The Village at Sherman Oaks

I love all the people working here. But after a year of my mom being here, I realize that the elevators really are a problem. One of them is always broken and everyone stands around for long periods of time waiting for the other one. The residents pay a lot of money and they need to address the issue.

My Mother has lived there for less than a year and I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. It is a fire trap. There are only two elevators in her building. There are hundreds of people living in that building. Since she has lived there, one of the two elevators is out of service on average every 2 to 3 weeks.
I have learned that The Village is under contract with an elevator repair company. That company gets paid whether or not the elevator breaks down. Because of this there is not an incentive to come right out and fix the problem. Elevators are out for days at a time. When you ask, they say they have to «send for a part». Apparently parts are sent by pony express.
I have met with the facilities manager which is their way of handling all problems. You meet with whomever happens to be the facilities manager that month. In less than a year there have been THREE, they listen to your complaints and then nothing happens. The facilities manager have NO POWER to do anything. All decisions are made by the corporate office in San Diego.
Corporate is aware of the many problems of the building with the safety issue of the elevators being the most concerning. The food service is so slow that my Mother chooses to take her food in her room on most nights (which they charge you $ 7.00 to bring up every night which is also slow. She will order at 4:00 and maybe by 6:00 it is there) because she simply cannot sit for literally on average 90 to 120 minutes waiting for a table and then waiting for the food to arrive. The menu is not seasonal. They have daily specials and then a menu that hasn’t been changed in years and years. Boring. Completely uninspired. It is basically cafeteria food quality.
I have called building and safety about the elevator issue. I have called our councilman. I have begun writing down each and every time the elevator breaks down and every communication I have with the Village. The lack of concern for the safety of their residence is shocking and a major code violation. Everyone you speak to, even at the corporate office is full if excuses. They need to pony up and put in new elevators and update their kitchen and take actions that show they care about their residents. My Mom got a letter informing her that her rates are going up as they are for the entire building. She is already paying around $ 8000.00 per month to live there and her room is the size of a postage stamp. You are paying more and getting less and less everyday.
I plan to work closely with building and safety and the council office and keep great records until this MAJOR FIRE TRAP is fixed. I will give it a little more time and if nothing changes and I highly doubt it will, I will move my Mother out. Many, many, many of the residents are thinking the same thing.

Unilocal REVIEW
If you are seeking a residential living facility for your aging mom or dad, The Village at Sherman Oaks looks like a promising setting. The entry is lovely, the amenities attractive, and the environment is clean and well-​maintained (except for the elevators). Nevertheless, behind the scenes, there are some other factors you might want to check out before you commit to this location.
My mother is a long-​time resident at the Village. During that time, she has seen a decline in service and quality that has discouraged the residents, especially those living independently. It appears that the management of Village is moving toward accommodating residents needing assisted living. Understandably, as these residents are compliant, rarely complain, and generate more revenue. Nevertheless, there are many independent individuals there who are well-​aware that their requests are ignored, delayed, and not taken seriously. Does the administration assume that they are «too old to move?» In spite of regular rent raises, many small nuisances have persisted through the years, leading one to believe that resident satisfaction is simply not a priority.
To begin with, the dining experience is highly important to seniors. The dining room chairs are constructed for average height individuals, yet the residents of The Village tend to be very small in stature (and shrinking). Residents compete for the higher level chairs and push them by themselves to their tables, a very hazardous practice. Repeated requests for higher chairs have been ignored.
There is a very high turnover rate among the dining room staff. The servers need formal training to bring the food when it is hot, clear appropriately, and refill beverages promptly. The service is extremely slow, often forcing residents with plans or appointments to abandon their meals. Even coffee mugs in the dining room are hard to come by, and tea cups are unsatisfactory.
The menu at The Village has remained the same for nearly a decade: same salad, same dressings, same canned or unripe fruit, same desserts, same cookies, same menu options. Fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables are rarely offered. The mediocre quality of the food and bland seasonings make the overall dining experience unpleasant.
The theater offers another set of problems. The seating is uncomfortable, and the quality of the screen is very grainy. The sound system is poor and lacks clarity for the hard of hearing. When an employee comes in to set up a movie, he or she should remain to adjust the volume and ensure that captions are correctly set. The system needs an upgrade to the level that is available in other locations. Similarly, the microphone system during meetings is of poor quality, making it difficult to hear.
Many of the criticisms in this review may seem trivial or easy to ameliorate, but one should heed this warning before signing a contract. When an effort to address these issues is apparent, I will gladly delete this review.

