Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

located in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density than some other areas in Los Angeles.

History

A partner of the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, Gen. Moses Hazeltine Sherman, developed Sherman Oaks. The company had subdivided of land that would become Sherman Oaks. In 1927, each acre was sold for $780. Sherman's other major venture was the

Los Angeles Pacific Railroad The Los Angeles Pacific Railroad (1896−1911) (LAP) was an electric public transit and freight railway system in Los Angeles County, California. At its peak it had of track extending from Downtown Los Angeles to the Westside, Santa Monica, an ...

. In 1991, a group of homeowners living in the Chandler Estates area successfully petitioned former Los Angeles City Councilmember Zev Yaroslavsky to re-draw the boundaries of Sherman Oaks from Magnolia to Burbank Blvd to the north, and from Coldwater Canyon to

Van Nuys Blvd Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, which ...

to the west, with the goal of including their neighborhood. This request was nothing new to the San Fernando Valley; other neighborhoods had either sought to change their names, or sought to attach themselves onto more affluent neighborhoods. Residents in the area argued, however, that the area was originally part of Sherman Oaks, but was labeled Van Nuys instead through the creation of ZIP codes in 1962; a resident produced a property deed to buttress the case. Just a few weeks after the Chandler Estates area successfully seceded from Van Nuys, Magnolia Woods, a 45 block area bordered by Van Nuys Boulevard on the east and the San Diego Freeway on the west, and between Burbank and Magnolia Boulevards, also successfully petitioned Los Angeles City council member Marvin Braude to secede from Van Nuys and join Sherman Oaks. Petitioners in the area argued that their neighborhood was also part of Sherman Oaks, though they were only able to produce 22 deeds showing so. As a result of this change, Van Nuys Middle School became separated from its namesake neighborhood. Finally, in 2009, the Los Angeles City council voted to redraw neighborhood boundaries again to allow an area of about 1,800 homes in Van Nuys to be included. The

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

caused damage in the surrounding area. The Community Redevelopment Agency sought to manage the rebuilding efforts. The homeowners in the Sherman Oaks area later won a lawsuit to prevent the agency from managing efforts.

Geography and climate

The neighborhood is roughly bounded by

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

to the east,

Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, t ...

to the north, Encino to the west, Bel Air and

Beverly Hills Post Office Beverly Hills Post Office (BHPO) is the name given to a section of Los Angeles, California, that lies within the 90210 ZIP code, assigned to the Beverly Hills Post Office. Los Angeles mailing addresses with the ZIP code 90210 may be written ...

to the south.

Demographics

2010

As of the 2010 census, according to the ''San Fernando Valley Almanac'', Sherman Oaks had a population of 52,677 people and 25,255 households. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 82% non-Hispanic white, 5% Asian American and 3% African American; 11% were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Other races made up less than 1%.

2000

The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' reported that the 2000 U.S. census counted 61,166 residents in the 9.15-square-mile Sherman Oaks neighborhood, including a wide swath of the

—or 6,687 people per square mile, among the lowest

population densities Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

for the city. In 2008, the city estimated that the resident population had increased to 65,436. In 2000, the percentages of residents aged 19 to 49 and 65 and older were among the county's highest. The percentages of divorced residents and of widows were among the county's highest. The average household size of two people was low when compared to the rest of the city and the county. Renters occupied 58.9% of the housing stock and house- or apartment-owners held 41.1%.
"Sherman Oaks," Mapping L.A., ''Los Angeles Times'' The neighborhood was considered "not especially diverse" ethnically within Los Angeles, with a high percentage of white residents. The breakdown was Non-Hispanic Whites, whites, 73.8%;

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...

