SHERMAN OAKS — The nature of antiques shopping on Ventura Boulevard can be summed up with a story about a map that no longer exists.
It was created by a pair of store owners who hoped that a guide listing all the antiques shops between Sherman Oaks and Studio City would give the San Fernando Valley's premiere commercial street an identity as a destination for buyers and collectors.
While other shopkeepers also saw the wisdom in presenting such a united front, the map's ink was barely dry before the squabbling began, recalls one veteran dealer.
This merchant thought his store's name should go ahead of that merchant's. One store objected to the inclusion of another that sold reproductions as well as antiques. And so on.
Not long afterward, the women who published the map went out of business, taking with them their vision of cohesion.
Although carried out six or seven years ago, their failed experiment is an apt metaphor for the eclectic, individualistic and disparate character of the antiques trade along Ventura Boulevard.
Within a three-mile stretch, enough vendors offer enough kinds of merchandise to make a visit worth it for those who don't mind a hunt-and-peck approach to antiquing, particularly on weekdays when metered parking is fairly easy to come by.
But it would be more than a stretch to consider the collection of about two dozen far-flung businesses an antiques district per se.
"Here, we are just every man for himself, and everybody is pretty much across the board in terms of what they sell. Little stores spring up and they spring down," said Rick Johnson, whose 17-year-old Sherman Oaks Antiques Mall at 14034 Ventura Blvd. showcases the wares of 97 dealers selling everything from exquisite vintage jewelry to Pokemon cards.
Yet even though Ventura Boulevard's pedestrian-unfriendly streets don't exactly encourage leisurely browsing or window shopping, some individual stores have become destinations unto themselves.
The venerable Mitchell Litt Antiques at 14918 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks has been selling fine English and French antique furniture and decorative accessories for 26 years without ever advertising or holding a sale in its 25,000-square-foot showroom.
Another local draw is the Cranberry House, 12318 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, a 7-year-old store featuring top-of-the-line collections of 140 dealers that has been described as "the Nordstrom of antiques malls."
