Most "things to do in Encino" articles read like they were written from a desk in Culver City. They mention Ventura Boulevard, they mention the Sepulveda Basin, and they stop there. If you live here, that isn't a guide. It's a description of your commute.
The more useful question, and the one worth a Saturday morning of research, is what has actually changed in the neighborhood this year, and how those changes fit together into a weekend that doesn't require leaving the 91316 or 91436. The short answer: a serious Tel Aviv import landed on the boulevard, the Sunday market at Victory Boulevard quietly kept getting bigger, and the Encino Neighborhood Council started throwing its own festival. String those together and Encino feels less like a place people drive through on the way to Studio City and more like a self-contained weekend.
The Boulevard Got a Real Opening This Year
The headline addition to Ventura Boulevard in 2026 is Popular, at 18047 Ventura Blvd. It is the seventh concept from the Tel Aviv Restaurant Group, and the size alone tells you the operator was serious about the location. The room is roughly 4,000 square feet with a dining area, a bar with seating for eight, and a patio, and Executive Chef Dor Priezler is running a seafood-forward Mediterranean fusion menu with dishes like a fish cigar of branzino, herbs, chili, and lemon zest served with sumac yogurt. Popular is also serving breakfast, which is the part that matters if you already live on this stretch of Ventura and want something new for a weekday morning rather than a special occasion.
Popular didn't land in isolation. It slotted into a corridor that already had The Stand at 17000 Ventura Blvd as the reliable weekday lunch, Davenport's just off the 405 on Ventura as the family dinner, and Laemmle Town Center 5 as the indie theater neighbors quietly rely on. What changed is that the newest opening is ambitious rather than convenient. A 4,000-square-foot space from a multi-concept restaurant group isn't a placeholder tenant. It is a bet that Encino diners will show up on their own boulevard instead of driving east to Sherman Oaks or Studio City for the same experience.
The Sunday That Runs on Victory Boulevard
If you have lived in Encino for more than a year, you already know about the ONEgeneration Encino Farmers Market. If you have lived here for five and still haven't been, this is the section for you.
The market runs Sundays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. year-round at 17400 Victory Blvd in the Sepulveda Basin. What separates it from a generic Sunday market is the structure behind it. Over 30 farmers and more than 25 food vendors participate every week, and a percentage of every dollar spent supports ONEgeneration's senior services programs. The market accepts EBT and WIC and runs an incentive program at the back entrance. That funding model is why the roster has stayed deep for so long. Vendors know the crowd shows up because the market itself is a neighborhood institution, not a pop-up.
What is actually worth buying in August, according to the market's own seasonal list:
- Raspberries, grapes, figs, and melons from the stone-fruit tables
- Corn, cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, and summer squash from the produce side
- Grass-fed beef and bison cuts, plus a rotating fish monger
- Prepared food that is a meal in itself: gourmet tamales, fish tacos, Chinese dumplings
Two smaller details most residents miss. LA Compost runs a food-scrap drop-off at the market, so a weekly bag of scraps becomes compost for local food-growing projects instead of landfill. And if you want the farm-stand experience without the crowd, Tapia Bros Farm Stand on Havenhurst Avenue is still in the neighborhood, quieter, and open on days the Sunday market isn't.
Saturday Has Its Own Version Now
The market at Victory Boulevard is a Sunday-morning institution. Saturday used to be a gap. That has changed. Street Food Festival Encino now runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 16206 Ventura Blvd. It is smaller and more food-focused than the Sunday market, which is the point. If your Sunday is already committed and you want a weekend market walk, Saturday is now on the table without leaving the neighborhood.
The practical read: Encino residents now have two consecutive mornings of open-air markets within a two-mile radius. That is not something the neighborhood had two summers ago.
When the Neighborhood Throws Its Own Festival
EncinoFest is worth paying attention to because it wasn't organized by a chamber of commerce or a property developer. The Encino Neighborhood Council hosts it, and the format tells you what the council thinks the neighborhood actually wants.
The main-stage lineup at 16953 Ventura Blvd this year moved through Degas Dance Studio, an interactive kids' music set, a DJ playing what the council itself calls "Encino's favorites," the Grand Academy of Ballet, and the Pop Vision Band. Between sets, the programming included Basketball Knock-Out with prizes, Ice Cream Cones with a Cop, a Youth Committee introduction, and free food from The Stand. Admission was free, and the event was pitched as all-ages.
You can read that programming two ways. As a list of activities, it is pleasant. As a signal, it is more interesting. A neighborhood council that can pull off a multi-hour main-stage event with local dance studios, a live band, and free food from a well-known Ventura Boulevard tenant is a council with real ties to the businesses on the boulevard. That relationship is why the event exists at all, and it is worth showing up for if only to see who runs into whom.
Lake Balboa When the Valley Hits 95
The Sepulveda Basin does not stop being useful when it is hot. It becomes the reason you stay in the neighborhood on weekends instead of driving to the coast.
Lake Balboa Park has settled into a regular rhythm of morning race events, which is the sneaky benefit for residents who don't run: the paths are cleaner, the parking is managed, and the concession vendors show up on race mornings. The Red, White and Blue 5K, 10K, 15K, and Half Marathon runs each summer at Lake Balboa Park with a 7:30 a.m. start, and a Father's Day-weekend race series follows a similar early-morning format. If you don't want to run, arrive at 8:30 with coffee and use the finish-line crowd as your excuse to walk the lake loop before the heat lands.
The other underused summer move: Los Encinos State Historic Park sits inside the neighborhood and offers the kind of shaded, low-key afternoon that reads more like Ojai than Los Angeles. It is not new. It is just consistently overlooked in guide-writing that fixates on Ventura Boulevard.
A Weekend, Assembled
Put the pieces together and a summer weekend in Encino now looks something like this without ever crossing the 405.
Saturday morning at Street Food Festival Encino on Ventura, breakfast at Popular a few blocks east, an afternoon at Los Encinos or the Balboa Lake loop, and a movie at Laemmle Town Center 5 if the heat wins. Sunday morning at the ONEgeneration market with a bag of scraps for the LA Compost drop-off, produce for the week, and coffee on the patio. If the calendar lines up with EncinoFest weekend, you skip the afternoon plan and let the neighborhood council handle it.
The reason to lay this out isn't nostalgia. It is that Encino, quietly and without a lot of press, has stitched together the missing pieces of a weekend that used to require driving to Studio City for the restaurants and Calabasas for the market atmosphere. The boulevard is denser. The Sunday market is deeper. The neighborhood has its own festival. That combination is new, and it is the kind of thing worth knowing about your own block.
If you have been in Encino for years and are starting to think about what comes next, whether that means a bigger place a few streets over or a first look at what your current home is worth in this market, Enrique Sifuentes has been working these ZIP codes for two decades and is easy to reach for a straightforward conversation.
Let's Connect.
