Your city's Jewish community

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Docere

There's been a shift to the Woodward corridor:

https://thejewishnews.com/2019/03/28...ding-eastward/

Right, this is the shift in the last generation. When I was growing up, in the 1990's, there were very few Jews east of Telegraph Rd. Most of the community was west of Middlebelt Rd. Now the main stretch of the favored quarter, along Woodward, has plenty of Jews. Formerly WASPy Birmingham has plenty of Jews. Orchard Lake Road, the main street in West Bloomfield, is still the main Jewish corridor, with the most Jewish-oriented businesses, but it isn't as dominant as in the 1990's.

Another more recent change - Southfield, which pretty much lost all its secular Jews in the 1990's and beyond, seems to have a growing Jewish population again. The Orthodox in Oak Park have crossed over into adjacent Southfield, which has affordable and somewhat bigger homes, more ideal for large(r) households. The eastern half of Southfield appears to have a resurgence, but very different than the previous secular community.

The article also mentions Huntington Woods, which has been remarkably stable. I believe Jews have been living in Huntington Woods since the late 1950's or so, and the community never left. That's notable considering the Detroit Jewish geography has been shifting every generation for the last century. You can basically guess where Jews attended high school by their age. 80+ - Central High in Detroit, 65-80 - Mumford High in Detroit, 45-65 - Southfield or Oak Park Schools, 30-45 - West Bloomfield Schools.

[Crawford]

Though while the trends are real, I'd take that Jewish News article with a grain of salt. There's no way Huntington Woods is 65% Jewish. And a huge share of Jewish households in Huntington Woods will be intermarriage. Huntington Woods is a very liberal community, broadly appealing to young professional households. Maybe 1/3 Jewish using most liberal definition of Jewish household.

[Docere]

Yeah, that seems way too high. Just like I am very skeptical of the claim that Beachwood, Ohio is 90% Jewish.

Toronto's most Jewish CT is 78% Jewish (in Thornhill). It's a subdivision built by an Orthodox developer oriented to the Orthodox community. And it looks like this:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7995...8192?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.7988...8192?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.8042...8192?entry=ttu

A large Orthodox synagogue is at the center of the community. You have street names like Chabad Gate, Esther Crescent and Crown Heights Boulevard. And even this most Jewish of Jewish neighborhoods isn't 90% Jewish.

[Crawford]

Yeah, outside of ultra-orthodox places like Kiryas Joel, it's probably pretty rare to have 90%+ Jewish concentrations in North America. I cannot imagine Beachwood is 90% Jewish.

Even Borough Park has some Hispanics, Chinese, former Soviets (not all Jewish) and even elderly Italians on the neighborhood fringes. Many blocks are likely 100% Jewish, but the overall community is maybe 80% or so. Just anecdotal, but I see plenty of Latinos coming out of tenement housing there, which isn't really ideal for Orthodox families.

[Docere]

I'm often skeptical of these claims of 60% and beyond outside the NYC area.

I was initially skeptical of claims that Beverly Hills is around 60% Jewish. But that seems to be correct. The ancestry profile is dominated by groups that are likely to be Jewish. The mayor and entire city council is Jewish. It's about 25% Persian Jews and maybe one- third Ashkenazi Jews.

https://statisticalatlas.com/place/C...Hills/Ancestry

[edale]

Originally Posted by Docere

I'm often skeptical of these claims of 60% and beyond outside the NYC area.

I was initially skeptical of claims that Beverly Hills is around 60% Jewish. But that seems to be correct. The ancestry profile is dominated by groups that are likely to be Jewish. The mayor and entire city council is Jewish. It's about 25% Persian Jews and maybe one- third Ashkenazi Jews.

https://statisticalatlas.com/place/C...Hills/Ancestry

I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that Beverly Hills was essentially founded by Jews who were prohibited in living in other wealthy suburban areas of Los Angeles, such as Pasadena. It makes sense to me that it'd be around 60% Jewish, especially since the community has continued to receive new blood from Persian Jews and the growing Orthodox community in Beverlyglen.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by edale

I don't know if this is true, but I've heard that Beverly Hills was essentially founded by Jews who were prohibited in living in other wealthy suburban areas of Los Angeles, such as Pasadena. It makes sense to me that it'd be around 60% Jewish, especially since the community has continued to receive new blood from Persian Jews and the growing Orthodox community in Beverlyglen.

