, except every word of it is documented. Appointed to the Los Angeles County Grand Jury in 1937, Clinton began pulling at the threads connecting City Hall, the police department, and organized vice. He landed in open war with Mayor Frank Shaw and Police Chief James E. Davis. The machine answered the way machines did in 1937: a bomb went off in the kitchen of this house. Months later, a car bomb nearly killed Harry Raymond, the former LAPD detective investigating for Clinton, and the trail led straight back to a captain in the department's own spy squad.
Clinton did not stop. The public outrage that followed powered the 1938 recall of Mayor Shaw, the first successful recall of a mayor of a major American city, the fall of Chief Davis, a new City Charter, and the election of reform judge Fletcher Bowron. Clinton was not yet forty. After World War II he turned the same stubbornness on world hunger, founding an organization to develop low-cost, high-nutrition food.
And the pool. In 1936, with the fight already gathering, Clinton added the pool, sun deck, and bath house so that neighborhood kids could swim alongside his own three children. The deco pool still holds water and holds the point: the house of the man who fed strangers was also the house where the neighborhood swam.
What does HCM status mean for a home like this one?
Historic-Cultural Monument designation is the City of Los Angeles's formal recognition that a site carries historic, cultural, or architectural significance. For an owner, it means exterior alterations are reviewed by the Cultural Heritage Commission, and it can open the door to a Mills Act contract, the property tax agreement that can meaningfully lower the bill on a qualifying historic home. Debbie Pisaro walks through the full process in how to get HCM designation in Los Feliz and the tax side in selling a Mills Act home in Los Feliz.
The question buyers always ask is whether the designation helps or hurts the price. The honest answer is that it depends on the house and the buyer pool, and the data cuts against the common fear: the analysis in does historic designation hurt home value in Los Feliz covers it in detail. For a pedigree property on the boulevard between Laughlin Park and Franklin Hills, provenance is not a burden. It is the marketing.
Los Feliz holds one of the densest concentrations of designated monuments in the city, and the full roster lives in the Los Feliz HCM guide. Number 997 is one of the newer additions, designated in 2011, and one of the few honoring a civic reformer rather than an architect's signature alone.
HCM designation does not freeze a home in place. It reviews exterior changes, generally permits interior renovation, and can qualify the owner for Mills Act property tax savings. Verify the specific contract terms with the City and your advisor before you count on the numbers.
A word on the market, kept deliberately brief because this post should still be useful in five years: houses like this trade rarely, and when they do they draw buyers who track off-market homes in Los Feliz as closely as the MLS. If you are trying to place a number on a historic property, start with what is my Los Feliz home worth, then talk to someone who has actually walked houses of this caliber. Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across Los Feliz and the surrounding neighborhoods. Her architect profiles live at architectural homes, and her readers' consensus pick for the best real estate agent in Los Feliz is a case she is happy to make in person.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Clifford Clinton residence?
The Clifford Clinton residence stands at 5470 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027, on the north side of the boulevard in Los Feliz. A hedged and gated frontage of roughly 230 feet screens the Spanish Colonial Revival estate from the street.
Who designed the Clifford Clinton residence in Los Feliz?
Architect Arthur W. Larson designed the home in 1928 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. Larson's documented Los Angeles work also includes Spanish Colonial Revival courtyard apartment architecture in Hollywood, though his surviving record is thin compared with the neighborhood's marquee names.
Why is the Clifford Clinton residence a Historic-Cultural Monument?
The City of Los Angeles designated the home HCM #997 on May 18, 2011, recognizing both Arthur W. Larson's 1928 architecture and the civic legacy of Clifford Clinton, whose corruption investigation reshaped Los Angeles city government in 1938.
Who was Clifford Clinton?
Clifford E. Clinton (1900-1969) founded Clifton's Cafeterias in Los Angeles and refused to turn away Depression-era diners who could not pay. As a county grand juror he led the investigation that brought down Mayor Frank Shaw in the 1938 recall, surviving a bombing of this house's kitchen along the way.
What does HCM designation mean for a Los Feliz homeowner?
HCM designation means the Cultural Heritage Commission reviews exterior alterations to protect historic character, while interior renovations are generally permitted. Qualifying owners may pursue a Mills Act contract, which can meaningfully reduce property taxes in exchange for preservation commitments.
Can you get Mills Act tax savings on a Los Feliz historic home?
Yes, qualifying owners of designated historic homes in Los Angeles can apply for a Mills Act contract, which typically reduces property taxes substantially in exchange for maintaining the home's historic character. The city caps new contracts annually, so timing and application quality matter.
Is the Clifford Clinton residence connected to Clifton's Cafeteria downtown?
Yes. Clifford Clinton, who lived in this Los Feliz home, founded Clifton's Cafeterias after buying the Boos Brothers Cafeteria on Broadway in 1933 and renaming it Clifton's Brookdale. The Broadway cafeteria, later revived as Clifton's Republic, remains a downtown Los Angeles landmark.
Who is a good full-service real estate agent in Los Feliz?
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran, founder of Coastline 840, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader, representing buyers and sellers across Los Feliz and the surrounding neighborhoods. She specializes in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes, including the neighborhood's Historic-Cultural Monuments.
The Clifford Clinton residence is the rare monument where the biography outruns the architecture, and the architecture is no slouch. It sits a short drive from the rest of the series, all of it mapped, all of it walkable in pieces. Explore the neighborhood's full story at Los Feliz Living, and when you want a Los Feliz realtor who knows which hedge hides which history, you know where to find her.
View on the Los Feliz mapCoastline 840 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90026 · DRE #01369110
Debbie Pisaro, DRE #01369110, is the founder of Coastline 840, an independent California brokerage, and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader with 24 years of experience in architectural, historic, and design-forward homes. She writes about California real estate at debbiepisaro.com, losfelizliving.com, and coastline840.com. More at about Los Feliz Living. Published July 2026.