The Evolution of the Fairfax District: Exploring the Origins, Changes, and Impact on the Jewish Community in Los Angeles
This project focuses on the origins and evolutions of the Fairfax district in Los Angeles, examining its impacts on the Jewish community’s presence in the neighborhood. Historical and contemporary understanding of the district as a center of Jewish life can reveal how policy contributes to demographic change.
Project Participant Bios
Stephanie Zager is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA, majoring in History and minoring in Information and Media Literacy. Her academic interests lie in local Jewish histories and the intricate web of connections within local communities. Stephanie currently serves as the Principal Investigator for the LCHP project focused on the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. Her research delves into the transformation of the Fairfax neighborhood, exploring how it has evolved and shifted from its Jewish identity. Her goal is to provide valuable insights for policymakers, helping them understand how policy can affect vibrant communities like Fairfax. Stephanie has garnered practical experience in the field through her roles at UCLA Library Special Collections and her recent archival processing internship with the Museum of Ventura County. As she looks forward to graduating in Spring 2024, Stephanie aspires to continue her academic journey through a dual-degree program in History and Library and Information Science at the graduate level.
Ella Kitt is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in history and Russian studies at UCLA. Along with her team, she is researching the history of the Jewish community in the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles, delving into the policy roots of demographic change within the district. As an Angeleno with Jewish heritage, she hopes that studying Fairfax will bring light to the role that ethnic enclaves serve in the prosperity of migrant populations. At UCLA, Ella also works at Library Special Collections in the Young Research Library and serves as an editorial assistant for the UC Undergraduate Journal of Slavic and East/Central European Studies. As a member of UCLA’s Russian Flagship Program, she hopes to go to Kazakhstan after graduation to study Russian language.
Michaela Esposito is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA majoring in History, with a particular interest in Holocaust studies and Jewish history. This past year, Michaela was awarded an undergraduate research fellowship by the UCLA Leve Center for Jewish Studies, in which she had the opportunity to edit and prepare for the publication of a Belgian Holocaust survivor’s memoir, ultimately traveling to Belgium for a week in May of 2023 on a funded research trip. Michaela also served as an archival intern at the Holocaust Museum Los Angeles for six months, where she conducted independent research on the Jewish experience in Fascist Italy. She later presented this research project at the Seventh Annual UCLA Undergraduate History Research Conference. Michaela now works as a student employee at the UCLA Library Special Collections, furthering her interest in academia and archival materials. She looks forward to partnering with LCHP this year to study the Fairfax district and its unique history as an evolving Jewish community
Benjamin Kersten is a doctoral student in the Department of Art History and Leve Center Graduate Fellow. His research focuses on the visual art of Yiddish culture. He is currently embarking on a dissertation that examines how art was used to explore the idea that the Yiddish language could serve as a virtual homeland for the Jewish people between the 1910s and the 1930s, bringing together art historical discourses of modernism and modern Jewish history. Outside of his research, he works to build a progressive Jewish community on campus, in Los Angeles, and more broadly as an organizer and educator.