THE San Fernando Valley has always gotten a bad rap. For years, it has been associated with two dubious cultural phenomena: Valley Girls and pornography. But just as the city of Los Angeles has undergone a process of rediscovery in long-neglected regions like the downtown area, so this suburban outpost across the Santa Monica mountains has also experienced an image makeover.
“A lot of people move from West Hollywood to the Valley when they have kids,” said Mark Frauenfelder, a Valley resident who co-founded the Web site www.boingboing.net. “They still want to go out at night, but they want to stay closer to home, instead of driving over the hill and wasting a half hour of precious babysitter time.”
The velvet rope has come to the Valley in a big way, especially on Ventura Boulevard, around the Studio City-Sherman Oaks corridor, where bar-hopping on foot is possible.
With its Plexiglas barstools and padded white leather walls, Clear (11916 Ventura Boulevard, 818-980-4811) is the Valley’s take on sleek Euro-chic. A rotating cast of D.J.’s spin dance music Tuesday through Sunday, but Saturday is when you might see some single men ogling micro-skirted passers-by, their sunglasses hiding their furtive glances.
A few feet away from Clear is Sapphire (11938 Ventura Boulevard, 818-506-0777), a bar with a clubby, English drawing-room atmosphere — brown leather banquettes, tan wood paneling, low light from table lamps. Sapphire, whose owners also run Daddy’s, an equally dim establishment in Hollywood, was once a well-kept secret. But it’s now a wildly popular after-dinner destination, with the line snaking down Ventura Boulevard on Saturday nights. Best to get there when the bar opens at 7 every night and stake your claim to a seat early.
A short walk east on Ventura Boulevard from Sapphire on a weekend night will land you at an unmarked building with a bouncer in front. This would be Firefly (11720 Ventura Boulevard, 818-762-1833), a restaurant that shares Sapphire’s fusty Anglo décor but also serves entrees like foil-wrapped monkfish ($24) and roasted Muscovy duck breast ($26) in an airy outdoor seating area. The objective for many here is to hang out at the bar first and then pick someone up before dessert arrives.
Several other fine restaurants have opened in recent years. La Loggia, the Studio City Italian restaurant, has opened Next Door Tapas Bar (11814 Ventura Boulevard, 818-985-9222), an intimate space with an extensive Spanish wine list and tantalizing items like lamb stew with couscous ($8) and steak fries with aioli dipping sauce ($4). For heartier fare, there’s the Boneyard Bistro (13539 Ventura Boulevard, 818-906-7427), a barbecue joint that doesn’t scrimp on big slabs of red meat, but also throws in a few curve balls, such as deep-fried macaroni and cheese ($6 for a large portion) and smoked-duck spring rolls ($11).
The Valley is getting downright cosmopolitan, but it’s unlikely the region will ever completely morph into a hip haven. You can still hit the great Dupars coffee shop (12036 Ventura Boulevard, 818-766-4437) for the best pancakes in town, while old-school waitresses feed your caffeine fix and call you “darlin” as they slip you the check. It seems as if urbanity will always rub up against the quaint here.
