Gov. Gavin Newsom said over the weekend that crews have been working around the clock to target a late May reopening of the burn-zone section of Pacific Coast Highway on the Los Angeles County coast.
The update came as business owners in most of Malibu are trying to get the word out — they’re already open.
The doors are open at The Sunset Restaurant near Zuma Beach. But at the family-owned eatery, business is a fraction of what it was before the Palisades Fire.
“Everybody is losing money basically. Our businesses are down 50 percent or more,” The Sunset owner, Franco Simplicio, told NBC4.
Simplicio is also co-owner of Moonshadows, destroyed in the January wildfire.
As images of the fire linger on, business owners say the public appears unaware that only 8 miles of PCH were affected, including the stretch through the Pacific Palisades. Malibu, however, boasts miles of scenic beauty totally unaffected by the fires.
“We get a lot of calls all the time asking if we are open,” Simplicio said, “And the perception is that we are not. This particular area of Malibu here, we are outside of the bay. Zuma Beach and El Matador, they’re not affected by the run-offs by the fire,” Simplicio added.
Since the fire, PCH has been only open to verified residents and contractors.
“There’s a complete lack of access right now from Santa Monica. Malibu has been completely cut off ,” business owner David Levy told NBC4.
As a result, visitors must cut through one of the canyon roads north of Calabasas, off the 101 Freeway. According to the governor’s office, after the late May reopening, “one lane in each direction would be available” in the burn zone section of PCH between Chautauqua Bouleard and just northwest of Carbon Canyon.
David Levy is the owner of Studio Malibu. With PCH closed to non-residents, he has been unable to meet his clients in Malibu at his recording studio. Levy has been documenting for social media how fellow neighboring businesses, such as Colony House Liquor, are handling it.
When about the financial impact of the PCH closure, Max Alperstein of Colony House Liquor described the economic fallout as “massive.”
“I am doing about 30 transactions a day – where I normally do over 150 transactions per day,” Alperstein said, “It comes down to people being able to go up and down PCH.”
At Paradise Cove, business ownership of the beach cafe said the reopening of PCH is welcome news.
“This restaurant specifically does most of its business in a four-month span. May, June, July, August,” Tim Morris of Paradise Cove Beach Cafe explained. “With May opening up, it’s a breath of fresh air.”
“Malibu is open,” JD Slajchert of The Sunset Restaurant clarified. “And people are having wonderful memories. Creating wonderful memories once again in this place, that is like a dream.”
Those “Dreamland” memories are free of large crowds, for a limited time only.
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