Living in Tarzana — Neighborhood Guide

About Tarzana

Tarzana is an LA City neighborhood in the West Valley between Encino and Woodland Hills, named for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzana Ranch. Residential character with Ventura Boulevard commercial activity.

Where Tarzana begins and ends

Bounded by Victory Boulevard on the north, Lindley Avenue on the east, Corbin and Oakdale Avenues on the west, and Topanga State Park on the south, with Encino to the east, Reseda to the north and Woodland Hills to the west. The southern boundary is the unusual one: state parkland, which cannot be built on and never will be. Ventura Boulevard runs east to west through the middle and carries most of the commercial frontage.

Size, density and who rents

Tarzana is not a city. It is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley and in Los Angeles County — LA City rules, LA City taxes, LA City enforcement, and Los Angeles rent stabilization on any building whose certificate of occupancy predates 1 October 1978. That is worth stating plainly because it is the single most common question asked about the place. It covers 8.79 square miles at a density of roughly 4,038 people per square mile, which is among the lowest in the city — the 2000 census counted 35,502 residents and the figure had reached 38,184 by late 2025. Low density in a large area is the defining fact about this submarket, and it explains why the apartment stock is concentrated rather than spread.

Who lives in Tarzana

Affluent professional-class West Valley demographic with strong medical professional community (anchored by Tarzana Medical Center and adjacent facilities), entertainment-industry workers, and longstanding Persian-American community.

The apartment stock in Tarzana

Concentrated and large. The properties in this record run from thirty units to well over a hundred, which is the top end of building size on this site outside the east Valley. That is a direct consequence of the density pattern: in a low-density neighborhood, the multifamily that exists sits on the corridors where scale was permitted. The buyer pool is private capital and exchange money able to write a larger check, and the per-door figures on the closings page sit in the middle of everything published here — Valley land prices, but a more affluent renter than the east Valley submarkets.

What the buildings actually are

Post-war Valley construction on generous lots, with the multifamily inventory concentrated along the Ventura Boulevard corridor and the arterial streets rather than distributed through the residential blocks. Most of it predates 1 October 1978, so Los Angeles rent stabilization applies across the great majority of the stock. Because density here is among the lowest in the city, the apartment buildings that do exist tend to be larger than the surrounding fabric would suggest — they were built where zoning allowed scale, not scattered.

Historic districts and what they restrict

No Historic Preservation Overlay Zone covers the neighborhood, and the stock is almost entirely post-war. The constraints that bind here are the rent-stabilization ordinance and the zoning. Individual buildings can still carry their own designation, so confirm any address against the city's records rather than assuming.

Who works here

Ventura Boulevard services, Tarzana Medical Center area, and proximity to Encino and Woodland Hills professional corridors.

Getting around

Bus service along Ventura and Reseda Boulevards. Primary freeway access via the 101 and Reseda Boulevard.

Rail, and what it does to a site

No rail station serves the neighborhood. Access is by Ventura Boulevard, the Valley arterial grid and the Ventura Freeway. This is a car-commuter tenant base, and the draw is the Ventura Boulevard corridor, the hospital and the proximity to the Santa Monica Mountains rather than a route into central Los Angeles.

Schools and colleges

LAUSD. Notable schools include Tarzana Elementary and Louis D. Armstrong Middle School.

The schools by name

LAUSD schools serving the area include Gaspar de Portola Middle School, the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies covering grades 4 to 12, and Tarzana, Vanalden Avenue and Nestle Avenue elementary schools, plus Wilbur Charter for Enriched Academics for kindergarten through grade 5. Zoned high schools include Birmingham, Reseda and Taft.

Landmarks and public spaces

Tarzana Community & Cultural Center, Bothwell Ranch (one of LA's last remaining commercial orange groves, on the Tarzana-Reseda border).

Parks and recreation

Tarzana Recreation Center, the adjacent Santa Monica Mountains foothills, Caballero Creek, and proximity to the Sepulveda Basin and Encino open spaces.

Dining, culture, and character

Ventura Boulevard through Tarzana has neighborhood-scale restaurants and retail. The Tarzana Town Center area concentrates additional commercial activity.

Local events and traditions

Tarzana Encino Chamber events, the annual Tarzana Mardi Gras Parade along Ventura Boulevard.

Notable associations

The neighborhood was named for Edgar Rice Burroughs's character Tarzan — Burroughs owned a ranch here starting in the 1910s, and eventually subdivided it into the residential development that became Tarzana.

Who represents it

A neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles rather than a separate municipality, served by the Los Angeles Public Library's Encino-Tarzana branch on Ventura Boulevard.

A bit of history

Named for Edgar Rice Burroughs' ranch, which he named after his Tarzan character and eventually subdivided starting in the late 1920s. Developed extensively post-WWII.

The same building, sold twice

These are Tarzana buildings the group closed, and then closed again for the next owner. The change between the two prices is what that specific building did over that specific hold — not a market average, and not a claim about what any other building will do. A short hold and a long hold are different transactions, so the period is shown alongside the number.

Tarzana against the other 25

These are the 26 Los Angeles submarkets where the group has closed the most buildings, on our own record rather than a published index. The spread is the reason a citywide per-unit figure is close to useless for pricing a specific building.

Common questions about the neighborhood