Sherman Oaks question (Los Angeles, Corona, Compton: home, neighborhoods, buying)

[Akuta]

As far as I can tell, Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in Los Angeles according to every source I can find. However the USPS insists it is a city if you try to verify any address in its zipcode using Los Angeles as the city (it swaps them). I'm noticing a few other websites not allowing the city to be Los Angeles if using a Sherman Oaks zipcode as well. Can someone explain what the deal is with this place?

[BRinSM]

sherman oaks is a neighborhood in the city of los angeles. as far as mailing address, you can use either sherman oaks or los angeles with the correct zip code such as 91403 and mail will be delivered to the correct address. much of the city south of mulholland uses Los Angeles as the city in the address (with a few exceptions i.e. san pedro and venice among others) and everything north of mulholland uses the neighborhood name. i live in the valley and i remember when i bought my home all of the paper work had encino as the city. when the paper work went to the escrow company, everything had to be changed to Los Angeles. i think it has to do with the local post office. whatever name the post office goes by is the name that should be used in the mailing address.

[Charles]

Yes, USPS's definition of city and the county's definition of city can be different. Can be a hassle when buying online too. Type in the city you think you live in an Amazon might tell you it is invalid.

[jm1982]

I've noticed this in my area too.. I guess it makes sense as it gives USPS two criteria to sort by

City should really be neighborhood but there is no place for neighborhood on a mailing label.

L.A is such a sprawling city with many different large neighborhoods.

[silverkris]

I think this is a function of how Los Angeles grew, through annexation of lands. Places that were first established as communities in name, and later annexed by the city of Los Angeles, tend to retain their local name, e.g. Hollywood, Van Nuys, Northridge.

For comparison, look at New York City's Brooklyn and Queens. The whole of Brooklyn is called Brookyln, NY, but in Queens, because the communities were settled first as villages and then got incorporated into the borough of Queens, all the addresses in Queens have their individual communities, such as Flushing, Sunnyside, Roosevelt, Corona.

[nightlysparrow]

Also, there is a pronounced status factor for some neighborhoods. People would rather say they live in Los Feliz than Los Angeles. People in Compton may prefer saying they live in Los Angeles.