Ventura Boulevard is the main commercial strip that runs through the San Fernando Valley. Approximately 18 miles long, it is the world’s longest avenue of contiguous businesses. But back in circa 1920 when this photo was taken, it was a two-lane road through open country. This part of Ventura Blvd is running through Sherman Oaks, named after one of the first land owners named General Moses Hazeltine Sherman (how’s that for a name???) who bought 1000 acres, which he subdivided in 1927. Nowadays, or course, virtually every square inch of the land in this photo is covered with suburbia.

This satellite photo shows us what Sherman Oaks looks like in 2020: