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Encino, Los Angeles — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Encino is a neighbourhood of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, named for the oaks that the Tongva village of Siutcanga was named for before it.
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Where to stay in Encino
Where the beds are, and what that means for the visit.
Encino is residential ground on the valley's southern edge, quieter than the boulevards north of it and closer to the hills than most of the San Fernando Valley gets. Ventura Boulevard carries the shops and restaurants. Beyond it the streets climb the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains, which is where the larger houses are, while the flatter side towards the Sepulveda Basin is plainer and nearer the parkland.
About Encino
What are the main landmarks in Encino?
Los Encinos State Historic Park holds the ground the whole place is named after. It covers the site of the Tongva village of Siutcanga and later of Rancho Los Encinos, which makes it the one spot where the neighbourhood's three names sit on top of each other. The Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area spreads across the basin at the northern edge, one of the largest parks the city keeps.
The Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center is the other local landmark.
What is the history of Encino?
The Portolá expedition came through Sepulveda Pass in 1769, the first Europeans to see the inland valleys, and spent two nights at Siutcanga, the Tongva village whose name means the place of the oaks. Fray Juan Crespi christened the valley El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bolonia de Los Encinos. Only the last word survived.
Rancho Los Encinos followed in 1845, when governor Pío Pico granted a parcel of former Mission San Fernando land to three Mission Indians, and the neighbourhood takes its name from the rancho.
Where is Encino?
Encino occupies the central part of the southern San Fernando Valley and runs up the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains, so the neighbourhood has a flat half and a hillside one. Reseda, Lake Balboa, and the Sepulveda Basin lie north. Sherman Oaks is east and Tarzana west, with Brentwood over the ridge.
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Updated October 2026