Clifton's Republic is what happens when a building from 1935 survives long enough for its eccentricities to become virtues. A multi-level fever dream on Broadway, it is part tiki bar, part forest diorama, part accidental museum of LA's relationship with fantasy. Redwood trees grow through the floors. Taxidermy elk observe your cocktail choices without judgment. Each level offers a different decade's interpretation of escapism, from the ground-floor nostalgia to the Pacific Seas tiki lounge upstairs, where the drinks come in vessels that defy gravity and the decor suggests a Polynesian fever that never quite broke. You could wander for an hour and not see the same room twice.
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Tiki drinks on the upper floors lean toward faithful reproductions of the canon. The lower bar pours more straightforward cocktails. The Pacific Seas floor is the destination; everything else is preamble.
Afternoons are surprisingly calm for exploring the building's many curiosities without a crowd. Weekend evenings turn chaotic, but for a place this strange, chaos is arguably the correct atmosphere.
Easy to spend an hour just wandering between levels. Multiple bars across multiple floors means you can usually find a seat somewhere. The history of this building is as interesting as anything in your glass.