Home Care In Pacific Palisades, CA

Take Sunset Boulevard into the Pacific Palisades today, and you’ll encounter a flurry of construction activity.

More than 21 months after the January 2025 fires that incinerated the LA neighborhood, the skeletons of new houses are rising on burned-out lots, and the whirring of heavy machinery punctuates the air.

But there are many empty lots, and the burned-out hulk of the Business Block — once the centerpiece of the commercial district — stands as a stark reminder of how much remains to be done, and how much remains stagnant.

So while there are encouraging signs, almost all of the progress is self-directed — pursued by wealthy residents, charities and LA developers like Rick Caruso. Though the rebuilding is a triumph of the resilient American spirit, the American government has gone AWOL.

Local, county and state governments have been supremely unhelpful to the victims of the Palisades fires. Back in April, LA Mayor Karen Bass visited the White House to discuss fire recovery for both the Palisades and the community of Altadena, but little has come of her visit.

The federal government helped initially. Back in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to fast-track rebuilding permits.

But in September, funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the Disaster Case Management (DCM) program, which helped survivors work with the federal emergency reimbursement process, ran dry.

The funding drought is a victim of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s self-serving grandstanding against President Trump, including authorizing $50 million in lawsuits against the administration. This lawfare occurred all while Newsom was simultaneously asking the feds for $40 billion in recovery funds, an absurdly outsized request.

As it turns out — maybe attacking your benefactor isn’t the best strategy.

Meanwhile, left out in the ash, the real victims, from the Pacific Palisades to Altadena, continue to struggle. Though the wealthy can afford to rebuild immediately, the middle class has no such luxury. Many are waiting on fire insurance checks before they can move on with their lives.

As a result of this malaise, residents are taking matters into their own hands.

In just over a year, Rick Caruso rehabilitated the Palisades Village shopping center to the tune of $100 million. He’s also urged other anchor tenants like Gelson’s to return, to spur homeowner confidence to come back to the community.

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Palisades residents have teamed up to provide a neighborhood “blockade” to defend their construction sites from rampant looting.

Organizations like the Every Fire Survivor’s Network, started after the 2025 Eaton Fire that razed much of Altadena, have fought against fire insurers which denied and delayed claims, and even found some success.

And just last week, about 500 volunteers — including celebs like TV star Joshua Jackson and FOX employees — teamed up with Habitat for Humanity for a four-day build. The initiative worked on 160 approved structures, with another 170 in the pipeline.

Overall, more than 1,000 homes are under construction in the Palisades — falling far short of the 7,000 structures that burned there.

America has always been a land of doers, people who came to this country to build a new society from scratch. California is no different — and its homeowning culture is the pinnacle of the American Dream.

We admire the tenacity of the California spirit, of Angelenos helping themselves, and working to help others. Crises can bring people together.

But the government, at all levels, should be actively trying to accelerate the process, rather than twirling on their office chairs and hoping for the best.

We celebrate the will of the people who, despite the obstacles, succeed. But where is the help they deserve?

The January 2025 wildfires that swept through Pacific Palisades wreaked devastation practically beyond belief, destroying more than 5,600 homes and businesses.

On Saturday, the Westside community marked a long overdue milestone for fire-weary residents: the reopening of the Palisades Village shopping center.

The 125,000-square-foot upscale mall, featuring shops, restaurants and a movie theater, survived the blaze but required renovations that cost its owner and developer Rick Caruso more than $100 million, including major infrastructure work.

“I have been waiting 19 months to say welcome to Palisades Village,” said Caruso, executive chairman of his eponymous company. “I’m not going to be blind here. We are in the middle of a recovery, and this is one chapter. It’s a mega step, no doubt, but there’s many more mega steps to come.”

The reopening was packed with shoppers, store owners and residents, who milled about the refurbished center and enjoyed free drinks and food offered from kiosks. Hyper upscale grocer Erewhon at the center will reopen in January.

The center draws customers not just from Pacific Palisades but from Brentwood, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and even Calabasas.

The $200-million shopping center, which first opened in 2018, is 99% leased, with one-third of the shops new, including an Italian steakhouse called Spacca Tutto by chef Nancy Silverton and women’s apparel retailer LESET.

