Why it's called Sushi Row

Ventura Blvd · Studio City

Sushi Row is the local name for the run of sushi bars along Ventura Blvd. In its widest sense it goes about 18 miles, from Studio City west toward Calabasas,¹ and the Studio City end is where it got going.

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1979: where it started

Teru Sushi opened at 11940 Ventura Blvd in 1979, one of the first sushi bars on the boulevard.^{2, 3} It's still there, with garden seating around a koi pond.²

Thank the studios

Studio City is home to Radford Studio Center, the lot that was CBS Studio Center for decades,⁴ and Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. are all close by. Through the '80s, the production crowd kept the boulevard's sushi bars full, and a 1988 Jonathan Gold review of Sushi Nozawa put the Row on the national map.⁵

1997: a Studio City first

Katsuya Uechi opened Sushi Katsu-ya at 11680 Ventura Blvd in 1997.⁶ He's widely credited with inventing spicy tuna on crispy rice, a dish that came a few years later, at his Brentwood restaurant.⁷

Now go eat

Our full list of every spot on the Studio City stretch has addresses and what each place is known for.