What happened here?
Canter's Deli at 419 North Fairfax Avenue has been open 24 hours a day since 1953, which is the main reason it became one of the most important gathering places in the history of Los Angeles rock music. When the clubs on Sunset closed and the musicians needed somewhere to go, Canter's was there — always lit, always serving, always full of industry insiders, struggling artists, and famous faces eating pastrami at 3am.
The Doors and The Byrds used it as a regular meeting spot in the 1960s. Frank Zappa held court here. Most significantly, Guns N' Roses effectively formed in a booth at Canter's in the early 1980s, when Axl Rose, Slash, and Duff McKagan were still assembling the lineup that would become one of the biggest bands in the world. The adjoining Kibitz Room — a small bar added in 1961 — became an informal venue hosting everyone from Mick Jagger to Fiona Apple to the Red Hot Chili Peppers over the decades.
Canter's is still open, still 24 hours, still serving the same menu in the same room on Fairfax. The Kibitz Room still books live music. The deli cases still hold the same ancient cheesecakes. Almost nothing about it has changed, which is exactly why it keeps mattering.