L.A. TACO Neighborhood Guides: The Fairfax District

This guide to the restaurants, history, and sights of L.A.'s Fairfax District is sponsored by Cofax.

FIRST, A SHORT HISTORY OF FAIRFAX, BY ARTIST ADAM VILLACIN

Fairfax Avenue was originally named Crescent Avenue when first established in 1888.

In 1912, the City Council was going to change the name to West Street, but locals protested and they went with Fairfax instead, naming it after Thomas, 6th Lord Fairfax, the Baron of Cameron, a British noble and neighbor of George Washington in Virginia.

The first Canter’s Deli was in Jersey City. The Canter family moved to L.A. and opened the new location on Brooklyn Avenue in Boyle Heights. (Brooklyn Avenue was later renamed Cesar Chavez Avenue, which will eventually be renamed itself.) After World War II, the deli moved to Fairfax. It occupies a building that used to house a movie theater that showed Yiddish language films. The deli’s current co-owner was childhood friends with Slash and wrote a book about G N' R.