The Bagel, Los Angeles 1950s

The Fairfax district of Los Angeles is an historic neighborhood known for its deep Jewish roots. From the 1930s and particularly post-WWII, it became a hub of Jewish culture with synagogues, bakeries, grocery stores and delicatessens.

Most famous of all the local delis is Canter’s which moved in 1948 from its Boyle Heights location to North Fairfax Avenue and remains one of the area’s iconic institutions to this day.

There were other delis in the area including The Bagel. A pretty good name for a Jewish deli, most people will agree.

The Bagel was located on South Fairfax, in the district now known for its Ethiopian restaurants. It was open from breakfast time and served the usual vast amounts of food including piled-high pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, matzo ball soup, blintzes, bagels with lox and chopped liver.

The Bagel closed in 1993 but we came across an affectionate review of the restaurant on the website https://oldlarestaurants.com/the-bagel/ that described it as ‘ a very genial place with very mediocre deli food and not much of it.’

The Bagel specialized in hot food and sandwiches, except they were often out of the hot food items. On one occasion, The Bagel even ran out of bagels, the review said.

Still, the unnamed reviewer said that, years on from its demise, he still  ‘kinda missed the place’  and especially the company of the waitresses who were the friendliest servers in town.

We will update with more information when we can.