Picfair Village is a neighborhood in the Central area of the city of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California.

Geography

Picfair Village's boundaries are

Pico Boulevard Pico Boulevard is a major Los Angeles street that runs from the Pacific Ocean at Appian Way in Santa Monica to Central Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. It is named after Pío Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta C ...

on the north, Hauser Boulevard on the east,

Venice Boulevard Venice Boulevard is a major east–west thoroughfare in Los Angeles, running from the ocean in the Venice district into downtown Los Angeles. It was originally known as West 16th Street under the Los Angeles numbered street system. A segment o ...

on the south, and

Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From ...

on the west. Wilshire Vista lies to the north, as does the Miracle Mile.

Little Ethiopia Little Ethiopia may refer to: * Little Ethiopia, Los Angeles Little Ethiopia is a neighborhood in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles. It is known for its collection of Ethiopian cuisine, Ethiopian restaurants, coffee shops, ...

lies to the northwest and Faircrest Heights is to the west.

History

Picfair Village takes its name from the Picfair movie theatre that stood at the corner of Pico and Fairfax until the early 1980s. Initially hailed as "the New Wilshire... nda delightful place for a home," what is now Picfair Village was part of the Santa Monica Land and Water Co.'s 1922 development called Pico Boulevard Heights. They offered "choice lots on Genesee Street" starting at $1,250. On Pico, a few blocks east of Fairfax, a street

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

by Los Angeles artist

Retna RETNA (born Marquis Lewis 1979) is a contemporary artist, primarily recognized for graffiti art. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and started his career in the early 1990s. He developed a distinctive constructed script which i ...

can be seen. It is noted for its portrait of a

chicana Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

with a combination of script-like symbols in the background. The area was once home to crime fiction author

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private in ...

(one of his characters lived on Stanley). The neighborhood has been active since 1998 and has a Picfair Village Neighborhood Association. The neighborhood was once home to the historic

Picfair Theater The Picfair Theater was a neighborhood film house in the West Los Angeles neighborhood of Picfair, on West Pico Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue. It opened on January 24, 1941, and was leased and operated by Joseph Moritz and James H. Nicholson in t ...

, which opened in 1941 but was burnt down during the 1992 LA riots. In November 2004, Picfair Village was named as one of ''Los Angeles'' magazine's "10 Most Overlooked Neighborhoods in Los Angeles." In January 2007, the ''Los Angeles Times'' said Picfair Village is "on its way to becoming L.A.'s next trendy place to live and play.""The Scout: What's New on Pico Boulevard"
''Los Angeles Times'', July 13, 2012 Picfair Village is part of the P.I.C.O. Neighborhood Council.

Neighborhood composition

The housing stock is predominantly

Spanish Colonial The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. These ...

and Art Deco one- and two-family homes (the neighborhood is zoned R-1 and R-2), with some multi-unit dwellings (mostly north of Saturn Street). The latter tend to be Mid-Century architecture. The main street of the "Village" is Pico Boulevard between Fairfax and Hauser, and is dotted to with cafes, restaurants and boutiques. The area south of Pico and north of Saturn Street has a mix of houses and two- to four-plexes. South of Pickford are mostly single family residential homes. Homes on the north/south streets tend to be full-size lots (5,000 - 6000 sq. ft.), while homes on the east/west streets tend to be bungalow (smaller) sized lots.

References

{{Wilshire Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Central Los Angeles Westside (Los Angeles County)