The Fairfax District is a neighborhood in the Central region of Los Angeles, California .
30-563: The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was a landmark structure in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles , California . It once stood near the site of Gilmore Field , an early Los Angeles baseball venue predating Dodger Stadium . It was located within sight of both CBS Television City on the southeast corner of Beverly and Fairfax Avenue and the Farmers Market on the northeast corner of Third Street and Fairfax. For over 35 years it
60-591: A high percentage of white people. The breakdown was whites , 84.7%; Latinos , 5.9%; Asians , 4.5%; blacks , 2.2%, and others, 2,8%. Ukraine (8.9%) and Mexico (7.8%) were the most common places of birth for the 23.2% of the residents who were born abroad, a low ratio compared to the rest of Los Angeles. Historically, the Fairfax District has been a center of the Jewish community in Los Angeles , after
90-402: A legal aid charity, opened its doors across from the Farmers Market . The Farmers Market at Fairfax Avenue and 3rd Street still retains a 1930s atmosphere, with open-air vegetable stalls and cafes, and many Jewish residents of the area still frequent the market as part of their shopping or kibbitzing routine. The Grove , a commercial retail and entertainment center, opened in 2002 next to
120-868: A modest rectilinear wooden structure resembling an overgrown gymnasium inside and out. The auditorium sprawled across 100,000 square feet (9,300 m) and had seating for up to 6,000. Throughout the following 30 years the Pan-Pacific would host the Ice Capades and the Harlem Globetrotters , serve as home to the Los Angeles Monarchs of the Pacific Coast Hockey League along with UCLA ice hockey, UCLA men's basketball, USC men's basketball, professional tennis, car shows, political rallies and circuses. During
150-668: A month before being elected President of the United States, Elvis Presley performed there in 1957 shortly before he was drafted into the Army and Vice President Richard Nixon addressed a national audience from the Pan-Pacific in November 1960. The building carried on as Los Angeles' primary indoor venue until the 1972 opening of the much larger Los Angeles Convention Center , after which the Pan-Pacific Auditorium
180-446: A single in 1978 and later featured on their 1980 album Voobaha . It is the most requested song on the Dr. Demento radio show, and a music video for the song made in 1980 was in regular rotation on MTV . The song was featured on Barnes & Barnes' 1982 Fish Heads (Greatest Hits) 12-inch on Rhino Records . The lyrics are an absurdist celebration of fish heads , describing them in
210-744: Is known for the Farmer's Market , The Grove , CBS Television City broadcasting center, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in Pan Pacific Park , the Beverly-Fairfax Historic District neighborhood, and Fairfax Avenue restaurants and shops. Beverly–Fairfax (sometimes simply called Fairfax ) is a 3.2-square-mile neighborhood bordered by Willoughby Avenue on the north, Wilshire Boulevard on
240-401: Is now part of Pan-Pacific Park. An urban park with a recreation center, designed as a scaled-down replica of one of the famous towers, opened in 2002. The facade of the building was used in the motion picture Xanadu , in which a muse (a daughter of Zeus) convinces two men to convert the classic but decaying building into a music and entertainment venue. Through special effects, the building
270-514: Is officially recognized as Raoul Wallenberg Square, in honor of the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps. The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is located nearby, within Pan Pacific Park . CBS Television City was built in 1952 on the former site of Gilmore Stadium at Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard . The facility has been used to tape several shows both for CBS and other entities,
300-476: Is transformed to outshine the building in its heyday. The video for "She's My Girl" by The Babys featured the band playing in front of, as well as on top of the building and its iconic flagpole facades. Similarly, The Producers' 1982 music video "She Sheila" was partly filmed in front of the facade. The 1984 motion picture Ghost Warrior , in which a deep-frozen 400-year-old samurai is shipped to Los Angeles, where he comes back to life, includes scenes of both
330-629: The Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida on May 1, 1989, just three weeks before the original was destroyed by fire. Disney California Adventure Park , at the Disneyland Resort , opened new entrance gates in the style of the Pan-Pacific's façade on July 15, 2011. Fairfax District, Los Angeles, California Historically the Fairfax District has been a center of the Jewish community in Los Angeles . It
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#1732779654716360-535: The movie Funny Lady . Interest in the building was rekindled somewhat with its 1978 inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places . The 1980 release of the movie musical Xanadu brought renewed hopes the building might be saved when the auditorium's facade was used to portray a dilapidated building which became a sparkling, brightly lit roller disco nightclub, but the movie was critically panned and not an economic success. It also appears at
390-481: The 1.23 square miles of the neighborhood that lie east of Fairfax Avenue. Using the Mapping L.A. boundaries, the Fairfax District is flanked on the north and northeast by the city of West Hollywood , on the northeast by Hollywood , on the east by Hancock Park , on the south by Mid-Wilshire , and on the west by Beverly Grove . Street boundaries are Willoughby Avenue or Romaine Street on the north, La Brea Avenue on
420-428: The 1940s it was used for audience-attended national radio broadcasts and in the 1950s for televised professional wrestling shows. At its height, most major indoor events in Los Angeles were held at the Pan-Pacific. Leopold Stokowski conducted there in 1936, 1950s actress Jeanne Crain was crowned "Miss Pan Pacific" there in the early 1940s, General Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke to a beyond-capacity crowd of 10,000 in 1952
450-451: The 1980s, mostly owing to neglect. A large loading door on the southeast corner was often forced open, allowing free access to anyone. A fire in May 1983 damaged the northern end. On the evening of May 24, 1989 (six days after the 54th anniversary of its opening), the Pan-Pacific Auditorium was destroyed by a bigger fire, the smoke from which was visible throughout the Los Angeles basin. The site