Also opening a shop in the center is Pacific Palisades fashion designer Elyse Walker, who lost her 25-year flagship location on Antioch Street to the blaze.

“The past 20 months has proven to be one of the most challenging times in Los Angeles history, and yet here we are all together as a community to rally for a revival,” she said, during the grand opening event. “Today is truly a homecoming.”

Other Pacific Palisades shops that burned and relocated to the Village include K Bakery and Loomey’s Toys. Among the returning tenants is Angelini Ristorante & Bar run by prominent L.A. chef Gino Angelini.

Other businesses have been reopening outside the mall. Near the shopping center, there are homes and other businesses in various stages of reconstruction, some nearly complete, others with just framing or drywall.

Allison Holdorff Polhill, president of the Pacific Palisades Community Council, who lost her home in the blaze, said that the community is steadily rebuilding but still has a long way to go.

She figures it will take five years before much of the reconstruction is finished, with the reopening of the center signaling a major step forward, such as when Palisades Charter High School returned to its main campus in January.

“This type of activity, opening the Village, gives everyone hope that there’s businesses to patronize, all of these things that people do,” said Holdorff Polhill, 61, a 30-year resident who hopes to move back into her home in October.

The mall’s survival amid the community’s devastation was not without controversy given Caruso’s use of private firefighters to ward off the flames.

Caruso, the former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, has defended their use saying they freed up city firefighters during the catastrophic firestorm. He also has credited the mall’s use of fire-resistant construction materials.

“This town was Mayberry by the sea. I always called it like living inside a Norman Rockwell picture, and then a nuclear bomb hit,” he said, in remarks Saturday.

In reopening the mall, the billionaire real estate mogul whose company owns the Grove, the Americana at Brand and the Commons at Calabasas has taken something of a risk.

Many Pacific Palisades residents are still displaced, with an estimated 30% of the Village’s customer base affected, Caruso has said.

However, the developer surely looks to be able to count on local customers such as Julian Bostic, who moved into a home not far from the Village in 2020, only to see it burn down.

Bostic, 54, who is rebuilding the home where he lived with his wife and two children, said the Village became an “incredibly important part of our existence here in the Palisades” — and a beacon of hope.

“When the firestorm struck, we were gathered there with other community members and just friends and just sort of in shell shock and thinking about our next move and not really sure exactly what to do, “ he recalled.

“And I remember distinctly that someone said, ‘Well, the village didn’t burn, right? The village is up and running. The structure is still in place,’” Bostic said. “And I remember that that was the first moment that we, as a family, had any sort of hope that our community was going to return in the way that we once knew it.”

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has apologized to thousands of victims of the devastating January 2025 Palisades Fire for bureaucratic delays that have stopped them rebuilding.

The fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures, and while nine out of 10 owners say they plan to rebuild, by August, just 1,000 homes were under re-construction.

Owners have put the blame on delays in the LADWP supplying temporary power to the homesite to help with rebuilding.

Dave Hanson, LADWP’s Interim General Manager, said: “My deep apologies to everybody that’s had to deal with any sort of a delay on the account of DWP.”

“When I’m talking to a customer that I know just wants to go home, and I’m the reason they can’t go home, I do take that personal,” Hanson told ABC 7 in an interview at LADWP’s Inspections and Permitting Support Center in the Marquez section of the Palisades.

He attributed the delays to the Palisades home base moving three times and the volume of inspection requests ramping up quicker than the utility was staffed for.

Hanson added that five to six additional inspectors have also been hired to speed up the process in the area.

The LADWP launched a customer portal last week that guides contractors and property owners step-by-step through its compliance checklist, the news outlet reported.

“These people lost everything that they own, their memories, their keepsakes, that they just want to go home. That’s all that matters. I want to be part of the solution, and so do our 13,332 employees,” Hanson told ABC 7.

Palisades Fire victim Jack Nguyen is among those who are struggling with the utility’s permitting, inspection and power restoration processes.

“We have been through hell, literally, and you would think that if anything, the bureaucracy would be shortened and we would be able to ease through the process,” Nguyen told ABC 7.

