The Fairfax District is an area of neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles, California, that is roughly bordered by West Hollywood on the north, La Brea Avenue on the east, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills on the west and Wilshire Boulevard on the south.

Historically, the Fairfax District has been a center of the city's Jewish community. In the early 1900s, looking for new housing and fleeing an increasing influx of immigrants from Mexico, middle class Jewish families moved west from Boyle Heights, City Terrace , East Los Angeles and Montebello to the area around Fairfax Avenue, a street they lined with Kosher delis, restaurants, butcher's and baker's shops and fish markets, creating a unique village in the heart of the city.

In 1935, there were four synagogues in the Fairfax District; by 1945, there were twelve. After World War II, many more Jews, a lot of them Holocaust survivors, began to populate the area. As more families moved in, religious schools and a Jewish Community Center sprang up. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Fairfax District was the center of Jewish life in Los Angeles. Recently arrived Jewish immigrants from Israel and Russia gave the area more of a cosmopolitan air.

As the next generation of Jews grew up and went off to college they favored white-collar careers to ownership of the traditional shops. While Los Angeles is still home to a vibrant Jewish community, the center of Jewish life has shifted southwest to nearby Pico and Robertson Boulevards. The Farmers Market at Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street still retains an Old World atmosphere, with open-air vegetable stalls and cafes, and many Jewish residents of the area continue to frequent the market as part of their shopping or kibbitzing routine, which retains an attraction for many seniors and immigrants; but Fairfax Avenue, once lined with kosher delis and shops, now holds only a few storefronts reminiscent of the old days, including the famous deli/restaurant named Canter's.

In the 1980s, Melrose Avenue turned into a street of funky shops, restaurants and galleries slightly similar to parts of SoHo and Greenwich Village in New York City, but with a flair all its own.

Landmarks and interesting spots

• Beverly Center Mall
• Canter's
• CBS Television City
• Cedars Sinai Medical Center
• Fairfax High School
• Farmers Market
• The Grove
• The Improv
• Pan-Pacific Park

See also

• Pan-Pacific Auditorium

External links

• FairfaxLA.com