Towns, City of Los Angeles
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Codes: 91403, 91413, 91423, 91495
The Santa Monica Mountains, shaped like a blunt spear,
divide the L.A. Basin from the San Fernando Valley. Where the spear nears its
tip and the mountains descend into hills and flatlands, you’ll find the
movie-entertainment towns and cities. www.mccormacks.com
Mulholland
Drive runs atop the hills. On the south side of Mulholland ... Beverly Hills,
Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills, Bel Air and Brentwood. The key boulevards here
are Sunset, Santa Monica and Hollywood.
On
the north side, facing the San Fernando Valley, with an estimated population of
73,000, Toluca Lake, Sherman Oaks and Studio City.
The
key boulevard is Ventura, which runs east-west across the Valley floor and is
lined with a variety of restaurants, many of them top notch, banks, shops and
supermarkets, offices, doctors, dentists, stock brokerages, tattoo parlors,
exercise spas, personal trainers, gyms, bookstores, tall hotels, and so on, a
diverse and lively thoroughfare, suburban but sophisticated, that parallels a
popular freeway, Highway 101, also called the Ventura Freeway.
Going
from east to west, Toluca Lake is a favorite address of old Hollywood —
Bob Hope was a long-time resident — and has a small number of large
estate homes hidden behind tall hedges. The rest of the housing runs to
apartments and well-cared-for tract homes for professionals and managers.
Prestige address.
There
is a lake, small and privately owned, next to the Lakeside Country Club. The
community has two parks with playing fields and a well-kept downtown of small
shops and restaurants along Riverside Drive. Large equestrian center nearby.
Bikeway. www.mccormacks.com
Universal
City is not a city but a large studio-entertainment complex. No homes or apartments.
Universal City borders Toluca Lake on its south side.
Studio
City is located west of Toluca Lake and has as its approximate center the
intersection of Ventura Boulevard with Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
Sherman
Oaks is located west of Studio City between, approximately, Coldwater Canyon
Avenue and Interstate 405 (San Diego Freeway).
Studio
City, Sherman Oaks and Toluca Lake are “towns” of the City of Los Angeles. They
have their own “looks” and community groups that define themselves by location,
the Toluca Chamber of Commerce, the Sherman Oaks Chamber, the Studio City
Residents Association, and a few more. But all three lack definitive boundaries
that everyone agrees on. Their zip codes may include other neighborhoods.
Studio
City and Sherman Oaks are divided between flat land and hills. South of Ventura
Boulevard, the hills start. Homes constructed in the hills tend to upscale
professional, three to five bedrooms, tastefully decorated and landscaped,
very-well maintained and often remodeled. Some homes have views. Some deserve
to be called mansions. Here you will also see homes shoehorned into the hills
and hanging over deep ravines. Large decks. No back yards. www.mccormacks.com
North
of Ventura, toward the Valley floor, the homes also run to middle-class-plus,
interspersed with apartment complexes, well kept, especially along the
thoroughfares of Laurel Canyon, Coldwater Canyon and Woodman.
For
Sherman Oaks and Studio City, about a half dozen neighborhood parks and several
giant parks, including the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area (three golf courses,
two sports center and a velodrome - bike racing). Another golf course in Studio
City. Trails in the hills. Libraries. Community college. Summer concerts in the
park. Farmers markets. Minor
pastime: celebrity watching. At sundown, long limos glide down from the hills
and head for the upscale restaurants.
Trader
Joe's in all three towns. Sherman Oaks has two Whole Foods. Translation:
residents who dine (as opposed to merely eat).
All
three towns are patrolled by L.A. police. Crime figures are unavailable but
upper-income towns usually have low crime. Many homes subscribe to private
security services. Following 1994 earthquake, many apartment complexes in
Sherman Oaks were refurbished.
L.A. Unified School District. Sample
rankings: Millikan Middle, 70th percentile; Toluca Lake Elementary,
20th to 50th percentile; Carpenter Elementary, 80th and 90th percentile. In
many parts of L.A., rich, poor and middle class live within close proximity and
their children attend the same schools and this is reflected in the school
scores. See Schools.
Disney
and Warner studios are located in nearby Burbank. Many local jobs, which makes
the commute short for many residents. The freeway and the main boulevards, at peak
hours, are stop and go. www.mccormacks.com
About 10 to 13 miles to downtown L.A.
Highway 101. New to this area: a subway to Hollywood and downtown L.A. Very
popular. Close to Burbank Airport and Metrolink (commuter rail).
On
the down side, the Los Angeles River, channeled in concrete, flows through
these neighborhoods and deadends many streets. To get around, you have to drive
to an arterial (with a bridge over the river). The river has been spruced up
with a walkway lined with trees. See Commute.
For orientation
on cities, towns and neighborhoods of Los Angeles County, see County Overview.
Toluca
chamber, 818-761-6594, Sherman Oaks chamber, (818) 783-3100.
•
“Valley Talk," the schoolgirls' chatter, was supposedly first detected at
the Sherman Oaks Galleria, a mall. www.mccormacks.com
•
Marilyn Monroe, before she took Hollywood by storm, lived in Sherman Oaks.
Another famous resident of the town, Liberace who celebrated the good life with
a pool shaped like a piano.
•
In the early days of film, Studio City was the backdrop of many movies,
including the Keystone Kops series.
•
Studio City, Sherman Oaks and Toluca Lake have informal organizations that
influence housing construction and zonings and other municipal matters. These
towns may come across as transient because many people come and go. But they
all have long-term residents who pay attention to local affairs and support
improvements, such as planting trees along the boulevards and sponsoring
events.
•
Dubious honor. The intersection of Highway 101 and Interstate 405 (San Diego
Freeway), according to news stories, wins the title as the most congested
interchange in the U.S. But things are looking up. Many parts of interchange
were recently rebuilt; the remaining will be completed in 2007.
