When you drive down Ventura Boulevard, the sight of the Sportsmen’s Lodge is a bit jarring. Amid all the slick stores and restaurants that now flank Ventura Boulevard, seeing what looks like a log cabin in a jungle (for all of the flora on the property is pretty wild) after passing the swanky Sherman Oaks Galleria, then the slick strip malls with Coffee Bean is like saying, “which one doesn’t fit?

Photo by Flickr’s ftfesz71

I’ve done maybe a handful of weddings — 5 or 6, in all the time I worked with my mom — at the Sportsmen’s Lodge. I liked two things about the place — the spiraling staircase in the banquet center (and I cannot, for the life of me, find a picture of the staircase; I’d probably have to dig into my mom’s printed pictures for one) and the swan ponds. Other than that, it was not my favorite venue — it’s in a busy area, the parking lots are kind of hard to get to, the facilities were old, the ballrooms were dark and low-ceilinged. But it had its charm, and we worked with it.

The LAT recently did a sort of obituary for the Sportsmen’s Lodge as we all remember it, from the point of view of a couple that apparently celebrated every major event at the lodge.

“We’ve been to other places, but I didn’t like that it was too ritzy,” said Jerry Bass, holding a page listing dozens of events he’s held at the lodge since 1970, including his 35th, 50th and 60th wedding anniversaries. “It wasn’t, like we call it in Yiddish, haimish or homey,” he continued. “The other places, they didn’t have the same thing. They didn’t feel the same way.”

I don’t remember much about the Lodge staff. The venue was one of those places I often parachuted into, especially these last couple of years of working Saturdays — go in, do the work, get out so I could get to work on time.

And remember how I said before that the place was kind of out-of-date and dark? Well, sometimes those are the places you can make look really spectacular. I swear, I don’t remember doing this, but it sure does look good, doesn’t it? Either I’m that good, or I’m that good a teacher — in the last couple of years, my younger sister was helping me with draping tables while I focused on backdrops and cake tables.

And sweetheart tables.

So, here’s hoping the Sportsmen’s Lodge Banquet Center keeps some of its charm. Above, is a screenshot taken from the 360 Tour Viewer. I also hope they’ll repave their back parking lot. Really.
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