Once a vibrant strip of mom-and-pop shops and tentpole retailers at the center of Los Angeles, Fairfax Avenue’s famed business corridor is now a shell of its former self.
asserted
corridor → fame → self
Steps from the Farmers Market and Rick Caruso’s tourist-packed The Grove, the district, home to legendary restaurants like Canter’s Deli and Genghis Cohen, should be thriving — not facing a nearly 20% vacancy rate.
But that’s cruel reality in 2026, say desperate business owners, who are now speaking out about the growing number of blighted, empty storefronts — as leaseholders flee stubbornly high rents at the heart of one of the priciest commercial rental markets in the country.
asserted
leaseholders → pack → country
“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.
asserted
who → own → strip
“Now it’s their children or their grandchildren.
asserted
it → ’ → ?
They’re really more interested in extracting the highest rent than they are of taking care of their properties,” he told the California Post.
asserted
he → ’re → Post
Starr thinks landlords are simply asking for too much money.
asserted
landlords → think → 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.
asserted
he → ’m → property
“And so those properties have just been sitting vacant… in some cases for years.”
asserted
properties → sit → years
When streetwear juggernaut Supreme arrived on Fairfax in 2004, it gave the street a whole new identity, bringing a younger, hipper crowd.
asserted
it → arrive → crowd
After 19 years on the block, Supreme ditched Fairfax for Sunset Boulevard in 2023.
asserted
Supreme → ditch → 2023
Starr said the block has yet to recover from the loss.
asserted
block → say → loss
“I think the block has been kind of trying to find its identity ever since that departure,” he explained.
asserted
he → think → departure
Simon B., manager of sunglasses store Hall of Frames, told the California Post that once Supreme left, small businesses feeding off of that traffic went away too.
asserted
businesses → tell → traffic
He asked to withhold his full last name for privacy reasons.
asserted
He → ask → reasons
“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 traffic has also decreased due to the increasing popularity of online shopping.
asserted
traffic → come → shopping
“The city has to clean up the joint.
asserted
city → have → joint
The place is trashed.
asserted
place → trash → ?
A lot of the roads are not that good, parking scenarios not that good,” he continued.
asserted
he → continue → roads
A 2025 report published by Power Commerce showed that the Fairfax District, which is typically thought of as the blocks between Santa Monica Blvd. and Beverly Blvd., had a retail vacancy rate of 19.5%.
asserted
which → publish → %
The report confirmed business owner sentiment that the loss of Supreme — as well as competing streetwear brand, The Hundreds — did significant damage to local foot traffic.
asserted
loss → confirm → traffic
The report also mentioned lingering aftereffects from social unrest that hit the area in the summer of 2020, during the Black Lives Matter protests, as a contributor to the area’s downfall.
asserted
that → mention → downfall
Citywide, Los Angeles had a retail vacancy rate of 5.83% in Q2 of 2026 — the highest in more than 10 years, according to another report distributed by Matthews, a commercial real estate company.
uncertain
Angeles → have → Matthews
The Dime LA, founded in 2003 by actor and hip hop nightlife pioneer Andy Fiscella, is clinging to its Fairfax home — after a lengthy dispute with their landlord over rent.
asserted
LA → found → rent
The Hollywood haunt — the site of an infamous dustup between Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson in the mid-aughts — is currently hunting 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.
asserted
who → hunt → Treadway
“Look at all the restaurants, bars that are closing.
asserted
that → look → restaurants
I mean, we were lucky to get to this point.”
asserted
we → mean → point
After losing some of their customer base, The Dime began to fall behind on monthly rent payments — but said they were always sure to fork over the mandatory $600 late fee.
asserted
they → lose → fee
When hope was almost lost, the club and a new partner struck a deal with their landlord — to pay their $49,000 back rent balance by August 21.
asserted
club → lose → August
Racing to pull together the cash, Fiscella said they had all the money by August 24 — just one business day later.
asserted
they → race → August
But the landlord refused to take it, he said — and is now giving them the heave-ho.
asserted
he → refuse → ho
Their rent hadn’t suddenly gone any higher lately, Fiscella noted — wondering aloud if someone else may have offered more for the space.
uncertain
someone → go → space
The disappointed partners said they had a plan to improve the front of the club — one that they hoped would revitalize a block that has now gone to bust.
asserted
that → say → bust
“It’s so dead.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It’s been suffering for a long time,” Treadway said of Fairfax.
asserted
Treadway → suffer → 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.
asserted
that → help → properties
They have other properties sitting there vacant,” she said.
asserted
she → have → properties
Numerous attempts to speak to The Dime’s landlord were unsuccessful.
asserted
attempts → speak → landlord
Leo Daube, a spokesperson for LA Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the area, admitted that the street “desperately needs repair,” saying it indeed hit a rough 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.
asserted
Daube → represent → Post
“It impacts how people feel about coming to the corridor and driving there, the whole experience,” he said.
asserted
he → impact → experience
Yaroslavsky has big plans for Fairfax, according to Daube.
uncertain
Yaroslavsky → have → Daube
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
