The Day After : The brawl was quick and violent. And it only served to intensify the War of Reseda Boulevard, whose antagonists are among the Valley’s wealthiest.

Bruises were bandaged and fingers of blame were pointed Friday following a fist-swinging melee between residents of Tarzana and Encino, two of the San Fernando Valley’s most well-to-do communities.

Carrying their quarrel into a post-fight analysis, representatives of homeowner groups and politicians who witnessed the fracas outside Lanai Road School on Thursday night agreed only that the brawl was violent and, some said, “very ugly.”

But they disagreed on who was to blame.

Members of Encino homeowner groups blamed an organization called Friends of Caballero Canyon, that they said tried to seize control of a meeting dealing with the proposed extension of Reseda Boulevard in order to ease traffic congestion in Encino hillside neighborhoods.

But directors of Friends of Caballero Canyon said the trouble started when the Encino groups physically prevented them from entering the auditorium where the meeting was held.

Members of the Caballero Canyon group, who oppose the Reseda Boulevard extension, said they had as much right to attend the meeting as Encino residents, especially since it was on public property and Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude was speaking on the issue.

Even the Los Angeles Police Department came in for blame. Encino leaders said police failed to honor a commitment to maintain order. Police officials acknowledged that a “breakdown in communication” was responsible for their late arrival to the meeting after most of the shoving and punching had ended.

No one was arrested or seriously injured Thursday, but telephone conversations among the rivals crackled Friday with threats of lawsuits and criminal charges.

Rob Glushon, president of the Encino Property Owners Assn., said he planned to file an assault complaint against a 19-year-old from Tarzana who he said tackled him in the street. Glushon, who nursed a bloody knee during the meeting Thursday night, said he was in pain Friday and was planning to see a doctor.

Jean Rosenfeld, mother of Ben Rosenfeld, who Glushon said attacked him, maintained that her son was manhandled by a security guard as he tried to enter the meeting. She said her son was seeing a doctor for a wrist injury.

The confrontation grew out of the mounting tension between Encino and Tarzana homeowner groups over the question of whether Reseda Boulevard should be extended to connect with Mulholland Drive. Although homes in the two communities sell in the range of $350,000 to $3 million, residents in both areas say their way of life is under siege in the extension feud.

Encino groups want the boulevard extended to relieve heavy weekday traffic on Hayvenhurst Avenue and adjoining streets as Los Angeles Basin commuters seek alternative routes to the clogged San Diego Freeway.

They claim that residents of Tarzana--the only community on the Valley’s southern edge not crossed by a trans-mountain route--are not bearing their share of the commuter traffic burden. If Reseda Boulevard were extended to Mulholland, then commuter traffic could spread onto that route, they contend.

But Friends of Caballero Canyon and Tarzana groups say extending the street will encourage development of woodsy areas and destroy the wildlife and environment of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Thursday’s meeting was arranged by the Encino Hillside Traffic Safety Organization and the Encino Property Owners Assn. Executives of the group said the meeting was for the purpose of confronting Braude, who they said reneged on a 10-year promise to support extension of Reseda Boulevard.

Braude, who represents both communities, changed his mind three months ago after Tarzana environmentalists and residents chained themselves to bulldozers to block the start of construction at the point where Reseda Boulevard ends south of Ventura Boulevard.

178 Homes Planned

That location is the site for a planned 178-home Caballero Canyon tract. City officials had imposed a requirement on developer Harlan Lee to construct the half-mile extension as a condition of approval for the tract. Opposition to the extension has returned the issue to the city, and the City Council is expected to make the final decision.

Madeline DeAntonio, president of the Encino hillside group, said Friday that soon after the meeting with Braude was arranged, she began hearing reports that members of the Caballero Canyon organization planned to take control of it. She grew concerned because several ecological groups and Tarzana-area homeowners had been unruly and had verbally attacked Braude during a June meeting on the extension, she said.

“There were lots of signals that the same folks were going to try and seize control of our meeting,” DeAntonio said. “We had reports that they were a violent group and we felt we had to protect the councilman and our participants.”

To control who got into the meeting, DeAntonio said green tickets were distributed to group members, some residents “and the people who were supposed to be on our program. We had to make sure they got in. But I want to make clear, we were not going to deny access to anyone. We just wanted to make sure our people got in.”

She said she also contacted Los Angeles Police Sgt. Jack Aaron of the West Valley Division, who agreed to provide officers for crowd control. “We wanted to do everything we could to establish control there,” she said. As a backup, DeAntonio said, she hired two private security guards.

At 7 p.m., the doors to the auditorium opened and the gathering crowd outside was allowed in.

Room Holds 235

“As many of their people as our people got in,” DeAntonio said. “But the room could only hold 235. If we let more in, we would be in violation of fire codes. So we had to stop.”

By then, the crowd outside had grown. Many were carrying signs protesting the extension. When the doors were closed, tempers flared. Members of the crowd started pounding on the main and side doors, while others screamed that they were being denied freedom of speech.

Hal Winn, a Tarzana resident, said he arrived at 6:30 p.m. “At the door, I was asked to show my driver’s license,” he said. “The minute they saw I was from Tarzana, they refused to let me in. . . . They physically pushed me back at the door.”

Teen-age boys climbed to the roof to post signs while others pounded stakes in the ground to hold anti-extension placards.

Glushon said he removed some of the signs because they were “illegally posted” on school property. However, Daniel Fink, 18, said Glushon tried to punch him when Fink tried to prevent Glushon from removing a sign. A security guard had to restrain Glushon, he said.

Several brawls broke out.

‘Tackled From Behind’

Feeling that the situation was getting out of hand, Glushon said he began walking away, intending to call police on his car phone. “I was just walking when I was tackled from behind,” he said. “Then I was on the bottom of a bunch of people, like a football tackle.

“Even if I was wrong in removing those signs, I was assaulted and a crime did take place.”

Karen Fink, who is on the board of directors of Friends of Caballero Canyon, said: “We couldn’t understand how they could hold a public meeting in a public place and not have us there. Madeline didn’t want anyone there but her group. We just wanted to go there and listen.”

When Braude arrived, protesters momentarily blocked his way. “I had to make up my mind whether to walk or find another way,” he said. “I thought I should be straightforward and assume that the people would let me in. But I felt the violence of the situation.”

As he made his way though the crowd, protesters jostled him. Braude later said he was “appalled at this kind of behavior,” saying he had seen nothing like it in a quarter-century in politics.

Denied People Barred

Braude denied that Tarzana residents were barred from the auditorium.

“I can’t fault Encino residents for trying to hold a meeting,” he said. “The room was full and there were lots of Tarzana people that did get in. That’s still no excuse for shoving and physical violence.”

Suzanne Belcher, another member of Friends of Caballero Canyon, said the brawl was mainly instigated by a few teen-agers. She said she felt that her group was unfairly blamed.

“None of us are happy about what happened because it reflects badly on us and it’s nothing we wanted to have happen,” she said.