, 11.8%; Asians, 5.7%;

blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

, 4.4%; and others, 4.4%. Iran (14.1%) and Mexico (8.8%) were the most common places of birth for the 26.2% of the residents who were born abroad—an average percentage for Los Angeles. The neighborhood had a

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of ...

of $69,651 in 2008, which was high for the city of Los Angeles but about average for the county as a whole. (Median household income reports the amount of money earned by the household that falls exactly in the middle of the pack.) The percentage of households that earned $125,000 and up was high for

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

Government and infrastructure

Local government

Los Angeles Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and technical rescue services to the city of Los Angeles ...

operates Station 88 Sherman Oaks and Station 102 South Van Nuys/Valley Glen in Sherman Oaks. In addition the department operates Fire Station 78, which serves Sherman Oaks, in

. The

Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

operates the nearby Van Nuys Community Police Station at 6240 Sylmar Avenue, 91401, serving the community.

County, state, and federal representation

The

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

Sherman Oaks Post Office is located at 14900 Magnolia Boulevard.

Politics

Richard Close, the president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, said that in 1978 the neighborhood played a key role in the drive for

Proposition 13 Proposition 13 (officially named the People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation) is an amendment of the Constitution of California enacted during 1978, by means of the initiative process. The initiative was approved by California voters on J ...

and in 2002 was the epicenter of an unsuccessful San Fernando Valley secession movement.

Education

Forty-five percent of Sherman Oaks residents aged 25 and older had earned a

four-year degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

by 2000, a high percentage for both the city and the county. The percentage of those residents with a master's degree or higher was also high for the County.

LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

schools within the Sherman Oaks boundary include: * Van Nuys Middle School. The school was in the

community until 1991, when City Council member

Marvin Braude Marvin Braude (11 August 1920 – 7 December 2005) was a member of the Los Angeles City Council for 32 years, between 1965 and 1997—the third-longest-serving council member in the history of the city. He was “a champion of bike paths,” advoc ...

directed that a 45-block area that included the school be renamed as part of Sherman Oaks. The school continued to use the name "Van Nuys Middle".Stewart, Jocelyn Y.
Identity Crisis : Community: The decision to change the name of a 45-block area of Van Nuys to Sherman Oaks leaves junior high in an odd position.
''Los Angeles Times''. August 23, 1991. Retrieved on March 23, 2014. * Kester Avenue Elementary School * Chandler Elementary School *

Robert A. Millikan Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the Elementary charge, elementary electric charge and for his work on ...

Middle School * Sherman Oaks Elementary * Dixie Canyon Avenue Elementary * Riverside Drive Elementary School Charter schools within the Sherman Oaks boundary include: * Ivy Bound Academy for Math, Science, and Technology on Morrison Street * Community Harvest Charter School, closed in 2012 Portions of Sherman Oaks, including Magnolia Woods, are zoned to

Van Nuys High School Van Nuys High School (VNHS) is a public high school in the Van Nuys district of Los Angeles, belonging to the Los Angeles Unified School District: District 2. The school is home to a Residential Program and three Magnet Programs—Math/Science, P ...

.Sarkisian-Miller, Nora.
A hideaway in Sherman Oaks
" ''

''. May 7, 2006. Retrieved on March 23, 2014. Other portions are zoned to Grant High School in

Valley Glen Valley Glen is a neighborhood in southeastern section of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California. Once part of Van Nuys and North Hollywood, it became a separate neighborhood in 1998. Valley Glen is home to Los Angeles Valley College an ...

. Scott Glover of the ''

'' stated in 1993 "many Sherman Oaks residents do not have school-age children, and many others send their children to private schools". Private schools include: * Notre Dame High School * The Buckley School * Village Glen School

Libraries

Los Angeles Public Library The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the large ...

operates the Sherman Oaks Branch, also known as the Sherman Oaks Martin Pollard Branch. The library was renamed in 1970, as a tribute to Martin Pollard, owner of the nearb
Casa de Cadillac

