When a longtime Sherman Oaks restaurant closes, how long does its space stay dark? On Ventura Boulevard this year, the answer has usually been not long. Often a new tenant was named before the old one finished packing.
The 34th Sherman Oaks Street Fair is set for Sunday, October 18, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on Ventura Boulevard between Kester Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard. The fair is a yearly tradition. The boulevard around it has changed since last October. Matt Epstein, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, writes a monthly column tracking the street's comings and goings. His columns from this year show one clear pattern: of the seven closures and shutdowns he logged, six already have a next occupant lined up, and five of those successors have a name.
Six Storefronts, Six Handoffs
Here are the handoffs, by storefront:
- Former Santino's NY Pizza, Woodman Avenue just north of Ventura. Santino's served New York thin crust for nearly 20 years and closed in March. Greco's New York Pizzeria, which already runs locations in Hollywood and Tarzana, took over the space as its third location. What Now Los Angeles reported the address as 4319 Woodman Avenue, with an opening target of early June, and Greco's now lists a Sherman Oaks location.
- Former Samos, the corner of Ventura and Woodman. Epstein wrote in June that the Mediterranean restaurant had closed after about two years, and he hadn't yet heard what would replace it. By September he had his answer. Chef Ludo Lefebvre of Petit Trois signed the lease for what is expected to be a sandwich concept. The name is still to come.
- Former Le Pain Quotidien. The longtime café space is becoming a bagel shop, according to the September column. A name and an opening date have not been reported.
- Former Green Queen, 13711 Ventura Boulevard near Woodman. The storefront with the painted front is now Florahound, a rare-plant shop built around the collection of horticulturist Leon Massoth. He has spent decades growing tropical species from seed.
- Former Tony's Liquor, Ventura and Sunnyslope. Tony's held that corner for nearly half a century. Eagle Liquor replaced it, and a new bakery opened next door.
- Mistral, 13422 Ventura Boulevard. Mistral handed its space to itself. After a change of ownership the previous year, the 38-year-old French restaurant closed for a renovation and reopened on August 10.
The seventh closure is the only open question on the list.
Mistral Shows How a Handoff Can Keep the Regulars
Mistral is the clearest case of a space changing without losing what people came for. Epstein described the new owners as having "kept the food and most of the faces." After the remodel, the menu still has the tuna tartare, the lump crab cakes, the house-cured king salmon, the Mistral Caesar, the French onion soup, the duck, the John Dory and the rack of lamb. The new item he spotted was a Mistral Burger.
The same pattern shows up on the rest of the list. Greco's took over a New York pizza space and kept serving New York pizza. Eagle Liquor took over a liquor store corner and kept selling wine and beer. Most new tenants this year moved into a space that was already doing a similar job.
The exceptions are the more interesting changes. A former dispensary is now a plant shop. A café is becoming a bagel counter. A Mediterranean dining room is turning into a sandwich concept from a chef known for French food. Epstein calls the coffee and bagel openings across Sherman Oaks and Studio City "a full-blown coffee-and-bagel arms race."
Boneyard Bistro, the Space Still Waiting
Boneyard Bistro is the one closure with no reported successor of any kind. The restaurant served its last meal on September 12, 2026, after more than 20 years on the boulevard. Owner and chef Aaron Robins posted a farewell thanking the Sherman Oaks community. Epstein wrote that Boneyard "could do slow-smoked brisket and eclectic bistro fare with equal confidence."
The storefront at 13539 Ventura Boulevard is listed in a Ventura Boulevard business directory. No reporting so far names a next tenant. Given how quickly the Samos corner went from "haven't heard" in June to a signed lease by September, the Boneyard space is worth watching in the next few months.
New Arrivals Beyond the Closure Columns
Some of the year's additions came from outside the closures Epstein tracked. Together they add things to do on the boulevard beyond dining.
- Sumi Sushi, 14245 Ventura Boulevard. Sumi opened next door to Burger She Wrote and gets a fresh fish delivery every day, according to Epstein. The Infatuation reports that the space was a tailor shop on Sushi Row before it became a sushi restaurant. The Infatuation reviewed it on September 9, 2026. Epstein counts more than thirty sushi restaurants on Ventura Boulevard.
- LLAMA, 13443 Ventura Boulevard. A play studio just past Casa Vega with art classes, sewing classes, workshops, birthday parties and Grown-Up Nights.
- Mother's Bread, next to Eagle Liquor at Ventura and Sunnyslope. Nick, the owner and baker, is originally from the country of Georgia. He bakes three kinds of sourdough from a grape-based starter, in long paddle-shaped loaves. Epstein reported the shop makes about a hundred loaves a day, and many sell out before closing.
- Noodle St, Westfield Fashion Square. Noodle St was "coming soon" for a long time and is now listed as open. What Now Los Angeles reported its address as 14006 Riverside Drive. BoxUnion Sherman Oaks, a boxing and fitness studio, also opened at the mall.
- Fulton Crossing, Ventura and Fulton. This mixed-use project has shops on the ground floor and offices above, across from Casa Vega. A vintage Airstream on the corner marks the site, and Blank Street Coffee anchors it. Sources disagree on which neighborhood it's in. SOHA counts it as Sherman Oaks, and the Los Angeles Times described the August 12 Blank Street opening as a Studio City location. It sits close to the line between the two neighborhoods.
"But as one door closes, another is already being unlocked." Matt Epstein, Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, September 2026
What the Fair Puts on the Boulevard
The street fair has run for 34 years. KTLA described last year's fair as free to attend and reported a yearly attendance range of 50,000 to 100,000, a figure taken from the fair's own website.
The fair's activities page lists a carnival with a Ferris wheel, swings, rides, a zip line, a bounce house, an obstacle course and carnival games. It also lists a Pet Zone with local rescue and adoption groups, and a cocktail lounge for guests 21 and older with Islands, The Local Peasant and The Oaks Tavern taking part. Parts of that page still refer to earlier fairs, so the 2026 lineup and schedule are worth checking closer to the date.
Most of the sponsors are local names. Encino Medical Center and Sherman Oaks Hospital sponsor the Community Stage. Subaru of Sherman Oaks sponsors the Pet Zone, iFLY the cocktail lounge, Council District 4 the carnival, and LADWP the Euro Bungee. As of this writing, the sponsor page says the Chamber is still looking for a title sponsor. No street-closure, parking or transit details had been published as of early October.
For families planning a full weekend, Tina's Pumpkin Patch runs October 1 through November 1, 2026, at Westfield Fashion Square, 4725 Woodman Avenue. Fashion Square is also where Noodle St opened.
The Ludo Lefebvre corner, the bagel shop in the former Le Pain Quotidien space and the empty Boneyard storefront are the three spaces most likely to have news by next October's fair. Epstein has said Lefebvre plans to share a name once the concept is settled.
A year of new tenants changes what's within walking distance of your street, and that's part of how buyers see a home. If you'd like to know how your Sherman Oaks home fits into the current market, Steve Shanks can walk you through it. Request a Free Home Valuation, and get a calm, local read from someone who has watched Ventura Boulevard change for decades.
