The Pacific Seas revives Clifton’s tradition of celebrating the Golden Age of Travel. When he first opened the original Pacific Seas in 1932, Clifford Clinton sought to nourish the public’s spirit, deeply demoralized by the effects of the Great Depression. He felt that the intrigue of travel to far off places could give his guests a respite from their incomprehensible realities. Guests responded so passionately to his introduction of palm trees to his Clifton’s location on Olive, he decided to do something revolutionary. He transformed the entire environment into a mythical South Seas adventure; a jungle oasis in the midst of Downtown’s Urban Jungle. The environment he created included neon palm trees, waterfalls and authentic South Seas artifacts. Shortly after, Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic created their legendary bars—later to become known as the birth of Tiki and a particularly Californian twist on Polynesian legend and culture. The Pacific Seas embodies the energy and exuberance of the original— a way to experience the Golden Age of Travel without leaving Downtown Los Angeles. It also pays homage to Polynesian and Tiki Classics no longer with us, from Bahooka and its maze of fish tanks and canoes to Tiki Bob’s and its carved icons and a plethora of long lost South Seas fantasy environments that live on only in dreams. The Pacific Seas invites guests on an adventure—not to a time or a place, but to a mindset. When guests enter Clifton’s Deco Map Room they are guided to a land of the exotic, of the mysterious, of the unknown. A land that exists only on Downtown’s Broadway in LA’s Historic Core.