This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

In Search of Fairfax

CeleberateFairfax

This page is referenced by:

In Search of Fairfax

Through digital mapping as well as qualitative and quantitive analysis, “In Search of Fairfax” examines how Jews and non-Jews alike built communities and interacted with one another in the Fairfax neighborhood from the 1930s through the 1990s. Inter- and intra-group negotiations over the role and structure of this neighborhood generated multiple ideas about the neighborhood’s religious, social, and cultural purpose. Specifically, "In Search of Fairfax" focuses on the ways in which an array of neighborhood stakeholders operated in tension and in tandem with each other in their effort to define who and what belonged within the Fairfax “community” and what exactly made the neighborhood “Jewish.” Of particular interest is contextualizing Fairfax within a broader metropolitan setting. This entails demonstrating how large-scale trends such as suburbanization, racial integration, and gentrification transformed Fairfax as both a physical space and a conceptual landscape as well as comparing Fairfax with other heavily Jewish areas and non-Jewish "ethnic" neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

A few caveats about the methodology and the terminology employed. Throughout most of the project, I refer to the neighborhood under consideration as "Beverly-Fairfax," not the "Fairfax District." The reasons for this are historical: the sources that I came across from the 1950s through the 1980s typically refer to the area as the "Beverly-Fairfax" neighborhood. This Google N-Gram chart reinforces this point: during the latter half of the twentieth century, "Beverly-Fairfax" was used with more frequency than "Fairfax District."

It was only starting in the 1990s that the term "Fairfax District" began to appear with more frequency. When appropriate, I refer to the neighborhood as the "Fairfax District." (The name of the neighborhood continues to evolve: the Los Angeles Times' recent Mapping L.A. project divides the area under consideration into two -- Fairfax and Beverly Grove.)

Also relevant, distinct maps and descriptions provide different boundaries for the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood. For the purposes of this study, I will use the boundaries that the Vitalize Fairfax project employed--from Wilshire Boulevard north to Santa Monica Boulevard, from La Brea Boulevard to La Cienega Boulevard.
For those interested in learning about the different ways in which various sources have defined the borders and boundaries for the Fairfax neighborhood, refer to the Fairfax Maps Resource Guide.

Much of the research for this project was conducted in local archives such as the Barbara Myerhoff papers, the Mayor Tom Bradley Administration papers, 1920-1933, and the Western States Jewish History Archive, 1800-2004; the quantitive data for the maps largely comes from the Jewish community studies conducted by Fred Massarik and Bruce Phillips as well as U.S. census. While thorough in its analysis, it does not claim to be comprehensive in its treatment of the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood. I would love to hear comments and feedback about the project. I also encourage individuals to submit additional photographs, essays, and stories about the Fairfax neighborhood; my hope is to develop a section of the "In Search of Fairfax" project that features contributions from those who lived and experienced the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood. For submissions, please email cjs@humnet.ucla.edu.
Celebrate Fairfax!
The fear that Fairfax would lose its distinct Jewish character started to mount in the early 1980s. In an effort to promote the neighborhood as an “ethnic showcase area" and market Fairfax Avenue as a culturally authentic shopping destination, the Vitalize Fairfax Committee organized “Celebrate Fairfax!” The occasion, held at the Fairfax High School Auditorium on November 2, 1980, was designated as the official kickoff event for both the Vitalize Fairfax project and the Los Angeles Bicentennial. The gala exemplified the impulse to market Fairfax through its Jewish heterogeneity and its mixture of “traditional” Ashkenanzi and Israeli culture. As one such flyer for the event explained, “[Fairfax] is...kosher butcher shops and bakeries….falafel and humus. It speaks with a voice that is Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian. FAIRFAX represents the past and the present to the Jewish community of Los Angeles and is now at long last addressing itself to the future!”

