Getting to Know Sherman Oaks
How Sherman Oaks Is Laid Out
Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, at the southern edge of the San Fernando Valley, where the flat Valley floor meets the Santa Monica Mountains. Since it falls under the City of LA, the move follows city rules and LADOT permits rather than the local city hall’s. It covers roughly 8 to 9 square miles, and because a chunk of that is mountain land, it has one of the lower population densities in the city, which gives it its leafy, spread-out feel.
Ventura Boulevard is the spine and the dividing line. To the north sit the flats, with apartment buildings, condos, and family homes, plus the Sherman Oaks Galleria and Westfield Fashion Square near the 405 and Ventura junction. To the south, the hills rise toward Mulholland Drive, with larger, pricier homes on winding streets like Coldwater Canyon. Studio City lies to the east, Encino to the west, Van Nuys to the north, and Bel Air and the Beverly Hills line to the south. The 101 and 405 freeways meet at the neighborhood’s edge, which is convenient and, at rush hour, congested.
From Ranchland to a Valley Neighborhood
The Valley was home to the Tongva people, and later Mexican rancho land, before it was opened for farming once water arrived. Sherman Oaks itself dates to 1927, when General Moses Hazeltine Sherman, a partner in the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, subdivided about 1,000 acres and put the lots up for sale at $780 an acre. The neighborhood carries his name. Sherman was also behind the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad, part of the rail network that helped open the Valley to growth.
The area filled in over the following decades with single-family homes and mid-century houses, and the hillside south of Ventura became some of the more sought-after real estate in the Valley. The Sherman Oaks Galleria, built in 1980 on part of Sherman’s original land, became a symbol of 1980s Valley mall culture. It even got a mention in the song “Valley Girl.” Today, the neighborhood is settled and desirable, known for its Ventura Boulevard dining and shopping, its hillside homes, and its easy reach to both the Valley and the Westside.