Urban Scene : Sensitivity Needed to Retain Fairfax Area’s Sense of Place

The Fairfax District is at a congested crossroads, faced with the oncoming traffic, literally and figuratively, of two major proposed projects--one the redevelopment of the Farmers Market property and the other an expansion of the Park La Brea apartments.

Each of the proposals contains some attractive elements--principally preserving the Farmers Market and the historic Gilmore Adobe, generating more housing and promising some retail and commercial uses that could add some zest to Fairfax Avenue.

But each also by its indicated designs, overwhelming density and the horrendous traffic they would generate, threatens the delicate scale and ambience that makes Fairfax special.

Resolving the issues is going to take the sachel, the wisdom, of a Solomon.

There is in the sights, sounds and smells of the district a genius loci, a phrase academics use to describe the often undescribable melange of experiences, impressions and associations that make a particular area evocatively different from others--in short, what lends it a sense of place.

Fairfax’s sense of place is primarily cultural. It is a rare microcosm of the Jewish world, containing Jews from everywhere of every religious and ethnic shade and stripe; from Europe and the Middle East to New York and Boyle Heights; from the ultra-Orthodox to the secular; and from the young yeshiva buchers to the senior citizens.

The mix is as thick and rich as a pot of mushroom barley soup that has been simmering for a few days.

But culture alone does not generate a particular sense of place.

Although they both have a predominantly Jewish population, no one would mistake the Fairfax District for Beverly Hills. Each has its complementing morphologies of varying forms and types growing out of its respective social, economic and political systems.

In Fairfax, this is warmly displayed in the ethnic restaurants, the religious book and gift shops, the specialty food stores, the senior service centers, the array of synagogues and, most of all, on the streets, principally Fairfax Avenue.

Here the Orthodox and others walk in a congenial milieu while the elderly sit on a bus bench or in the Farmers Market, chat among themselves and enjoy the passing scene, of which they are a part.

All this adds up to a distinct ethnic, urban community--unpretentious, tolerant and relatively safe and stable. It is a neighborhood where store owners greet customers by their first names, restaurants and newsstands are also social clubs, and although you may not see your neighbors every day, they know your comings and goings.

It is no wonder that Fairfax has become increasingly popular, particularly for the growing enclaves of Orthodox families and Soviet Jewish immigrants who feel comfortable there, as well as a smattering of non-Jews, who appreciate the neighborhood’s flavor.

Critical to Fairfax’s sense of place is its urban design, haphazard as it may appear.

We are talking here of a diversity of stores edging wide sidewalks along the commercial strips, of a scale of buildings that do not shadow and overwhelm people, of streets that people can cross easily, where people actually walk to shop, of places to sit and schmooze, of a certain, informal character that makes people feel comfortable.

To be sure, Fairfax’s urban design can be improved. New developments can be better scaled to the street, sidewalks made wider, more street furniture and better lighting, shade trees planted, through traffic diverted from residential streets by the creation of cul-de-sacs, preferably in the form of landscaped sitting areas, or tot lots, and there always is a need for more and better styled and secured senior housing.

The hope is that these items will be raised in the coming debate concerning the future of the Fairfax District that no doubt will be touched off by public hearings on the two proposals, tentatively scheduled for early next year.

Specifically, the Farmers Market plan submitted by the Gilmore Co. proposes to make the market the centerpiece for about 1 million square feet of new retail and restaurant uses.

Also included is an office building of 225,000 square feet, a 600-room hotel and a 150-unit apartment complex. The plan appears site sensitive, but there are questions concerning the scale and, of course, the traffic impact.

The Park La Brea proposal submitted by Forest City Properties calls for two 19-story office towers, a 600-room hotel, 2,139 new apartments and 381 congregate living units. One of the office towers would be at the northeast corner of Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard, replacing the landmark May Co. department store.

Given the magnitude of the proposals, they cannot be reviewed separately and in a vacuum. It is obvious they must be put into the context that is the Fairfax District, with a full weighing of the area’s qualities, quantitative as well as qualitative.

This will require a so-called specific plan for the area by the city’s Planning Department or consultants, as was done in Westwood. It is time anyway for the city to stop being “piecemealed” to distraction.

It is time for some vision, with a focus on what makes communities livable.

Fairfax can absorb some new development if it is properly scaled. The Farmers Market can certainly be enhanced. Fairfax Avenue below Beverly Boulevard can be made more pedestrian-friendly, and traffic, though an increasing pain, can be controlled.

Finding the right answers might be as hard as finding a parking space on Fairfax Avenue on Friday afternoon, in those last frantic hours before the Sabbath, when shopping and driving is frowned upon by the Orthodox.

But preserving Fairfax’s special qualities is worth it.