One Of Los Angeles' Most Lively, Historic Boulevards Has Declined So Sharply It Feels Abandoned Now

In the heart of Los Angeles is one of its most historic and famed boulevards: Fairfax Avenue, synonymous with coolness and urban culture. HuffPost dubbed it "the coolest street in Los Angeles" in 2015, while Complex described it as the "mecca of streetwear." The mid-city Fairfax district has been a historically Jewish neighborhood since the 1920s. In the early 2000s, it transformed into an international hub of culture with the arrival of streetwear shops like Supreme, The Hundreds, and Crooks & Castles. While LA is notoriously not walkable (although the city's most walkable neighborhoods would beg to differ), Fairfax was always a place where you could easily stroll around (if you found parking, that is) because every block had a mix of shops, bars, venues, and restaurants, many of which were open late at night, a rarity in the City of Angels.

These days, the lines of people out the door of these world-famous stores have been replaced with real estate vacancies, as more and more Fairfax institutions are closing. This once-lively hub that was the place to be for those in the know now feels almost abandoned. It's a jarring sight, not only because of its super central location but also because of how different things were before. For those who experienced Fairfax in its heyday, visiting it today is like coming face to face with a ghost. Rents and costs of operation and living are rising all over LA, but it's hard not to wonder what else caused this historic boulevard to decline so sharply.

The opening of Supreme's West Coast flagship store on Fairfax Avenue in 2004 transformed the boulevard and the district almost overnight. Located just off of Rosewood Avenue, this shop of the underground skate brand started bringing customers in droves, transforming from an "only-the-cool-kids-know" line into a veritable status symbol for anyone willing to wait (and spend). The Hundreds, Huf, and Crooks & Castles all soon followed, turning Fairfax into the epicenter of streetwear fashion, not just in LA but worldwide, as it brought together skaters, hip-hop heads, and everyone interested in urban culture. 

Other establishments soon decided to take advantage of the area's new cache. Renowned chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (known as the "Two Dudes") opened their meat-heavy restaurant, Animal, in 2008, which quickly became one of LA's top food destinations and an internationally influential one at that. The dudes followed it up in 2015 with their beloved Italian spot, Jon & Vinny's, also on Fairfax. 

For years, Fairfax became an emblem of the melting pot of Los Angeles with its mix of locals and tourists across generations and backgrounds. After all, the neighborhood continued to maintain its Jewish history and heritage, as seen in the continued popularity of LA institutions like Diamond Bakery and Canter's Deli, the latter of which may not have as many years as Hollywood's oldest restaurant but has been feeding the city since 1931. What really set the street apart is how these older sites integrated with the newer ones to create a new type of Fairfax community.

The sudden decline of Fairfax came from a combination of factors. For one thing, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the neighborhood hard, as it lost its foot traffic for that period and people started turning to online shopping. Although it's definitely possible to enjoy a budget-friendly experience in LA, generally, the costs of rent and living have increased, making it difficult for small businesses to stay afloat and for consumers to spend their hard-earned cash on non-essentials. All of this has been exacerbated by nationwide inflation, which has increased the cost of basic ingredients like eggs, making it that much harder for restaurants in the area to remain open. 

In the early days of the pandemic, the boulevard was also a site of skirmishes between peaceful protestors and the police during the Black Lives Matter protests against police violence and the murder of George Floyd in 2020. A number of stores were looted and damaged, and some didn't reopen in the aftermath, as Fairfax started gaining a reputation as a crime-prone area.

Then, after almost 20 years of being one of the originators of Fairfax's streetwear culture, Supreme closed its doors and moved to the Sunset Strip in 2023. This, perhaps more than anything, had a huge effect on the area: Foot traffic decreased even more, and other stores like The Hundreds soon followed, closing in 2025. Animal, too, shuttered its doors in 2023, as did Diamond Bakery. Not everything has closed, as Canter's, Jon & Vinny's, and a few other places remain strong, but still, Fairfax has been left with a growing number of empty storefronts, leaving many to wonder what's next for the former streetwear mecca.