Tarzana Movers

Getting to Know Tarzana

The Lay of the Land

Tarzana is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, not a separate city, set in the southern San Fernando Valley about thirteen miles northwest of downtown and covering roughly nine square miles. Because it falls under the City of Los Angeles, it is city ordinances and LADOT permits that govern a move here, not a local city hall of its own. Its edges run from Victory Boulevard down to Mulholland Drive, and from Lindley Avenue west toward Woodland Hills and Winnetka.

Ventura Boulevard is the dividing line, and it sorts the neighborhood by elevation. To the north lie the apartment buildings, townhomes, and ranch and mid-century houses of the flats, on a flat, sidewalk-lined grid that stretches toward the medium-density blocks near Victory; tucked above the freeway is Melody Acres, a pocket designed to keep a semi-rural, horse-friendly feel. To the south, the ground rises into the Santa Monica Mountains, where the estates sit on big lots and the guard-gated communities, Mulholland Park, Silver Hawk Ridge, Monte Verde, Braemar Estates, share the slopes with two country club golf courses. The 101 runs the northern edge, with the 405 a short distance east.

From Tarzan’s Ranch to a Valley Neighborhood

Long before the subdivisions, the land belonged to the Tongva people, then to the San Fernando Mission founded in 1797, and later to the sprawling cattle and wheat ranches of the American era. Burroughs bought into that landscape in 1919, christened his spread Tarzana Ranch, and within a few years began carving it into lots, starting in 1923.

The settlement that grew up around it was first called Runnymede; it adopted the Tarzana name as the ranch lots sold, and a post office under that name in 1930 made it official. Burroughs kept an office and library on Ventura Boulevard and had a hand in the country club land that still defines the southern hills. What he left behind is a settled, mostly residential neighborhood known today for its Boulevard dining and shops, its golf, and trailheads that lead straight into the Santa Monica Mountains and Topanga State Park.

The Real Work of a Tarzana Move

Because Tarzana is part of the City of Los Angeles, the rules that touch a move come from the city. For larger jobs, LADOT issues temporary no-parking permits that hold curb space at the address, and those have to be requested and posted before move day. Certain streets limit oversized vehicles, which is one more reason the truck has to be matched to the block rather than the other way around.

In the flats, the obstacles are the buildings themselves. Apartments and townhomes north of the Boulevard may share an elevator, assign a loading area, or offer no dock at all, so elevator reservations and stair carries are part of the routine, and the Boulevard’s traffic is something to schedule around rather than fight.

The hills are a separate discipline. Estates sit on steep, looping streets, often well above the curb, and the gated communities want gate codes, guard notice, and frequently a certificate of insurance on file before anyone rolls in. A full-size truck has no business on some of these grades, so we confirm the approach and right-size the vehicle ahead of time.

All of it, the permits, the gate and building coordination, the truck sizing, gets settled before move day, so it never becomes a problem once we are on site.