This place is not good for assisted living, especially if your loved one needs help getting to the bathroom. They do NOT have enough care givers and the «medical tech» is not a trained nurse. This is a very aggravating situation for any resident who needs help getting to the bathroom because they will have to wait at least 15 minutes for someone to arrive to help — too late for a person who does not want to urinate in their Depends. The «med tech» ignores Hospice instructions and calls 911 if your loved one falls, even though Hospice is on the records and paperwork is in the apartment stating that hospice is to be called first. The med tech actually admitted that she panicked when she finally answered my mother’s calls for help. The administrator said that they «had to call 911 because they thought» she might have a concussion or a broken bone even though she did not hit any furniture and she did not complain about pain from a broken bone. My mother is a woman who had fallen numerous times with no serious injuries, only bruises and small nicks in her skin. At the emergency room, the doctor found nothing wrong with my mother except some bruises and skin nicks from the rug. Even though my mother insisted she did not want to go to the hospital and physically fought the ambulance people, they ignored her requests and heavily sedated her and tied her to the gurney and later the emergency room bed. AND the med tech DID NOT CALL ME for 1.5 hours to let me know that my mom was in a hospital! The administrators never had the courtesy or courage to tell us that they did not have the staff to help my mother, so we continued to pay $ 7500 each month while they whispered in our ears that they were keeping a «close eye» on her since her apartment was the first one around the corner from the care giver/​med tech station. As we finally found out, they do not have the staff trained correctly and they do not have enough staff to fulfill their promises of quality care.

My mom moved in to the Village about 6 weeks ago. We were worried because she didn’t want to make the transition from independent living to assisted living even though she needed to. Much to our surprise, she loves it! They really know how to run that place and the overall atmosphere is like a nice resort. They even have a pool. The food is excellent and it is restaurant style. They also have independent living, but she was never in that part. The staff are soooo nice and helpful. You can tell they really care. However, the director that we loved so much just left. We were sad to see him go. He was so great with all of the residents. She stays busy with exercise classes and other activities and made a major move to come here from Indiana. She is glad she did.

My parents were here for a year several years ago. We found it expensive especially for the small size of the apartment (that is why we left). But overall the place is very nice. The food was actually pretty good (not normally the case in these type of places). There were lots of interesting activities and the residents themselves are high functioning.

It’s one of the best senior apartment homes out there. Unlike other places, thr village in sherman oaks gives you a sense of community. Seniors who live here are mostly very friendly and always smiling because they get to interact with each other through activities and stuff. My grandma’s been living here for 5 years and still has good things to say about this place. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for senior homes for their loved ones :)

free booze at the social hour on saturdays!
5 stars!
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ok honestly i was just planning on checking in while visiting my grandma at her new resort-​like jewish home… but hell, some question mark head went ahead and FTR’d it so why not.
moving out of her home in OC to a retirement community in the valley was a huge step. times are changing :-/​but if there was a place to have to accept as a new home, the independent living at the village is a pretty awesome option.
elegant, classy, and in no way depressing. the place is fully gated for privacy and safety (gate open during daytime), with very friendly employees at the front desk right after you enter to monitor who is coming in (guest check in). in fact, the staff in general is wonderful and friendly. i was pleased to see several smiling jubilant staff members — not only professional but personable.
theres many public rooms — main lobby /​lounge with lots of comfy chairs and couches (people are regularly in here ‘hanging out’), computer room (and they hold computer classes), library, multi-​purpose room (for most of the daily activities /​exercise, etc), dining room (breakfast & dinner), pool /​hot tub… even a greenhouse and putting green! speaking of food… as this is Unilocal… the food is very good. i only had breakfast but it was tasty… as was the coffee! of course you can have matzo ball soup everyday here: D service could be better… we were pretty much forgotten much of the time, but what do you expect.
the actual apartments are very nice as well. my gma got one of the select ones with a balcony which is nice. my favorite element of the living area is the little shelves outside each residents door. everyone puts something personal and unique up there — I saw a glass ballerina, lawn gnome, family pictures… and my gma has a UCLA blue teddy bear :)
im obviously observing as a visiting granddaughter but I was really impressed with all elements of the village. perhaps if my grandma starts doing the computer classes here, she can one day Unilocal it herself!
(but probably not)

Our mom just moved in and we couldn’t be happier. From the start they were professional. We gave $ 1,000 deposit to hold a room and our mom chickened out and our $ 1,000 refunded no problem. Again our mom gave $ 1,000 and again they refunded no problem. Finally our mom did it. The contract was clear and simple and all promises were clearly spelled out. There was only one room available and after my mom moved in she was concerned it was on the fourth floor and wanted a lower. The administration we dealt with was fabulous. They met with my mom to hear any concerns the first day and would have no problem moving her until she was satisfied. The staff is knowledgeable with dealing with senior citizens, helping my mom accept this new phase in her life. The rooms are extremely clean and the food (we ate twice there) was delicious. Since our mom just moved in we cannot review the activities, but so far we highly recommend The Village as a first rate establishment that keeps its promises!