The event was designed to mimic the look and feel of a classic movie premiere. As such,“Celebrate Fairfax" featured a short film “By the Rivers of Babylon” about the Fairfax community, a jazz dance performance, Yiddish theatrical presentations, and a gala street party. The event also included the presentation of Israel’s Bicentennial gift to the City of Los Angeles in the form of poster by famed Israeli artist Yaakov Agam. Perhaps due to the fact that the ticket prices for “Celebrate Fairfax" were beyond what most local residents could afford, the event, much to the chagrin of its organizers, did not sellout. And yet, “Celebrate Fairfax” introduced and represented a new form of neighborhood engagement that sought to publicly mark and designate the area as a Jewish space. In the years following "Celebrate Fairfax” community organizations sponsored and spearheaded additional neighborhood-based cultural heritage projects such as the creation of the Fairfax Community Mural, the renaming the Fairfax Avenue/ Beverly Boulevard intersection Raoul Wallenberg Square (in honor of the Swedish Diplomat who helped rescue Hungarian Jews during the Second World War), and the "Treasures of Fairfax" festival, all of which highlighted and promoted the link between the area and its Jewish character.

Sources: Celebrate Fairfax! (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Hal Sloane Associates, 1980); Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, The Fairfax Community Mural: An Intergenerational Project Celebrating the History of the Jews of Los Angeles. (Los Angeles: Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, 1985); Mathis Chazanov, “Jewish Historical Mural--Sans Color--to Be Unveiled Sunday: Dedication Sunday,” Los Angeles Times, September 5, 1985; Mathis Chazanov, “Keeping Memories Alive: Fairfax Intersection Named for Swedish Envoy Who Saved Thousands Wallenberg: Memorial Square,” Los Angeles Times, September 25, 1986; Chazanov, “Mural Panel Studies Jews’ Life in L.A.,” Los Angeles Times, October 25, 1984; Lynn C Kronzek and Southern California Jewish Historical Society, Fairfax Home, a Community, a Way of Life (Los Angeles: Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, 1990); Nancy Ackbarali, "Change and the Elderly in Fairfax," box 133, Barbara G. Myerhoff papers, University Archives, Special Collections, USC Libraries.
Exploring "In Search of Fairfax"

Through digital mapping as well as qualitative and quantitive analysis, “In Search of Fairfax” examines how Jews and non-Jews alike built communities and interacted with one another in the Fairfax neighborhood from the 1930s through the 1990s. Inter- and intra-group negotiations over the role and structure of this neighborhood generated multiple ideas about the neighborhood’s religious, social, and cultural purpose.

Specifically, "In Search of Fairfax" focuses on the ways in which an array of neighborhood stakeholders operated in tension and in tandem with each other in their effort to define who and what belonged within the Fairfax “community” and what exactly made the neighborhood “Jewish.” Of particular interest is contextualizing Fairfax within a broader metropolitan setting. This entails demonstrating how large-scale trends such as suburbanization, racial integration, and gentrification transformed Fairfax as both a physical space and a conceptual landscape as well as comparing Fairfax with other heavily Jewish areas and non-Jewish "ethnic" neighborhoods in Los Angeles.

Much of the research for this project was conducted in local archives such as the Barbara Myerhoff papers, the Mayor Tom Bradley Administration papers, 1920-1933, and the Western States Jewish History Archive, 1800-2004; the quantitive data for the maps largely comes from the Jewish community studies conducted by Fred Massarik and Bruce Phillips as well as U.S. Census Bureau. While thorough in its analysis, "In Search of Fairfax" does not claim to be comprehensive in its treatment of the Beverly-Fairfax neighborhood.

To share comments and pose questions about the project and the history of the Fairfax neighborhood, please email m.Baumgarten@ucla.edu.

----
Dr. Max D. Baumgarten is the author and curator of "In Search of Fairfax." He recently completed his Ph.D. from the Department of History at UCLA, where he wrote his dissertation on Jewish politics in Los Angeles during the final decades of the twentieth century. He would like to thank Dr. Caroline Luce, Albert Kochaphum, and David Wu for their valuable feedback and assistance in developing the "In Search of Fairfax" project.