480-748: The Farmer's Market. The neighborhood east of Fairfax Avenue and north of Beverly Boulevard, consisting primarily of still-standing 1920s apartment buildings, was named the Beverly Fairfax Historic District by the City of Los Angeles in 2019. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places , buildings in the neighborhood must have any exterior alterations approved by the Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources. The intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Beverly Boulevard
510-484: The Pan-Pacific Auditorium opened to a fanfare of Boy Scout bugles on May 18, 1935 for a 16-day model home exhibition. Noted as one of the finest examples of Streamline Moderne architecture in the United States , the green and white facade faced west, was 228 feet (69 m) long and had four stylized towers and flagpoles meant to evoke upswept aircraft fins. The widely known and much photographed facade belied
540-575: The beginning of the 1980 music video for the Barnes & Barnes song " Fish Heads ". Black-and-white film footage of a man with a jet pack flying from left to right in front of the facade was used in the video for the 1981 Devo single, "Beautiful World" . The dilapidated façade was used in the video for " Dancing in the Sheets " by Shalamar . Its final appearance was in the 1988 movie Miracle Mile . The auditorium continued to deteriorate throughout
570-450: The boundaries as " Santa Monica Boulevard on the north and Sixth Street on the south; La Brea Avenue forms its eastern edge with Sweetzer Avenue as its western border." The following data applies to the boundaries of Fairfax set by Mapping L.A.: The 2000 U.S. census counted 12,490 residents in the 1.23-square-mile neighborhood—an average of 10,122 people per square mile, about the same population density as all of Los Angeles. In 2008,
600-420: The city estimated that the population had increased to 13,360. The median age for residents was 33, a general average within Los Angeles. The percentage of residents aged 65 and older was among the county's highest. Fifty-four percent of Fairfax residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high figure for both the city and the county. The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars
630-419: The earlier Boyle Heights period, which was home to largest Jewish community west of Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1935, there were four synagogues in the Fairfax District; by 1945, there were twelve. After World War II , more Jews began to populate the area. As more families moved in, religious schools and a Jewish Community Center sprang up. In 1974, Bet Tzedek Legal Services - The House of Justice ,
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#1732779654716660-422: The east, West Third Street on the south, and Fairfax Avenue on the west. The Beverly–Fairfax (or Fairfax) neighborhood, as it has historically been called, includes both Fairfax and Beverly Grove. In the first draft of Mapping L.A., "Beverly Grove" was not included as a distinct neighborhood; rather, the area was shown as part of Fairfax. An even earlier L.A. Times profile of the Fairfax District described
690-488: The high-pitched chorus as "roly poly" and delicious to eat. The verses describe various things they (mostly) cannot do such as play baseball , wear sweaters , play the drums , and drink cappuccino in Italian restaurants with oriental women. Actor Bill Paxton , a filmmaker at the time, directed and appeared in the music video for the song, along with cinematographer Rocky Schenck and Robert Haimer 's girlfriend at
720-524: The most notable being The Price is Right , which has shot in Studio 33 (later renamed for the game show's longtime host, Bob Barker ) continuously since 1972. The Los Angeles Fire Department operates Fire Station 61, serving the Fairfax community. The schools within Fairfax include: Fish Heads (song) " Fish Heads " is a novelty song by comedy rock duo Barnes & Barnes , released as
750-454: The seriously decayed façade and the dimly lit interior. In the interior shots, the columns with angled knee bracing and the distinctive arched bowstring trusses are briefly visible. The music video for the 1988 song "Going Back to Cali" by LL Cool J has a black and white photograph of the building in the opening sequence. A nearly full-scale, stylized replica of the façade opened as the main entrance to Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park at
780-474: The south, La Brea Avenue on the east, and La Cienega Boulevard on the west. ArcGIS , Here Maps , Bing Maps , and MapQuest do not mark boundaries, but center the words "Fairfax" or "Fairfax District" near the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The Mapping L.A. project of the Los Angeles Times , in a departure from its first draft , reduces the Fairfax District to
810-511: The time, Joan Farber , who designed the costume look. The video aired on NBC television on Saturday Night Live , on December 6, 1980, and the following week. Dr. Demento had a cameo as the bum. In 1985, the video was incorporated into several episodes of the Nickelodeon sketch show Turkey Television , introducing the song to millions of children, who, at the time, didn't have access to either MTV or late night television. The song
840-402: Was $ 65,938, average in comparison to the rest of Los Angeles. The average household size of two people was low for the city of Los Angeles. Renters occupied 71.5% of the housing stock, and house- or apartment owners 28.5%. The percentages of never-married men (54.9%) and never-married women (45.5%) were among the county's highest. The neighborhood was "not especially diverse" ethnically, with
870-521: Was closed. There were hopes throughout the surrounding Fairfax District towards refurbishing the Pan-Pacific, possibly as an ice rink or cultural center and the parking lot soon became a park. However, the building was neglected for many years and damaged by small fires started by transients. In 1975 , the Pan-Pacific made a brief appearance as the entrance to the NBC Studios in Hollywood for
900-442: Was the premier location for indoor public events in Los Angeles. The facility was closed in 1972, beginning 17 years of steady neglect and decay. In 1978, the Pan-Pacific Auditorium was included in the National Register of Historic Places , but eleven years later the sprawling wooden structure was destroyed in a fire. Built by event promoters Phillip and Cliff Henderson and designed by Los Angeles architects Wurdeman & Becket ,
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