3-Mile Walk Celebrates Post-Quake Renewal

Just to make sure everyone noticed their community’s recovery from the Northridge earthquake of January 1994, more than 200 marchers hiked three miles through Sherman Oaks late Sunday morning, following a banner reading, “Sherman Oaks is back.”

The walk started from a parking lot at the corner of Riverside Drive and Hazeltine Avenue, went south to Ventura Boulevard and then took a loop through a residential neighborhood before returning.

The mood was light and even joyful.

“I thought it was going to be a dragging three miles,” said Francine Feir, a member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., which held the march as part of a community pride day. “Even the dogs were having fun.”

Walkers brought babies in strollers, older children and dogs. Some people used roller-skates. Others brought extra bottles of water.

“Look at the apartments and condominiums that are back,” Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer told the walkers in a brief address. “Every sign is here that this community is on a comeback and nothing shows it better than the people of Sherman Oaks. There’s no better way to show it than a three-mile walk.”

At the front of the walkers were Mike and Colleen Reagan, Sherman Oaks residents since 1976. Although some friends moved out of the area because of the earthquake, the Reagans said they decided to stay.

“I would take an earthquake rather than a tornado,” said Colleen Reagan, a native of Nebraska who works in the travel industry. “At least it’s not total devastation. If you get hit by a tornado, there is nothing left.”

Throughout the walk, curious residents stepped outside of their homes and apartment buildings to find out what was happening. Richard Close, president of the homeowners association, said that community involvement was a byproduct of the earthquake.

At the end of the long line of walkers were Ida Jean and Herbert Group, a retired couple who moved to Sherman Oaks after their home in Woodland Hills was destroyed by the earthquake. They used this event celebrating community renewal for a bit of personal renewal.

“About two miles is my maximum,” Ida Jean Group said of the walk. “This is my excuse to get it up to three miles.”

The walk ended with a block party with music, food from local restaurants and a performance by the cast of “Sherman Oaks,” a television series on Showtime about a dysfunctional family coping with the aftermath of the quake.