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In 2020, Jewish Haven Pico Robertson voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, usurping his place among the vast liberal West Side community.
But in these politically challenging times, a lot can change in four years.
Red tide has swept through the neighborhood in recent months, and Trump received more votes in Pico-Robertson than in the previous two elections combined. Local residents attribute the shift in power relations to the Israel-Hamas war, rising anti-Semitism, and strong Republican lobbying.
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Over the past eight years, Trump slowly rose through the ranks with Pico Robertson. The numbers aren’t accurate because voting precincts change boundaries and incorporate some of the surrounding areas, such as Beverlywood and Crestview, but the data shows Trump has received thousands of votes in the past three elections. It is shown that it has been done.
In 2016, Trump received 1,292 votes and Hillary Clinton received 3,632 votes. Four years later, Trump was tied with 2,693 people and Biden with 5,252. In 2024, Trump made another breakthrough, collecting 6,760 votes and defeating Camarus Harris in three of the five districts bordering Pico Robertson.
Harris still held strongholds in two other nearby districts that flow into Beverly Hills and Carthay Square, receiving a total of 7,321 votes in five districts. But polls show Trump has made significant inroads in what was once a reliably liberal stronghold.
“It’s a constant conversation in the synagogue,” said Shlomo Walt, an Orthodox Jew and Pico Robertson resident. “People want change and are speaking out.”
Walt, 49, voted for Trump and said the majority of local residents he spoke to did as well.
“People are wearing President Trump yarmulkes,” he said.
Yura High School students enjoy lunch at Jeff’s Gourmet Sausage Factory in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Pico Robertson in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The Pico Robertson neighborhood, with a population of about 19,000, has developed into the heart of LA’s Jewish community over the past century. German-Ashkenazi Jews settled here in the 1910s, and borders became defined by the practice of redlining, which withheld mortgages from minority communities, including Jews. After World War II, more Jewish groups moved to the area.
The neighborhood’s proximity to the site of 20th Century Studios, then known as 20th Century Fox, made it a natural gathering place for Jewish entertainment professionals. Today, it serves as a stronghold for Persian and Orthodox Jews. Orthodox Jews are prohibited from driving on the Sabbath, making a nearby walkable synagogue a convenient facility.
Both Pico Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard are lined with synagogues, kosher restaurants, and Jewish schools, while the blocks behind them feature a healthy mix of single-family homes, condos, and apartment buildings. According to Zillow, the median home price is $1.338 million, which is slightly cheaper than surrounding areas such as Beverlywood, Crestview, and La Cienega Heights.
A man walks in front of the menorah at the Chabad Center at Pico Robertson.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Over the years, the neighborhood has developed a distinct identity separate from L.A. and other Jewish enclaves, according to the late Martin Krieger, a professor at the University of Southern California who studied Pico Roberton’s Orthodox Jewish population. . Pico Roberton’s Orthodox Jewish population is said to be more modern compared to devout Orthodox sects. Fairfax District and Hancock Park.
“Living here means you’re not living in Los Angeles, you’re living in Pico Robertson, and that’s a big fact. These people’s lives are centered here.” Krieger said on PBS Southern California in 2012.
Walt said homelessness and the economy were top concerns for residents heading into the November election. He liked President Trump’s approach to Israel, especially his decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018. The move was criticized by Palestinians as illegal and irresponsible, but welcomed in Israel.
Other residents of the neighborhood have also turned to Trump in the wake of rising anti-Semitism in the area following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s military response to it.
“There’s been a lot of crime and anti-Semitic incidents,” resident Chaim Marks said. “We want change.”
Pedestrians walk past a mural titled “The Common Thread” created by artist Chloe Hakakian at Pico Robertson. The mural depicts a woman lighting candles on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
In the days before and after the election, six Jewish businesses in Pico Robertson were destroyed, confirming the fears of many local residents. On November 4th, someone broke the glass at Got Kosher?’s storefront. A bakery on Pico Boulevard.
“Someone is systematically targeting our type of business,” owner Alan Cohen told the Times.
A week later, the store was boarded up. Windows were broken across entire blocks in some buildings.
“This is what is happening under this administration,” said one woman, looking at a broken window on Pico Boulevard.
Walt said that a week after the election, someone driving by called him a “terrible Jew” and that anti-Semitism had increased in recent months.
He also noticed an increase in security services (both private and volunteer-led efforts) providing assistance to businesses and residents who feel unsafe. Most of the streets in the neighborhood have signs reading “Area Watched by Shmirah,” an unarmed volunteer safety patrol force that protects the Jewish community.
In 2023, a man with a history of anti-Semitic comments shot and killed two Jewish men as they came out of a synagogue. The man was sentenced to 35 years in prison in September.
David Higham greets his neighbors as he holds his one-and-a-half-year-old son Akiva. Higham co-owns Little Tichel Lady, a clothing store with his wife on Pico Boulevard.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
On the Monday after the election, there weren’t many Trump signs left in the neighborhood, but there were plenty of Nathan Hockman signs. This may suggest that Pico Robertson voters have tough priorities on crime. Mr. Hochman, who campaigned for the restoration of public order, won an overwhelming victory in the Los Angeles County district attorney election, defeating the incumbent progressive George Gascón.
April Silverman, a Jewish pro-Trump political activist based in Hancock Park, has spent months promoting Jewish communities such as Pico Robertson, Valley Village and Beverly Grove, connecting with voters like Walt. I had
“Trump’s stance on Israel is important, but people are dissatisfied with Karen Bass’ approach to homelessness and Gascón’s approach to crime,” Silverman said. “That’s a lot.”
The 32-year-old runs a WhatsApp group where she instructs Pico Robertson residents on how to vote and discusses voting for particular candidates and proposals. She also delivered ballots to the Downey Vote Center throughout the early voting period and helped many residents fill out their ballots.
Mr. Silverman has put together a voting guide recommending Mr. Trump and Mr. Hochman. She was able to track who opened the guide based on postal code data and said 700 people in Pico Robertson used the guide.
Pedestrians heading to Factor’s Famous Deli in Pico Robertson.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Still, final tallies showed that Ms. Harris ended up receiving more votes than Mr. Trump in the neighborhood.
Sarah Hoffman, who moved into Pico Robertson’s apartment last year, said her distaste for President Trump overrode her concerns about Harris’ stance on Israel and the Palestinians.
“Trump is a bigot, a misogynist and a felon,” Hoffman said. “He spent four years proving every reason why he didn’t deserve a second chance to be president.”
Hoffman said the divide was generational, with older people voting for Trump and younger voters for Harris, but also for religious reasons. Many of her Orthodox Jewish neighbors supported Mr. Trump, but many of her Reform Jewish friends chose Ms. Harris.
She said Trump may be more publicly pro-Israel than Harris, but he is only pandering to get Jewish votes.
“He’ll say whatever it takes to get votes,” Hoffman said. “Obviously it worked.”
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