Beverly Hills wasn't founded by Jews, but by real estate developers (like most other towns in SoCal) with names like Green, Canfield, Whittier, and Huntington. It initially had racial covenants, but home lot sales were slow, which is why the Beverly Hills Hotel was built, to attract potential residents. When movie people, many of them Jews, were forbidden initially to live in Hollywood and Bel-Air, Beverly Hills started allowing them to move there, to increase home sales.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Docere

I'm often skeptical of these claims of 60% and beyond outside the NYC area.

I was initially skeptical of claims that Beverly Hills is around 60% Jewish. But that seems to be correct. The ancestry profile is dominated by groups that are likely to be Jewish. The mayor and entire city council is Jewish. It's about 25% Persian Jews and maybe one- third Ashkenazi Jews.

https://statisticalatlas.com/place/C...Hills/Ancestry

There are some tracts in the most heavily Jewish areas where Iranian, Russian, and Israeli ancestry amount to over 30%. I think there's relatively little double counting when combining those three groups.

One such tract in Tarzana:
https://statisticalatlas.com/tract/C...39802/Ancestry


Another in Pico-Robertson, which might be at least 60%:
https://statisticalatlas.com/tract/C...17001/Ancestry

18.8% Iranian
14.6% Russian
13.8% Unclassified
9.0% Polish
5.8% American
4.5% South African
3.7% Czech
3.3% Lithuanian
3.0% Syrian
2.7% Israeli
2.3% Eastern European
1.5% Hungarian


One tract in Beverlywood that's also at least 60%:
https://statisticalatlas.com/tract/C...69500/Ancestry

23.1% Russian
13.5% Polish
10.2% Hungarian
7.5% American
7.0% Unclassified
4.8% Eastern European
4.6% Israeli
2.4% Iranian
2.1% Moroccan
2.0% Austrian
2.0% Czech
1.9% Lithuanian


Tract in Fairfax:
https://statisticalatlas.com/tract/C...14000/Ancestry

17.7% Polish
11.3% Russian
10.6% American
8.8% Unclassified
7.5% Hungarian
7.0% Eastern European
3.1% Moroccan
2.7% Israeli
2.1% Czech
1.9% Lithuanian


Here's a tract in Encino that, while it probably isn't 60% Jewish, I think it's cool that the top two ancestries are Iranian and Israeli, accounting for 27.7% of the population alone:

https://statisticalatlas.com/tract/C...39502/Ancestry

[edale]

Idk about using all those ancestries as proxies for Jews, though. I have Czech/Slovakian ancestry, but have no Jewish family history.

[Quixote]

Beverlywood and Fairfax's ancestral profiles more or less align with the NYC area's Orthodox enclaves with disproportionately large Russian, Hungarian, American, and Eastern European percentages.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by edale

Idk about using all those ancestries as proxies for Jews, though. I have Czech/Slovakian ancestry, but have no Jewish family history.

Perhaps.

But Czech ancestry just so happens to be well-represented in the most Jewish neighborhoods. Lots of Polish Americans (the vast majority, I believe) are Catholic, yet Poles in LA and NYC are more likely to be Jewish than in Chicago and Detroit.

Moroccan and Syrian ancestry in those neighborhoods might be closer to 50/50, since there's sizable Arab populations, but it aligns with LA's more Mizrahi profile.

The Pico-Robertson tract being 4.5% South African suggests that it's most likely Jewish, especially since 80% of South African Jews are Orthodox (according to Wikipedia).

[Docere]

Jewish areas will have high Eastern European ancestry generally.

In Toronto, Polish ancestry is commonly reported in Jewish neighborhoods, but there are ethnic Poles in Toronto as well. So the areas with the highest % Polish are along Bathurst as well as in Etobicoke and Mississauga where the Polish population is concentrated. This is of course easily confirmed since Stats Canada asks religion.

There's a Jewish origin response but only about half of Jews by religion report it.

