Why Malibu is still a ghost town 18 months after Palisades Fire: It looks like Pompeii

More than a year and a half after the Palisades Fire tore through Malibu, only a handful of homes along the iconic Pacific Coast Highway have begun rebuilding — leaving the famous area a ghost town of charred ruins.Red tape and the high cost of construction has caused many homeowners to simply sell their lots, while the few that have started rebuilding say it’s taken about year of headaches to green light shovels in the ground. “I was one of the first ones to sell on the beach,” Matt Greenberg told The California Post.

“I just couldn’t imagine myself [rebuilding], and I think a lot of neighbors are kind of coming to those terms.” Greenberg bought his slice of Malibu paradise on the water in 2023, a fixer-upper that he was ready to turn into his dream home — until he realized how long it takes to get the stamp of approval from the city, Coastal Commission, and other agencies for a simple remodel.“The process to get anything done in the city is just an absolute nightmare,” he said.“Everything’s slow, expensive, and it takes awhile.” Greenberg did ultimately get the permits over a year later, tragically, on the the exact same day the Palisades Fire broke out, July 7, 2025. “It’s like burned in my brain,” Greenberg said.

“We were literally going to crack some champagne and the whole thing — the morning of the fire, we got the permits and it burned down that night.” Greenberg said he didn’t want to go through the headache of the permitting process again and the challenges of rebuilding. “I just knew after going through this process with the city just to get a remodel, to get a rebuild was going to be ridiculous and it was just going to be so expensive,” he said.“Then on top of all that, you know, the PCH falling in and construction and just space issues with neighboring homes.” Out of the 1,076 permits for damages, repairs, debris removal, and structures along the Pacific Coast Highway, only 88 are for new home co...