Neighborhood Takes Shape By the Letter

Once again a Valley neighborhood has managed to secede. This time it’s Sherwood Forest. Oh, make that Sherwood Forest, 91325. The U.S. Postal Service announced last week that it will now recognize the leafy tract as a valid mailing address separate from the city of Northridge. The mail designation will apply to the area’s businesses and roughly 1,200 residential properties. With a population approaching 5,000, the neighborhood just southeast of Cal State Northridge is bordered by Nordhoff Street, Balboa Boulevard, the Southern Pacific railroad tracks and Lindley Avenue. A petition to establish these boundaries by the Sherwood Forest Homeowner Association was approved by the Los Angeles City Council in August 2012. The name change had to be approved by the U.S. Geological Survey before being passed on to the U.S. Postal Service. Congressman Brad Sherman and Councilman Mitch Englander aided in the process. Mail addressed to Northridge, 91325 still will arrive at its destination. Donnal Poppe has lived in Sherwood Forest for 25 years and is a Sherwood Forest Homeowner Association board member. “We wanted the name recognition because it’s one of the oldest tracts in the city,” she said. The neighborhood’s name remains shrouded in myth, much like the lair of Robin Hood that apparently inspired the moniker. Poppe said extensive research has not revealed when the name took hold. Sherwood Forest is one of several Valley communities to be established in the past few decades. Most recently, Lake Balboa separated from Van Nuys in 2007. – Rosie Downey