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TrAND avel RECREATION

In a palmy dusk, Art’s Delicatessen beckons the hungry.

magine, if you will, a Main Street without end. A big bang of a street, all-encompassing and infinite in scale. Vent ura IA boulevard where mom and pop meets pop culture. , the onetime El Camino Real pio- neered in part by the Portola party in 1769 and now Califor- nia’s preeminent suburban drag, is a contradictory, con- Boulevard founding street that nevertheless holds some of ’ greatest discoveries. Rare guitars and delis to die for— The boulevard has cool, but it’s a beneath-the-radar cool. you can find just about anything on For those of us who love its delis and bakeries, its music Southern ’s ultimate Main Street stores and antiques shops, that’s just as well. In its own way, it’s a neighborly street. If you grew up By Matthew Jaffe ■ Photographs by David Zaitz in Studio City or Sherman Oaks, Encino or Woodland Hills, you grew up on the boulevard: pie at Du-par’s, week- ends at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, and long summer drives,

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forsaking the freeway for those boule- vard nights.

A small-town street with celebrity touches I didn’t grow up on the boulevard. In- stead I discovered it in my 20s, not long after moving to Los Angeles. One morning friends suggested meeting at Art’s Delicatessen, and so I made my Norm’s got guitars: way north through Laurel Canyon to Rare Gibsons, the . Fenders, and Martins gleam In the wonderland of Los Angeles, at Norman this was a through-the-looking-glass Harris’s store. moment: Ventura Boulevard offered the first evidence that there was an finest restaurants and home decor ally impossible to read at 35 mph. urban life beyond the Westside. stores—and why you can easily see an This is not a new problem. Aldous Novelist Stephen Randall had a simi- entertainment deal made over break- Huxley wrote about it in a 1939 piece lar experience. A native of Santa Monica fast at Art’s. that described a trip through the valley and author of The Other Side of Mulholland, One of the most surprising celebrity to Tarzana. a book that explores the yin and yang of stops is tucked away in a Tarzana mini- “At the bottom of the hill the car the valley versus the Westside, he found mall, where Norman Harris operates turned to the left along a wide road that himself drawn to Ventura Boulevard, Norman’s Rare Guitars. Thirty years ran, a ribbon of concrete and suburban thanks to Du-par’s and Art’s. in the business, Harris sells guitars buildings through the plain. The chauf- “Those places really characterized from $89 to $100,000, everything from feur put on speed; sign succeeded sign Ventura Boulevard’s small-town atmo- Fender reissues to a 1955 Gibson ES- with bewildering rapidity. MALTS CAB- sphere,” says Randall. But, he adds, 295 once owned by Eric Clapton. INS DINE AND DANCE AT THE CHATEAU Westside types believed the boulevard Harris says Ventura Boulevard is an HONOLULU SPIRITUAL HELPING AND had no character. “If you told people ideal spot for his business. “There are a COLONIC IRRIGATION BLOCK-LONG HOT that you preferred it over Sunset, they lot of professional musicians in the DOGS BUY YOUR DREAM HOME NOW.” would think you lacked sophistication.” valley and still plenty of recording stu- And so Ventura Boulevard has long The irony is that Ventura Boulevard dios,” he says. “There are also all sorts been one of the great repositories of car- has a strong, if not flashy, entertain- of doctors and lawyers who now can chitecture, that attempt by businesses to ment-industry presence; Encino and afford the guitars that they dreamed of do anything to grab drivers’ attention. other neighborhoods south of Ventura owning as kids.” Not that all of his cus- Efforts range from Casa de , a have a fair number of celebrity resi- tomers are lawyers: He’s sold guitars streamlined 1948-vintage dealership, to dents. That helps explain why the during pop-in visits from Bruce Spring- more cartoonish variations, like Studio boulevard boasts some of Los Angeles’ steen and Bob Dylan. City Hand Car Wash (where a giant hand holds an old Corvette aloft). A Studio City The capital of car-chitecture Auto-centric though it may be, dis- landmark The challenge of Ventura Boulevard tinct villagelike stretches have emerged gives a big hand is finding gems like Norman’s Rare along the boulevard, helping to break to clean cars. Guitars. Though linear as an anaconda, it into more manageable pieces. While the boulevard can be as unruly as the unlikely to make an expatriate boule- Internet: an un-Googled gaggle of yoga vardier forget Paris, Ventura Boule- studios and lighting stores, 3 Jerry’s vard is, like any great street, a true ex- Famous Delis, and 11 Starbucks. pression of its city. When surfing the boulevard, your “It’s not a Norman Rockwell kind of car is at best an imperfect search engine. Main Street, but a Main Street for a new The problem is, there’s just so much century,” says Randall. “It’s grand and stuff, whether strung out along long diffuse in the way that Los Angeles is. blocks of low storefronts or stacked in Ventura Boulevard is kind of the soul of mini-malls whose streetside marquees the valley. It’s where everything is.”

