"But as one door closes, another is already being unlocked." Matt Epstein, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, wrote that line in the September 2026 Comings & Goings column. It came right after he reported that Boneyard Bistro would close on September 12 after more than twenty years. It describes the column, and it also describes 2026 on the Sherman Oaks stretch of Ventura Boulevard and the side streets around it. In storefront after storefront, a closing was followed within weeks or months by a named tenant, and that tenant was usually in the same line of business.
The pattern is easiest to see when the spaces are listed together.
The recent handoffs, in one table
| Space | What left | What's there now or next | Status as of Oct. 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4319 Woodman Ave., north of Ventura | Santino's NY Pizza, nearly 20 years, closed in March | Greco's New York Pizzeria | Taking orders |
| Ventura & Sunnyslope | Tony's Liquor, nearly half a century | Eagle Liquor, with Mother's Bread next door | Open |
| 13711 Ventura Blvd. | Green Queen dispensary | Florahound, a rare-plant shop | Open, per SOHA's August column |
| 13422 Ventura Blvd. | Mistral, closed to renovate | Mistral reopened; Henri's planned next door | Mistral open; Henri's announced |
| Corner of Ventura & Woodman | Samos, about two years | Lease signed by chef Ludo Lefebvre for a sandwich concept | Announced, no name yet |
| Former Le Pain Quotidien | Le Pain Quotidien | A bagel shop | Announced, no name yet |
| 13539 Ventura Blvd. | Boneyard Bistro, closed Sept. 12 | Nothing reported | Vacant as far as public reports show |
Six of these seven spaces already have a known successor. The one without a replacement is also the most recent closing.
The replacements mostly stay in the same trade
The handoffs are fast, and they are also close matches. On Woodman Avenue, one New York-style pizzeria followed another. Santino's spent nearly two decades serving New York-style thin crust on Woodman Avenue before it closed in March. In April, What Now Los Angeles reported that Greco's New York Pizzeria would open at 4319 Woodman, with an early-June target. The Sherman Oaks ordering page for Greco's now lists that address and takes scheduled orders. Greco's already had locations in Hollywood and Tarzana, and this is its third.
The corner of Ventura and Sunnyslope kept its liquor store. Tony's Liquor stood at Ventura and Sunnyslope for nearly fifty years, and Eagle Liquor now sells wine, beer, cigars and lottery tickets on the same corner. The new business in that row was the bakery next door. Mother's Bread, run by a baker named Nick, makes three varieties of sourdough from a starter built on grapes. The loaves are shaped like long paddles, and SOHA reported production of roughly a hundred a day, many of them gone before closing.
A French bistro also replaced itself. Mistral served Sherman Oaks for thirty-eight years. It changed owners, closed with paper over the windows, and reopened on August 10 according to Eater LA, with new operators, a refreshed interior and an updated French-bistro menu. The SOHA column went through the menu dish by dish. The tuna tartare, lump crab cakes, house-cured king salmon, Mistral Caesar, French onion soup, duck and John Dory all stayed. The one new item Epstein noticed was a Mistral Burger.
The bagel shop going into the former Le Pain Quotidien space is a close match too, since one daytime bakery-café is following another. SOHA has not published a name or an opening date.
Florahound is the one replacement in the table that changed category completely. The storefront at 13711 Ventura, near Woodman, used to be the Green Queen dispensary and still has the painted front that made it recognizable. It is now a rare-plant shop built around the collection of horticulturist Leon Massoth, who spent decades growing tropical species from seed. SOHA specifically wrote that it is not a dispensary.
How quickly the Samos corner turned over
The corner at Ventura and Woodman shows how short the gap between tenants can be. In June, SOHA reported that Samos had closed after about two years. The owners had invested heavily in converting the space into a Mediterranean restaurant. Epstein wrote that he had not heard what would come next. In the September column, Ludo Lefebvre of Petit Trois had signed a lease for the space. The concept is described as a sandwich shop in its earliest stage, and the name is still to come.
A second sandwich project is in the public record nearby. On October 7, What Now Los Angeles reported that filings propose a French café called Cornichon at 13702 W. Ventura Blvd. The planned menu includes hot-pressed and classic baguette sandwiches such as jambon and Comté, sweet sandwiches with chocolate and salted butter, and pommes frites. The filing names a different applicant. Nothing published so far links Cornichon to the Lefebvre lease, so for now they should be treated as two separate projects.
New space gets filled by crowded categories
The pattern also holds where there was no previous tenant. At Ventura and Fulton, across from Casa Vega, a mixed-use project called Fulton Crossing is putting shops on the ground floor with offices above. A vintage Airstream on the corner marks the site. The first tenant is Blank Street Coffee, which SOHA described as design-forward and already drawing a line out the door. That puts another coffee shop on a boulevard where, according to the same column, Sherman Oaks and Studio City "seem to sprout a new coffee shop or bagel spot every single week."
Sushi follows the same pattern. SOHA counts more than thirty sushi restaurants already on Ventura Boulevard, and Sumi Sushi opened next door to Burger She Wrote anyway. Sumi's own site now takes dinner reservations seven nights a week. The restaurant gets a fresh fish delivery every day, so the chef's recommendation depends on what arrived that morning.
A few blocks from Fulton Crossing, past Casa Vega, LLAMA opened at 13443 Ventura. It is a play studio offering art and sewing classes, workshops, birthday parties, and Grown-Up Nights for adults. Over at Westfield Fashion Square on Riverside Drive, SOHA reported in June that the mall was busy and that BoxUnion, a boxing studio running 45-minute group classes, had arrived. Noodle St, which SOHA described in June as having been "coming soon" for a long time, now lists itself as open at 14006 Riverside Drive, Suite 26.
One possible addition on Riverside is housing, not retail. Urbanize LA reported in September that permit filings would convert the former Sunkist headquarters at 14130 Riverside Drive into 95 apartments. It is a proposal at this point, not a project under construction.
The spaces still in question
Three details will show whether the pattern holds into the end of the year:
- 13539 Ventura. Hoodline reported September 12 as Boneyard Bistro's last day of service, ending a run of more than two decades of smoked brisket and eclectic bistro food. No successor has been reported. It is the only space in the table with nothing announced.
- Henri's. Mistral's former private-dining room at 13422 Ventura is being turned into a raw bar serving oysters, cocktails and cooked seafood. Eater said in August that it would open later this fall, and a September report in Food Journal Magazine said late fall. Neither confirms it has opened.
- Marmalade Cafe. The Los Angeles Times reported that the chain filed for Chapter 11 on September 2. Its Sherman Oaks location on Ventura was one of four stores still operating, and management said it hoped the remaining locations would stay open.
Sunday on the boulevard
The 34th Sherman Oaks Street Fair runs Sunday, October 18, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Ventura Boulevard between Kester Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard. The Sherman Oaks Encino Chamber of Commerce is organizing it. The rest of the spaces in the table are on the same boulevard or just off it, at Sunnyslope, Woodman and Fulton, and Ventura is the one street that connects them all.
If this year's handoffs have you wondering what a Sherman Oaks storefront, corner lot or home near the boulevard is worth right now, Amanda Watkins follows these changes block by block and is glad to walk through them with you. Let's Connect.