Parks and recreation

The Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Park is in Sherman Oaks. Dinah Eng of the ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote in 2002 that the park "is a popular site for family gatherings". The park has an auditorium, two lighted baseball diamonds, six unlighted baseball diamonds, lighted indoor basketball courts, lighted outdoor basketball courts, a children's play area, a 60-person community room, a lighted American football field, an indoor gymnasium without weights, picnic tables, a lighted soccer (football) field, and lighted tennis courts. Located in the same place as the park, the Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Pool is a seasonal outdoor heated swimming pool. The Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Senior Citizen Center (also known as Bernardi Center), also on the park grounds, has an auditorium and multi-purpose room; its banquet capacity is 200 and its assembly capacity is 300. The senior center also has two community/meeting rooms; one can hold 50 people and one can hold 30 people. The senior center has two kitchens, a play area, a shuffle board place, a stage, and two storage rooms. The Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Tennis Courts facility in the Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Park has eight courts. In addition, the city operates the Sherman Oaks Castle Park with arcade, batting cages, and miniature golf facilities, in Sherman Oaks.

Notable people

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

, entertainer, singer, television personality *

Baba Ali Ali Ardekani ( fa, علی اردکانی; born October 11, 1974), best known by his stage name Baba Ali ( fa, بابا علی), is an Iranian-born American comedian, games developer, businessman, and actor. Early life Although born into a Per ...

, comedian * Rami Malek, actor *

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress and film producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Since her career ...

, actress, born in Sherman Oaks *

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

, actress * Noah Beery Jr., actor *

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

, actor *

June Christy June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a sol ...

, singer *

Andrew Dice Clay Andrew Dice Clay (born Andrew Clay Silverstein; September 29, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s with a brash, deliberately offensive persona known as "The Diceman". In 1990, he became the fi ...

, comedian and actor *

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

, actor *

David Dobrik David Dobrik ( Dávid Julián Dobrík (; ; born July 23, 1996)) is a Slovak Internet personality. He found early success on the video-sharing platform Vine, before starting his vlog on YouTube in 2015. In 2019, he co-founded the photography app ...

, YouTube personality *

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...

, actor, film director *

Michael Erush Michael Erush (born January 24, 1984) is a former professional soccer player and current soccer coach. He is the Head Men's Soccer Coach at California State University-Los Angeles. He was inducted into the Birmingham Community Charter High S ...

(born 1984), soccer player and coach *

Chip Esten Charles Esten Puskar III (born September 9, 1965), also known professionally as Charles Esten, and Chip Esten, is an American actor, musician and comedian. Esten played the role of country singer Deacon Claybourne on the ABC/ CMT drama ''Nashvi ...

, actor *

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances ...

, actor and filmmaker *

Ben Gottschalk Ben Gottschalk (born February 15, 1992) is an American football center who is currently a free agent. He played college football at SMU, and subsequently played in the National Football League (NFL) with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Early life G ...

(born 1992), NFL football offensive linesman *

Brian Grazer Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer and writer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated f ...

, film and television producer * Melissa Joan Hart, actress * Marsha Hunt (1917-2022), actress, model, and activist *

Jenn Im Jennifer Dohee Im is an American fashion beauty vlogger and fashion designer. She is best known for her YouTube channel, previously titled ''ClothesEncounters'', which began in 2010 and reached approximately 2.4 million subscribers as of 2019. ...

, YouTube personality *

Michael B. Jordan Michael Bakari Jordan (; born February 9, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama ''Fruitvale Station'' (2013), boxer Adonis Creed in ''Creed'' (2015), and Erik Killmonger in ''Bl ...

, actor *

Shia LaBeouf Shia Saide LaBeouf (; born June 11, 1986) is an American actor, performance artist, and filmmaker. He played Louis Stevens in the Disney Channel series ''Even Stevens'', a role for which he received Young Artist Award nominations in 2001 and ...

, actor *

Sondra Locke Sandra Louise Anderson (''née'' Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director. She achieved worldwide recognition for her relationship with Clint Eastwood and the six hit f ...

(1944–2018), actress, film director *

Demi Lovato Demetria Devonne Lovato ( ; born August 20, 1992), known as Demi Lovato, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. After appearing on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004), Lovato rose to prominence for pl ...

