The Street

Canter's

Façades

History

ARTHUR MORTIMER: FAIRFAX COMMUNITY MURAL

1985 - Acrylic, 7 panels, 12' x 110' - Mortimer served as Designer and Artistic Supervisor. Collaborating Artists - Stephen Raul Anaya, and Peri Fleischman. Adult School Coordinating Artist - Sandra B. Moss.  Participants included twenty-three adults and nineteen teenagers.  A collage in black and white, based on old photographs, depicting the history of Los Angeles Jews. This inter-generational service project involved seniors and youth, both Jewish and non-Jewish, from the Fairfax neighborhood.

Note:

Historically, the Fairfax District has been a center of the city's Jewish community. In the early 20th century, 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 the addition of The Grove, an outdoor mall built on the former parking lot for the market, has brought new life and new visitors to the Farmers Market daily. 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 Canter's.

There's a lot of Los Angeles history here, and Sandy Koufax.  It's on the south wall of Canter's - these shots were taken in the parking lot there -

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If you use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me

These were shot with a Nikon D70 - using lens (1) AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or (2) AF Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto, or after 5 June 2006, (3) AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor, 55-200 mm f/4-5.6G ED. They were modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0

The original large-format raw files are available upon request.