In July, 1,628 new-home permit applications were submitted, 1,088 permits were issued and 905 homes had started construction, according to the online tracking site Pali Builds. But only 27 homes had received certificates of occupancy.

The new analysis released in April this year showed just 34 homes have gone up in Pacific Palisades and Altadena in the 15 months since the devastating wildfires tore through — a shockingly sluggish pace that lags behind recoveries from other previous major California infernos.

The January 2025 fires — which erupted within 24 hours of each other — killed 31 people and devoured nearly 16,000 acres, flattening the wealthy coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades and hammering middle-class Altadena in the foothills.

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Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles launched a four-day Pacific Palisades Community Build on September 23 to help rebuild houses that suffered varying amounts of fire damage, including homes on Avenida De Santa Ynez, Edgar Street, Palisades Drive, Enchanted Way and Livorno Drive. The organization is working with more than 160 families in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and unincorporated areas affected by the Palisades Fire to rebuild their homes by rebuilding, remediating, supplying furnishings, and facilitating loans, counseling and down payment assistance.

The four-day build began on Wednesday with remarks at Habitat’s base camp at the site of the Corpus Christi rectory in the 800 block of Toyopa Drive, which was destroyed in the fire. Speakers included Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park; Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath; Erin Rank, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles; and Monsignor Liam Kidney, pastor of Corpus Christi Catholic Church.

“Thanks to all of you for being willing to be part of that creation of a home for humanity,” Monsignor Liam Kidney said. “If we could only remember we’re all God’s children—being together and being there for each other is the greatest gift that we can give each other.”

Monsignor Kidney also expressed gratitude for the empathy and kindness he said he has seen Pacific Palisades residents extend to each other.

“I thank God for the opportunities that God has given us in the last two years to be able to share with each other, to be there for each other and to support each other,” he said. “And I thank you for just being there for the person alongside you.”

Horvath recognized local firefighters and the spirit of community she said she has seen since the Palisades Fire.

“Today is really all about the volunteers,” said Horvath. “This spirit of togetherness, the spirit of giving, this spirit of commitment to community is really what you all are about. So many families have been waiting for the chance to rebuild and to return home, and every repair that’s completed, every property that’s restored and every home that’s moved forward brings us closer to that goal.”

Horvath also presented the sobering statistics that about three in four fire survivors remain displaced and that the typical homeowner faces a gap of approximately $500,000 between their insurance settlement and the cost to rebuild.

Rank said Palisadians face a range of barriers to rebuilding their homes that could make them eligible for financial aid.

“We’re focused on survivors who have a funding gap, and without assistance from groups like Habitat, they wouldn’t be able to rebuild,” Rank said. “But they’re longtime residents of this community. They might have owned their home for 30 or 40 years, paid their home off, retired and were planning to spend the rest of their lives in this beautiful community that they love. We want to bring them back home.”

In an interview with the Palisadian-Post, Rank said residents can access multiple aspects of the organization’s resources regardless of income. Rank said gap grants from Habitat have averaged $150,000 but that the organization has granted larger amounts in some cases.

“We see a lot of people who say, ‘I was a donor to Habitat, and I never thought I’d be needing assistance,’” she said. “We have resources for people of all income ranges—we have a whole team of Rebuild Navigators who are helping people with these kinds of questions.”

Habitat also offers services such as reviewing contractor bids, consulting on utility hookups and other services that can help families navigate the rebuilding process. Rank said Habitat is also working with Palisades condominium and mobile home residents to provide special assistance to those communities.

“We could come in and help with some of those HOAs to enable them to get to the point of, ‘Yes, we’re coming back and we’re rebuilding,’ because those are important houses for many in the community,” she said.

In addition to the 160 families actively rebuilding with Habitat’s assistance, according to Rank, 167 more are in the process of applying for aid. Rank said the organization is open to more residents applying and encouraged Palisadians to learn more about Habitat’s programs.

“Longtime residents could be faced with draining their savings and everything they had planned to retire on just to rebuild their homes,” Rank said. “Habitat for Humanity is here with some financial resources to help people move back home.”

