Pico Robertson was once a staunch liberal, but he suddenly supported Trump in 2024.

In 2020, Jewish refuge Pico-Robertson voted for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, carving out a niche in a large West Side liberal neighborhood .

But in this era of political anxiety, a lot can change in four years.

Trump received more votes in Pico-Robertson than in the previous two elections combined as red tide swept through the community in recent months. Locals attribute the change in dynamics to Israel’s war with Hamas, a rise in anti-Semitic incidents and strong Republican get-out-the-vote efforts.

Over the past eight years, Trump has slowly made headway on Pico Robertson. The numbers are not accurate because the boundaries of the voter district have changed to include parts of surrounding communities such as Beverlywood and Crestview, but the data shows Trump has gained several points in the past three elections. Thousands of votes.

In 2016, Trump received 1,292 votes, while Hillary Clinton received 3,632 votes. Four years later, Trump received 2,693 votes to Biden’s 5,252. Trump surged again in 2024, taking 6,760 votes and defeating Kamiles Harris in three of the five districts adjacent to Pico-Robertson.

Harris still holds strongholds in the district’s two other precincts, which stretch into Beverly Hills and Cassell Place, and those five precincts received a combined 7,321 votes. But polls show Trump making significant gains in this once reliable bastion of liberalism.

“It’s a constant conversation in the synagogue,” said Pico-Robertson resident Shlomo Walt, an Orthodox Jew. “People want change and they’ve spoken out.”

Walter, 49, voted for Trump and said the vast majority of locals he spoke to also voted for Trump.

“People were wearing Trump yarmulkes,” he said.

The Pico-Robertson community of approximately 19,000 people has grown over the past century to become the center of Los Angeles’s Jewish community. Ashkenazi Jews settled here in the 1910s, and its borders were defined through redlining practices that denied housing loans to minority communities, including Jews. After World War II, more Jewish groups moved to the area.

The neighborhood’s proximity to 20th Century Studios (then known as 20th Century Fox) made it a natural location for Jewish entertainment professionals. Today it serves as a center for Persian and Orthodox Jews—the latter are prohibited from driving on the Sabbath, making the nearby pedestrian synagogue a convenience.

Pico and Robertson avenues are lined with synagogues, kosher restaurants, and Jewish schools, and the neighborhoods behind are dotted with single-family homes, apartments, and apartment complexes. According to Zillow data, the median home price here is $1.338 million, making it cheaper than surrounding communities such as Beverlywood, Crestview and La Cienega Heights.

A man walks past a menorah at the Pico-Robertson Chabad Center.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Martin Krieger, the late USC professor who studied Pico-Robertton’s Orthodox Jewish population, said that over the years the community developed a unique identity that was distinct from Los Angeles and other Jewish enclaves. The community is described as more modern than the fanatical Orthodox sect.

“If you live here, you don’t live in Los Angeles, you live in Pico Robertson, and that’s a big fact. These people’s lives are concentrated here,” Krieger told PBS SoCal in 2012.

Walter said residents’ top concerns heading into the November election are homelessness and the economy. He prefers Trump’s approach to Israel — especially his decisions Relocating the U.S. Embassy Flying from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018.

Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s military response to it, anti-Semitism rose in the region, and others around him turned to Trump.

“We have a lot of crime and anti-Semitic incidents,” said resident Haim Marks. “We want change.”

A pedestrian walks past a mural titled “Common Thread” by artist Cloe Hakakian in Pico-Robertson. The mural depicts a woman lighting a candle for Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

The fears of many locals were confirmed when six Jewish businesses in Pico-Robertson were vandalized in the days before and after the election. On November 4th, someone smashed the glass of the Got Kosher store? Bakery on Peak Avenue.

“Someone is systematically targeting our type of business,” owner Alain Cohen tell the times.

A week later, the store was cordoned off. Several buildings across the block had broken windows.

“This is what happens under the current regime,” one woman said, looking at a broken window on Pico Avenue.

Walter said a week after the election, someone called him a “fucking Jew” in a drive-by, amid a rise in anti-Semitism in recent months.

He also noted an increase in security services – including private and volunteer-led measures – to provide assistance to businesses or residents who feel unsafe. Most streets in the neighborhood are marked by signs for the “Schmila Surveillance Zone,” an unarmed volunteer security patrol that protects the Jewish community.

In 2023, a man who had made anti-Semitic remarks shot and killed two Jewish men as they left a synagogue. The man was sentenced to 35 years in prison in September.

David Hyam greeted his neighbor while holding his 1 1/2-year-old son, Akiva. Hyam co-owns the Little Tichel Lady clothing store on Pico Boulevard with his wife.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

On the Monday after the election, there were not many Trump signs left in the neighborhood, but there were plenty of Nathan Hochman signs — a possible insight into the tough-on-crime priorities of Pico-Robertson voters. Hochman is committed to restoring public safety, Win Los Angeles County District Attorney election Defeated progressive incumbent George Gascón in a landslide.

April Silverman, a Jewish pro-Trump political activist based in Hancock Park, spent months lobbying Pico Robertson, Tanimura and Beverly Groh Jewish communities such as the husband and established connections with voters such as Walter.

“Trump’s stance on Israel is important, but people are unhappy with Karen Bass’s approach to homelessness and Gascón’s approach to crime,” Silverman said. “It’s a bunch of stuff. ”

The 32-year-old runs a WhatsApp group where she instructs Pico Robertson residents on how to vote and directs them to vote for specific candidates and proposals. She also helped many residents fill out their ballots and deliver them to the Downey voting center during early voting.

Silverman put together a voting guide recommending Trump and Hochman. She was able to track who opened the guide based on zip code data and said 700 people in Pico-Robertson had used it.

A pedestrian walks toward Factor’s Famous Deli in Pico-Robertson.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Still, the final tally showed Harris ended up getting more votes than Trump in nearby districts.

Sara Hoffman, who moved into the Pico-Robertson apartment last year, said her dislike of Trump outweighed her concerns about Harris’ stance on Israel and the Palestinians.

“Trump is a bigot, he’s a misogynist and he’s a felon,” Huffman said. “He’s spent four years proving all the reasons why he doesn’t deserve a second term as president.”

Hoffman said the divide is generational — older people voted for Trump, younger people voted for Harris — but it’s also reflected in religious affiliations. Nearby Orthodox Jews supported Trump, while her more Reformed Jewish friends chose Harris.

She said Trump may be more openly pro-Israel than Harris, but he’s just pandering to get Jewish votes.

“He said whatever he wanted to win votes,” Huffman said. “Obviously it worked.”