LA’s Fairfax District is being reshaped by rising…
Once a vibrant strip of mom-and-pop retailers and tentpole retailers at the middle of Los Angeles, Fairfax Avenue’s famed business hall is now a shell of its former self.
Steps from the Farmers Market and Rick Caruso’s tourist-packed The Grove, the district, home to legendary eating places like Canter’s Deli and Genghis Cohen, must be thriving — not going through a practically 20% emptiness charge.
But that’s merciless actuality in 2026, say determined business homeowners, who are now talking out about the growing quantity of blighted, empty storefronts — as leaseholders flee stubbornly high rents at the guts of one of the priciest business rental markets in the nation.
Jacqueline Canter is the co-owner of Canter’s Deli — a mainstay on the strip since the Fifties and a holdout amid hovering emptiness charges. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
“When I was a kid, the people who owned the properties were people who lived in the area,” said Nick Starr, who grew up in the neighborhood and owns Cofax Coffee on the struggling strip.
“Now it’s their children or their grandchildren. They’re really more interested in extracting the highest rent than they are of taking care of their properties,” he told the California Post.
Starr thinks landlords are merely asking for an excessive amount of money.
“I’m aware of at least two properties where the landlords are asking what I consider Beverly Hills rents for Mid-City property,” he said. “And so those properties have just been sitting vacant… in some cases for years.”
Some landlords are asking “Beverly Hills rents” for Mid-City property, one incredulous business proprietor told the California Post. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
When streetwear juggernaut Supreme arrived on Fairfax in 2004, it gave the road a complete new identification, bringing a youthful, hipper crowd.
After 19 years on the block, Supreme ditched Fairfax for Sunset Boulevard in 2023. Starr said the block has yet to get well from the loss.
“I think the block has been kind of trying to find its identity ever since that departure,” he explained.
Simon B., supervisor of sun shades store Hall of Frames, told the California Post that once Supreme left, small companies feeding off of that visitors went away too. He requested to withhold his full last title for privateness causes.
“People that have come here and then come again a few years later, they get shocked that so many shops are closed or gone away,” said Simon, who believes foot visitors has also decreased due to the rising reputation of online buying.
“The city has to clean up the joint. The place is trashed. A lot of the roads are not that good, parking scenarios not that good,” he continued.
The strip has been struggling for a quantity of years now — and business homeowners who’ve hung on have had enough. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
“The place is trashed,” the supervisor of Hall of Frames, a Fairfax Ave. sunglass store, told the California Post. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
A 2025 report printed by Power Commerce confirmed that the Fairfax District, which is usually thought of as the blocks between Santa Monica Blvd. and Beverly Blvd., had a retail emptiness charge of 19.5%.
The report confirmed business proprietor sentiment that the loss of Supreme — as effectively as competing streetwear model, The Hundreds — did important harm to local foot visitors.
The report also talked about lingering aftereffects from social unrest that hit the realm in the summer time of 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, as a contributor to the realm’s downfall.
A 2025 report confirmed that the district was battling a retail emptiness charge of practically 20%. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Citywide, Los Angeles had a retail emptiness charge of 5.83% in Q2 of 2026 — the very best in more than 10 years, according to another report distributed by Matthews, a business real estate company.
Just next door to Cofax, a piece of LA nightlife historical past is at risk of turning into another emptiness statistic.
The Dime LA, based in 2003 by actor and hip hop nightlife pioneer Andy Fiscella, is clinging to its Fairfax home — after a prolonged dispute with their landlord over rent.
Andy Fiscella, proprietor of The Dime, said his long-running nightlife spot is at risk of eviction. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
The Hollywood hang-out — the location of an notorious dustup between Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson in the mid-aughts — is at the moment searching for a new location after being told they’re getting the boot.
“The last couple years were tough on the business, and they’re tough on everybody,” says Fiscella, who co-owns the spot with Lucy Treadway. “Look at all the restaurants, bars that are closing. I mean, we were lucky to get to this point.”
After shedding some of their buyer base, The Dime started to fall behind on month-to-month rent funds — but said they had been always sure to fork over the necessary $600 late payment.
Fiscella said the last fefw years have been robust on the business — and the road. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
When hope was nearly misplaced, the membership and a new accomplice struck a deal with their landlord — to pay their $49,000 back rent stability by August 21.
