Nineteen months after the Pacific Palisades wildfire destroyed more than 5,000 homes and uprooted the lives of tens of thousands of residents, locals and visitors to the affluent Los Angeles Westside neighborhood are marking one of the first positive milestones.Palisades Village, the neighborhood’s 100,000-square-foot, walkable luxury retail and restaurant enclave featuring more than 40 curated boutiques, eateries and experiences, is celebrating its reopening on Aug.15.
Festivities will range from a ribbon-cutting ceremony to shopping experiences, tastings, family-friendly activities and entertainment."The way we reopen is a sign throughout the city that’s suffering in so many ways that we actually are resilient," Rick Caruso said during an earlier tour of the property."We’re on a mission to bring back this city."PALISADES FIRE SUSPECT ALLEGEDLY DRIVEN BY 'SOCIETAL REVENGE,' BEHAVIORAL ANALYST TESTIFIES IN COURTA firefighter battles the Palisades Fire while it burns homes on Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on Jan.
8, 2025, in Los Angeles, California.(Apu Gomes/Getty Images)The billionaire businessman, who is the founder and former CEO of real estate company Caruso, is considered a leading civic figure in Los Angeles.
He has served on several local government commissions and established Steadfast LA, a public-private, recovery-focused partnership in the wake of the fires.Caruso reportedly spent more than $100 million of his own money on a failed mayoral campaign against Karen Bass in 2022 and has been an outspoken critic of how she has handled the wildfire and the running of the city since.While the Palisades Fire burned for three and a half weeks in January 2025 before being contained, Palisades Village largely survived the disaster but remained closed for extensive $100 million smoke remediation and rebuilding.The surrounding downtown commercial corridor, however, was severely impacted, with numerous local businesses and structures reduced...