Councilwoman Traci Park said partnerships between every level of government, nonprofit organizations and neighborhoods can help bring Palisadians home.

“To every volunteer who’s here giving their time, to every donor who is investing in this community, to every organization that continues to step forward and to every victim of the fire who continues to believe in the future of the Pacific Palisades, thank you,” she said. “Your generosity is helping to put hope into action.”

Heavy rain could trigger flooding and debris flows in Pacific Palisades.

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Parts of Los Angeles, including the Palisades, are under a flood watch Wednesday as a powerful storm moves into Southern California, bringing the threat of heavy rain, thunderstorms, mudslides and dangerous road conditions.

The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for the Santa Monica Mountains and adjacent coastal areas through Thursday afternoon. The watch covers mountain and hillside areas west of the 405 Freeway, including Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Bel Air and portions of the San Fernando Valley.

Hillside neighborhoods in Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills, along with the Sepulveda Pass and surrounding canyon roads, could be vulnerable to flooding, mudslides and debris flows as the storm moves through the region.

There are Flood Watches in effect for portions of our area from 8 AM Wed- 5PM Thu. First year burn scars are the most vulnerable to flooding/debris flows. However, at least minor flooding is possible anywhere heavy rain occurs. #CAwx https://t.co/3RAP4daSOy

— NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) October 20, 2026

The storm is expected to bring about 1.5 inches of rain to much of Los Angeles County, with 2 to 3 inches possible in the mountains and areas hit by thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.

Thunderstorms could produce rainfall rates approaching 1 inch per hour, increasing the risk of flash flooding and debris flows. The heaviest rain is expected Wednesday into Thursday morning.

Forecasters said the Santa Monica Mountains and adjacent coastline face some of the greatest flooding risks in Los Angeles County because of the potential for intense rainfall.

The storm could trigger flooding in streets, low-lying areas, creeks and other locations with poor drainage.

Drivers traveling through the Sepulveda Pass and hillside neighborhoods should be alert for rocks, mud, standing water and debris on canyon roads. Power outages and traffic signal failures are also possible.

Under California law, drivers must come to a complete stop at malfunctioning traffic signals. Motorists should never drive around barricades or through flowing water.

Residents should stay away from downed power lines and call 911 to report them.

The storm is also expected to bring dangerous conditions to Los Angeles-area beaches, including those in Pacific Palisades.

A beach hazards statement remains in effect through late Thursday night for portions of the Los Angeles County coastline, with elevated surf, dangerous rip currents, possible beach erosion and minor tidal overflow in low-lying areas.

Thunderstorms over coastal waters could also produce lightning, gusty winds, small hail and isolated waterspouts, according to the NWS.

Temperatures are expected to remain cool Wednesday and Thursday, with highs generally in the mid-60s to lower 70s across much of Los Angeles County.

Dry weather is expected to return Friday, followed by another round of Santa Ana winds over the weekend. Forecasters said gusts could reach 30 to 50 mph, particularly in mountain areas, although the winds are expected to be weaker than last week's event.

Temperatures could climb back into the upper 70s and 80s over the weekend.

Residents in flood-prone areas are encouraged to take precautions before the heaviest rain arrives, particularly those living below steep hillsides or near recent wildfire burn scars.

The Los Angeles Emergency Management Department provides rain and flooding preparedness information, including resources to help residents prepare their homes and families for storms.

Residents should clear leaves and debris from gutters and drainage areas where it is safe to do so, secure outdoor belongings and take steps to prevent water from entering their homes.

Those living near recent burn areas should pay particular attention to the threat of debris flows, which can carry mud, rocks and other material downhill during periods of intense rainfall.

Residents should also monitor emergency alerts and road conditions as the storm moves through the area.

Information about potential debris flow hazards is available through the Los Angeles County Public Works hazard map.

Residents can sign up for city of Los Angeles emergency notifications, Los Angeles County emergency notifications and check Caltrans QuickMap for current road conditions and closures.

Officials also recommend keeping a battery-powered radio available to receive emergency information if electrical power or cellphone service is disrupted.

City News Service contributed to this report.