Racing to pull together the money, Fiscella said that they had all the money by August 24 — just one business day later.
But the owner refused to take it, he said — and is now giving them the heave-ho.
After finally scrambling to pull together back rent, the owner wouldn’t settle for it one business day past the deadline. Fiscella said. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Their rent hadn’t immediately gone any larger these days, Fiscella famous — questioning aloud if another person might have provided more for the space.
The disillusioned companions said that they had a plan to improve the entrance of the membership — one that they hoped would revitalize a block that has now gone to bust.
“It’s so dead. It’s been suffering for a long time,” Treadway said of Fairfax.
“We have a whole outdoor dining, front patio vision that would be really wonderful for the block, and would help [the landlord’s] other properties. They have other properties sitting there vacant,” she said.
Numerous makes an attempt to communicate to The Dime’s landlord had been unsuccessful.
Leo Daube, a spokesperson for LA Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the realm, admitted that the road “desperately needs repair,” saying it certainly hit a tough patch post-pandemic.
“There was a lack of investment in the infrastructure along Fairfax for a long time, so the quality of the street is not good,” Daube told the California Post.
“It impacts how people feel about coming to the corridor and driving there, the whole experience,” he said.
Yaroslavsky has big plans for Fairfax, according to Daube.
The councilwoman not too long ago secured $2 million in state funding, via a price range invoice, to “completely rebuild and repave Fairfax”, including beautification measures.
LA Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky has secured $2 million in state funding to improve the road, a consultant told the California Post. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Release of the funds are subject to Governor Newsom’s signature, Daube said.
“It’s been very difficult to secure funding for Fairfax because it’s in such rough shape. It requires a complete rebuild of the street from the ground up,” he continued.
The councilwoman’s workplace is also planning to type an official Business Improvement District, and is hoping the new landlords at Television City — that iconic, neighboring property’s struggles have been another stressor on the strip — shall be a half of it.
Jacqueline Canter poses exterior her iconic Fairfax restaurant — which might benefit from an improved streetscape, which many business homeowners say is holding them back. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
“We are laying the groundwork and have been laying the groundwork to really see a renaissance come back with Fairfax, and we’re really looking forward to it,” Daube continued.
So far, community-led makes an attempt to revive the hall appear to have been spotty.
The Mid City West Neighborhood Council, which covers the struggling strip of Fairfax, has over 30 board members.
But the council’s financial development committee is “not active,” according to board member Barbara Gallen — who told the California Post the committee has only met once in the last 14 months. Gallen declined to communicate additional on the file.
Meanwhile, with The Dime on the way in which out, there are treasured few attracts to the realm — one of them being Canter’s, the world-famous Deli that has been on the block since 1953.
“My grandfather was smart enough to buy the property when he did, and so I try to maintain,” said Jacqueline Canter, who now runs the business.
“I would love to see everybody else lower their rent so that we can have 100% no vacancies on Fairfax,” she told the California Post.
When she’s not overseeing her iconic pastrami-slinging operation, Canter operates as considerably of a de-facto mayor of the block — working the Fairfax Ave. Business Association, and sustaining close relationships with other business homeowners.
Canter says the town is often responsive to her complaints — a lot of them over graffiti, a constant blight on the blocks.
But despite her optimism, she too decries the struggles the road is pressured to deal with.
Canter tries to stay optimistic, and said the town will be responsive to qualify of life complaints — but acknowledges there is a lot work to be finished to save Fairfax. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Fiscella, meanwhile, is wanting elsewhere for a new home for The Dime, he said. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
“I’ve seen places that have been vacant for like 30 years. I’m thinking this doesn’t make any sense to me, business-wise, to keep a property vacant for 30 years,” Canter said.
There are some glimmers of hope, however.
Genghis Cohen, another LA establishment beloved for its Chinese-American cooking, in a festive, bordello-esque environment, moved within the neighborhood in 2025 — after 42 years in their earlier home.
And newer companies on the strip, like Trophie’s Burger Club and Indian restaurant Badmaash, have stood strong for a number of years.
But while her grandfather’s restaurant still seems very similar to it did in the Fifties, the previous Fairfax isn’t coming back, Canter said.
“It’ll never, ever, ever again be like it was,” she sighed.
“I think those days are just gone.”
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