listing 20 or more businesses are virtu- (Continued on page 32) BOTTOM: TODD BIGELOW

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The Ventura Ventura; (818) 905-6515. 11 Mr. Cecil’s California Ribs. Shopping sampler 4 Fleetwood Square. A shopping Barbecue goes upscale with a 18 Maxwell Dog. California Boulevard guide center that is the boulevard’s an- French wine list. 13625 Ventura; canines rejoice: Here are pure Here’s a list of boulevard highlights. swer to Texas’s Cadillac Ranch. (818) 905-8400. pampering products for now pooches. 12332 Ventura; The key to enjoying them and the 19611 Ventura. 12 Señor Fred. Creative Mexican boulevard? See them by sections. cuisine amidst stage set–worthy (818) 505-8411. Be sure to bring quarters for street Top dining decor. 13730 Ventura; (818) 789- 19 Ferret. Beautiful, high-end parking. 5 Sushi Nozawa. Best on Studio 3200. country furniture. 12345-M Ventura; (818) 769-2427. City’s sushi row. Closed Sat–Sun. 13 Café Bizou. Affordable, deli- Most walkable stretches 11288 Ventura; (818) 508-7017. cious bistro fare; make reservations 20 Coldwater Curve Shops. Studio City. Several blocks west 6 La Loggia. Popular among early. 14016 Ventura; (818) 788- Eclectic grouping of shops in- of Laurel Canyon Blvd. entertainment-industry types 3536. cludes La Knitterie Parisienne (818/766-1515), a yarn store pop- Sherman Oaks. Roughly between for northern Italian and French 14 Jinky’s. Jam-packed breakfast ular with celebrity knitters. Closed Blvd. and Willis Ave. food. 11814 Ventura; (818) joint celebrated for its pumpkin Sun–Mon. 12600 block of Ventura, 985-9222. pancakes. 14120 Ventura; (818) east of Coldwater Canyon Ave., 7 Du-par’s. Icon beloved for pie 981-2250. Best roadside south side of boulevard. architecture and the like. 12036 Ventura; (818) 15 Nicolosi Pastries. Prime can- 21 Indian Art Center of Califor- 1 Studio City Hand Car Wash. 766-4437. noli and terrific breads. 17540 Ven- nia. Within Coldwater Curve Love it or hate it, it’s a local land- 8 Art’s Delicatessen. Schmooza- tura; (818) 789-0922. (above), it has a fine selection of mark. 11514 Ventura Blvd.; (818) palooza at everyone’s home away 16 Bea’s Bakery. When they say Native American pottery and 980-8999. from home. 12224 Ventura; (818) everything bagel, they mean every- jewelry. Closed Sun–Mon. 12666 762-1221. 2 Casa de Cadillac. Streamlined thing. Great cookies too. 18450 Ventura; (818) 763-3430. classic. 14401 Ventura; (818) 981- 9 Casa Vega. Mexican mainstay. Clark St.; (818) 344-0100. 22 Vespa of Sherman Oaks. Styl- 2000. 13301 Ventura; (818) 788-4868. 17 Dan’s Super Subs. Triumphs of ish showroom for the hippest thing 3 Rubin’s Red Hots. Chicago- 10 Max. Cal-Asian creations by construction and proportion in the on two wheels. 13629 Ventura; style hot dogs beneath a salvaged Andre Guerrero. 13355 Ventura; west valley. Closed Sun. 22446 (818) 906-0350. section of El train tracks. 15322 (818) 784-2915. Ventura; (818) 225-8880. 23 Sherman Oaks Galleria. Frank Zappa mentioned it in the song “Valley Girl”; Fast Times at Ridge- mont High was filmed here. Now radically remodeled, it’s worth a stop for browsing and a movie. At Sepulveda and Ventura Boule- vards; (818) 382-4100.

24 Domingo’s Italian Deli. Classic Italian market with a big selection. Closed Mon. 17548 Ventura; (818) 981-4466.

25 Norman’s Rare Guitars. Why play air guitar when you can own a rare guitar? Closed Sun–Mon. 18969 Ventura; (818) 344-8300.

26 CD Trader. Nothing fancy, just a deep, well-organized collection. 18928 Ventura; (818) 705-3544.

A sunny morning turns 27 Woodland Hills Wine Co. Big Ventura Boulevard selection of California and other into a valley wines, plus an always-helpful staff. Champs-Elysées.

22622 Ventura; (800) 678-9463. Ω MAP: MINOT/HERSHMAN STUDIO

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