[edale]

Originally Posted by Quixote

The Pico-Robertson tract being 4.5% South African suggests that it's most likely Jewish, especially since 80% of South African Jews are Orthodox (according to Wikipedia).

This one is also a bit of a head scratcher for me. I have several South African friends here in LA, and none of them are Jewish.

[Docere]

Forest Hill South

Religion

Jewish 38.4%
Catholic 14.3%
Mainline Protestant 5.3%
None 27.2%

Ethnic origin

Polish 12%
English 9.8%
Irish 9.4%
Russian 9.2%
Canadian 8.1%
Scottish 7.9%
German 6%
Italian 5.2%

Visible minority 22.2%
Chinese 5.2%

[Docere]

Originally Posted by edale

This one is also a bit of a head scratcher for me. I have several South African friends here in LA, and none of them are Jewish.

Toronto has a sizeable South African Jewish population - many came in the 1970s and 1980s. A lot settled around Bayview when it was more of a Jewish area.

[edale]

Originally Posted by Docere

Toronto has a sizeable South African Jewish population - many came in the 1970s and 1980s. A lot settled around Bayview when it was more of a Jewish area.

One of my friends from Cincinnati's mother is South African, and her sister settled in Toronto! I have heard that there is quite a community there. Again, though, these women were raised Anglican, and are not Jewish. I know anecdotes are somewhat useless, but it's just odd to see South African ancestry used as a proxy for Jews, when the Jewish population in South Africa has traditionally been small, and also doesn't match my experience with South Africans in the US.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by edale

It makes sense to me that it'd be around 60% Jewish, especially since the community has continued to receive new blood from Persian Jews and the growing Orthodox community in Beverlyglen.

The geographic boundaries of Beverly Glen vary widely between the LA Times, Google Maps, Wikipedia, and Statistical Atlas.

LA Times just refers to the area as "Beverly Crest," which consists of Beverly Glen, Benedict Canyon, North Beverly Park, South Beverly Park, Beverly Ridge Estates, and... Beverly Crest. And within this is an area called "Beverly Hills Post Office," which is the city of LA but with a 90210 zip code.

Statistical Atlas' definition of "Beverly Glen" appears to include the LAT's Beverly Crest plus a portion of the Hollywood Hills south of Mulholland and west of Laurel Canyon. The tract that appears to be Orthodox based on ancestral profile includes this geographic overlap.

https://statisticalatlas.com/tract/C...61101/Ancestry

Russian 19.8%
Unclassified 14.6%
Iranian 9.7%
Polish 8.0%
Hungarian 4.1%
Eastern European 3.1%
Austrian 2.6%

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Beverly Hills wasn't founded by Jews, but by real estate developers (like most other towns in SoCal) with names like Green, Canfield, Whittier, and Huntington. It initially had racial covenants, but home lot sales were slow, which is why the Beverly Hills Hotel was built, to attract potential residents. When movie people, many of them Jews, were forbidden initially to live in Hollywood and Bel-Air, Beverly Hills started allowing them to move there, to increase home sales.

So you're saying there's hope for OC?

I know Newport and Laguna were blasted earlier, but there actually are a few tracts in each that might be 10% Jewish. That's also the case with the inland communities of south OC, including Irvine. But Irvine has a large Muslim population, probably about 8-10% of the population; Iranians and Arabs (including Egyptians, Syrians, and other groups) together outnumber every ethnic group except Chinese.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by edale

One of my friends from Cincinnati's mother is South African, and her sister settled in Toronto! I have heard that there is quite a community there. Again, though, these women were raised Anglican, and are not Jewish. I know anecdotes are somewhat useless, but it's just odd to see South African ancestry used as a proxy for Jews, when the Jewish population in South Africa has traditionally been small, and also doesn't match my experience with South Africans in the US.

Docere and Quixote have simply decided to count Americans who report various ancestries to the Census Bureau as 100% Jewish even though there is no factual support for doing so.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by craigs

Docere and Quixote have simply decided to count Americans who report various ancestries to the Census Bureau as 100% Jewish even though there is no factual support for doing so.

Where did I say certain ancestry groups are 100% Jewish? Since the Census Bureau doesn't count Jews, they are only suggestive of a large Jewish population.