Low storefronts and strip malls line Sherman Way, backed by flat residential streets at the far west end of the San Fernando Valley.
What Canoga Park looks like
Sherman Way is the commercial spine through Canoga Park, lined with one and two storey storefronts in stucco and painted concrete block. A sign hung from a pole marks one stretch as the Old Town Center, above a five minute pawn shop and a musical instrument repair storefront. Farther down, a smoke shop and a beauty salon share a strip mall block with a Carl's Jr, its red tile roof and drive-through facing the street.
A Metro G Line busway runs along the boulevard, its open-air stations set under angled steel canopies with palm trees planted along the platform edges. Farther north at , newer mixed-use apartment buildings rise behind the stop. runs through the area in a straight concrete flood channel behind parking lots and the backs of stores, joining Arroyo Calabasas nearby at the source of the .
The former on Owensmouth Avenue is a low mid-century building from 1959, its roof folded into overlapping planes with a butterfly-shaped section over the entrance. It now operates as an early learning center. On Sherman Way, the keeps its 1920s brick facade and marquee tower, closed for renovation. , on Gault Street, has a peaked brick front under a narrow steeple.
Away from Sherman Way, the streets are flat and straight, laid out in a grid of single story houses from the 1950s and 1960s. The neighborhood sits at the far western edge of the San Fernando Valley, with West Hills and Chatsworth beyond it to the west and north.
Shot in Canoga Park
Pulp Fiction's alleyway shootout outside Zed's pawn shop was filmed at the Crown Pawn Shop on Roscoe Boulevard, in a strip mall west of DeSoto Avenue. In Alpha Dog, Frankie Ballenbacher's beer run stops at West End Liquor, on Sherman Way at Alabama Avenue. Mr. Miyagi's house in The Karate Kid stood on Gault Street between Independence and DeSoto Avenues. The house has since been demolished. In La La Land, the interior of Mia's suite at the Chateau Marmont was filmed at Orcutt Ranch, a Spanish-style adobe on Roscoe Boulevard now used as a wedding venue.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 1982
Played Ridgemont High's dance
Fast Times at Ridgemont High filmed its closing dance scene at Canoga Park High School, with the school standing in for the fictional Ridgemont High. Most of the film's other high school scenes were shot at Van Nuys High School.
What Canoga Park can double for
Maryvale in Phoenix, Arizona
Maryvale's flat grid of quickly built ranch houses on wide, straight blocks matches the postwar tract streets away from Sherman Way. The single story houses sit on lot sizes similar to Canoga Park's own residential streets, built in the same 1950s and 1960s stretch. Saguaro cactus and mountain views in the background would give Phoenix away in wide shots, so keep to street level or backyard framing. Try searching postwar ranch tract streets now.
Sunnyslope in Phoenix, Arizona
Sunnyslope kept small, low commercial buildings from the 1930s through the 1950s along Cave Creek Road and Dunlap Avenue, a similar scale to the older storefronts on Sherman Way. Desert plantings and mountain views in the distance separate Sunnyslope from the Valley in a wide shot, so this works best in close, street level frames. Try searching small low commercial storefronts now.
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