<\/p>\n
\n\tNearly five months after the devastating wildfires<\/a> that burned much of the Pacific Palisades<\/a> and Malibu<\/a> \u2014 as across town Altadena faced a similar fate \u2014 the famed Pacific Coast Highway<\/a> is finally reopened<\/a> to visitors.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a welcome announcement this holiday weekend, following months in which Malibu\u2019s beachside businesses that were lucky enough to remain standing were blocked from the majority of their customers. And many have been struggling for most of the year as a result. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf you leave Malibu and you\u2019re anywhere else, the world has moved on. There\u2019s no awareness that, oh, the city is still in this 911 catastrophic situation,\u201d says Malibu Farm owner Helene Henderson, acknowledging the Malibu Pier hotspot\u2019s business has been down at least 50 percent \u2014 and more on the weekdays \u2014 since the January fires.<\/p>\n \n\tBecause even though Malibu Canyon and Kanan Dume Road have remained open for access to the area from the 101 freeway, Henderson says \u201cthe phone is ringing all day long with people like, \u2018We don\u2019t understand how to get to Malibu,’\u201d since PCH, the most direct route from L.A., has been closed to those without a business or residential pass. And even if visitors could figure it out, \u201cIf somebody says, \u2018Do you want to meet me in Malibu for Tuesday lunch?\u2019 but it\u2019s an hour and a half going over the freeways, you\u2019re not going to do that, right?\u201d she acknowledges. Henderson also notes that at least 50 percent of Malibu Farm\u2019s dinner reservations regularly don\u2019t show up, as cars have been stopped at the PCH closure and didn\u2019t know how to get around.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNormally, we build a summer cushion to cover us through the winter. This year, there\u2019s not going to be a summer cushion to carry us through the winter, so we\u2019re trying to budget,\u201d she continues of the current outlook. \u201cWhat we\u2019re thinking here is, how do we make it to spring 2026?\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tParadise Cove, the iconic feet-in-the-sand spot further down the road, has had similar issues, down 50 to 60 percent of normal business. \u201cThe news cycle is so fast these days \u2014 we reopened like the second week of February and then by the end of February, people are calling and saying, \u2018Why is PCH closed?’\u201d assistant GM Tim Morris says, admitting, \u201cIt just really bums you out that everyone just goes back [to normal] so fast and it\u2019s so quick to forget all the tragedy and the hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn order to drum up business, the restaurant has engaged in a \u201cguerilla marketing\u201d campaign on social media, making videos with other local restaurants encouraging people to come visit. But still, up until Friday, Malibu has been \u201can island,\u201d Morris says, cut off from tourism and residents of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \n\tZane Koss, owner of Malibu Country Mart favorite Taverna Tony, hasn\u2019t experienced quite the same customer drop off, but confirms that during the week, \u201cit\u2019s just a ghost town.\u201d He has started heavily advertising specifically to areas that are used to taking the canyon roads instead of PCH, targeting those in Westlake, Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Agoura. \u201cWe found that that\u2019s helped, we\u2019ve had a lot of people come in and say, \u2018Oh, we saw your ad,’\u201d Koss says. <\/p>\n \n\tHe also expresses how grateful he is to the Malibu community as locals continue to support the community\u2019s businesses, but admits, \u201cEveryone\u2019s like \u2018Where are all our Angelenos, did they forget about us?\u2019 It\u2019s kind of wild, because we\u2019re such a big part of the city and I think a lot of Malibu people feel like, \u2018Where is everybody? How come they\u2019re not coming out here and supporting us?\u2019 We\u2019re all just kind of stunned.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tThere may be hope on the horizon, as Governor Newsom announced that up to two lanes of PCH (in each direction) would reopen on Friday, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Repairs will continue even as the road opens and a slower speed limit will be in effect. There are mixed feelings on the reopening, as Morris acknowledges, \u201cTraffic is going to be an absolute nightmare going back and forth.\u201d Henderson also questions if people will rush back to the beach as questions of sand and water safety <\/a>remain following the fires.<\/p>\n \n\tBut, Morris continues, \u201cI\u2019m very excited for just that shift in mentality, where if PCH is open, people are going to realize that Malibu is open; with PCH being closed, in their mind, it\u2019s synonymous with Malibu being closed.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tKelly Furano, managing director at Aviator Nation Dreamland \u2014 which triples as a retail store, restaurant and live music venue, located across from Malibu Pier \u2014 says she and founder Paige Mycoskie are ready for the incoming flood, but want visitors to keep in mind \u201cthat so many people have lost everything.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe want also things to go back to the way that they were. We miss Malibu and we miss offering it up to people,\u201d she says. \u201cBut people also need to be prepared for what they\u2019re going to see. It\u2019s hard, it\u2019s shocking when you drive it for the first time,\u201d with so many beachfront homes completely flattened. <\/p>\n \n\tAviator Nation Dreamland is charging ahead with it summer plans, with a Maren Morris album release party set for May 9 and a summer concert series scheduled for the first Sunday of every month, in partnership with Malibu Pier. Still, Furano says, \u201cwe\u2019re just sort of wounded, the community, and we don\u2019t look the same; our business does, but everything around us looks different.\u201d She adds, \u201cCome and play \u2014 that\u2019s what we do, that\u2019s what we want to give people. And be patient with the fact that this community is healing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nearly five months after the devastating wildfires that burned much of the Pacific Palisades and Malibu \u2014 as across town Altadena faced a similar fate \u2014 the famed Pacific Coast Highway is finally reopened to visitors. It\u2019s a welcome announcement this holiday weekend, following months in which Malibu\u2019s beachside businesses that were lucky enough to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[254,1608,1609,1610,1612,1606,1607,1611],"class_list":{"0":"post-1443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fashion","8":"tag-businesses","9":"tag-fire","10":"tag-giving","11":"tag-hope","12":"tag-malibu","13":"tag-pch","14":"tag-reopens","15":"tag-struggling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1445,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions\/1445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}