, singer, songwriter, and actress *

Jeannie Mai Jeannie Mai-Jenkins (born Jeannie Camtu Mai) is an American television host and stylist best known for her work on the makeover show '' How Do I Look?'' and the syndicated daytime talk show ''The Real''. As a fashion expert, she is frequently fe ...

, television personality, stylist, talk show host *

Jenna Marbles Jenna Nicole Mourey (born September 15, 1986), better known as Jenna Marbles, is an American former YouTuber. Over the span of ten years, her YouTube channel has accumulated approximately 1.7 billion video views and over 20 million subscribers. ...

, YouTube personality *

Bridget Marquardt Bridget Marquardt (born September 25, 1974) is an American television personality and model, known for her role in the reality TV series ''The Girls Next Door'', which depicted her life as one of ''Playboy'' founder Hugh Hefner's girlfriends. A ...

, actress * Christopher Mayer, actor *

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

, musician *

Tana Mongeau Tana Marie Mongeau ( , born June 24, 1998) is an American Internet personality. She is known to make "storytime" videos and similar content posted to her YouTube channel. Early life Tana Mongeau was born on June 24, 1998, to Rick and Rebecca ...

, YouTube personality *

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Elizabeth Olsen Elizabeth Chase Olsen (born February 16, 1989) is an American actress. Born in Sherman Oaks, California, Olsen began acting at age four. She starred in her debut film role in the thriller ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' in 2011, for which she wa ...

, actresses *

Bill Paparian William Mihrtad Paparian (born 1949 in Los Angeles, California) is an American politician, a former mayor of Pasadena, California, serving from 1995 to 1997. He was also a member of the Pasadena City Council from 1987 to 1999, and a Green Party ...

, mayor of Pasadena, California *

Luke Perry Coy Luther "Luke" Perry III (October 11, 1966 – March 4, 2019) was an American actor. He became a teen idol for playing Dylan McKay on the Fox television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' from 1990 to 1995, and again from 1998 to 2000. He ...

(1966-2019), actor * Yasiel Puig, baseball player * Chuck Riley, voice actor *

Jean Rogers Jean Rogers (born Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren, March 25, 1916 – February 24, 1991) was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for ...

, actorObituary ''Variety'', March 4, 1991. *

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, Disney artist and imagineer. *

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, actor *

Warren Stevens Warren Albert Stevens (November 2, 1919 – March 27, 2012) was an American stage, screen, and television actor. Early life and career Born in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, Stevens entered the United States Naval Academy in 1937 but was medical ...

, actor *

Ryan Turell Ryan Turell (born February 3, 1999) is an American professional basketball player who plays Forward (basketball position), forward for the Motor City Cruise, an affiliate of the NBA's Detroit Pistons in the NBA G League. He played college basketb ...

(born 1999), basketball player for the G-League

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on the Yeshiva Universit ...

. *

Daniel Van Meter The Tower of Wooden Pallets was a structure of discarded wooden pallets built by Daniel Van Meter and designated as a Historic Cultural Monument.Richard Simon, ''The News-Journal Accent'', Daytona Beach, Florida, May 31, 1998, 11A, "Coll ...

, historian and inventorLos Angeles Daily News, May 10, 2003

In popular culture

The TV series ''Sherman Oaks'' appeared on the USA network from 1995 to 1997. It followed plastic surgeon Dr. Sanford Baker and his family as they were filmed by a young documentary filmmaker. The series ''Never Have I Ever'', and ''

Black-ish ''Black-ish'' (stylized as black·''ish'', `black·''ish'', and black''ish'') is an American sitcom television series created by Kenya Barris. It aired on ABC from September 24, 2014, to April 19, 2022, running for eight seasons. ''Black-ish'' ...

'' are set in Sherman Oaks.

References

External links

Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council

Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce

Sherman Oaks crime map and statistics, ''Los Angeles Times''

Colored map
Mapping L.A., ''

''
View of Sherman Oaks valley, from a home on Round Valley Drive, Sherman Oaks, 1934.

Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles Communities in the San Fernando Valley Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Populated places in the Santa Monica Mountains Populated places established in 1927 1927 establishments in California