Sherman Oaks, close to two major freeways, serves as a gateway to the San Fernando Valley. The community is perhaps best known as the home of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, considered by many to be the undisputed residence of the Valley Girl, a cultural label popularized by the song and 1983 movie of the same name. Two large shopping malls in the area, numerous smaller boutiques and plazas line Ventura Boulevard, providing residents and visitors with endless window-shopping opportunities. Summer concerts at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
Many members of the financial industry, including banks and brokerage houses, are located in the area. And Sunkist Growers, one of the country’s oldest and largest agricultural cooperatives, has been rooted in Sherman Oaks for almost 30 years.
This community was one of the hardest hit by the 1994 Northridge earthquake and has had to put itself back together. As the last of the major earthquake repair projects nears completion, Sherman Oaks now turns its attention to improving what has always been its “Main Street” — Ventura Boulevard.
Recreation and Parks Department
One of the amenities of life in Sherman Oaks is the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks War Memorial Park located at 14201 Huston Street, Sherman Oaks. Grounds can be accessed from Van Nuys Boulevard and from Hazeltine Avenue. The ball fields accessed from Magnolia Boulevard are also within the boundaries of this large facility. Huston Street is just north of the Ventura Freeway.
The park is operated by the Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks and offers a great variety of activities year-round for pre-school age children to retired adults. One building on the west side of the property is devoted to activities for senior citizens.
For program details, please call the park office at 818-783-5121. Be sure to let it ring as staff may be outside directing activities.
Sherman Oaks Boundaries
Our southern boundary has always been Mulholland Drive. The western boundary is Firmament as it crosses Ventura Blvd. The current northern boundary is Burbank Blvd. and the eastern boundary is Coldwater Canyon Ave. from Burbank south to Magnolia where it jogs west so as to reach Fulton Ave. at Ventura Blvd. The line then follows Longridge south to Mulholland.
Did you know?
- Sherman Oaks is home to Fire Station #88, the first Urban Search & Rescue Task Force to respond following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York.
- Marilyn Monroe’s first home as 16-year-old newlywed was on Vista del Monte in Sherman Oaks.
- The famous musician Liberace lived on Valley Vista Boulevard in Sherman Oaks and had a piano-shaped pool complete with black keys.
- The term “Valley Girls” was popularized by musician Frank Zappa and his daughter, Moon Unit, and was inspired by Moon’s dinner table mocking of schoolmates’ syntax and incessant shopping at the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
A Brief Look Back:
Sherman Oaks was one of the first Valley communities to experience intensive real estate development. Anticipating the development of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, Los Angeles Suburban Homes Co. purchased 47,500 acres of the southeast Valley in 1910. In 1911, a subdivision map called Tract 1000 was filed with the county. From that parcel, one of the partners in the company, Gen. Moses Hazeltine Sherman, bought 1,000 acres for himself.
In 1927, Sherman subdivided the property and sold the land for $780 an acre. Over the years, many celebrities have lived in Sherman Oaks, including Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Lou Costello, Marsha Hunt, Burt Kennedy and Hector Elizondo.
Q1 2024 for the period ending March 31, 2024 per the Multiple Listing Service:
The average single family home sale was $2,113,576 for a 2,454 square foot home on a 8,771 square foot lot. A total of 95 homes sold in an average of 41 days on market.