The Palisades Garden Cafe, which survived the Palisades Fire, reopened today. They have been serving the community for over 20 years and are hoping to bring hope and a sense of normalcy back to the Pacific Palisades. Brittany Hope reports for the NBC4 News at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 7, 2025.
A cup of coffee was more than just a morning pick-me-up Friday for customers at the Palisades Garden Cafe.
The business, which was left standing by the Palisades Fire as buildings around it burned to the ground, reopened Friday in a sign of resilience and hope two months after the third-most destructive wildfire on record in California.
"Oh, it means everything," said Bruce Schwartz of his first coffee at the cafe since before the fire. "It just gives you a sense of crawling out of the nuclear winter almost, you know? It just gives you a sense of community coming back. That's why when I heard this place was coming back, I came here today."
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More than 6,800 structures, including homes and businesses, were destroyed in the fire that started on the morning of Jan. 7 in a terrifying Santa Ana windstorm that pushed flames at an alarming rate in the Los Angeles County coastal community.
Schwartz's home was one of the thousands destroyed in the fire.
Several nearby buildings were damaged and destroyed by the Palisades Fire, but the cafe that first opened in 2004 was largely untouched by flames.
"We are so lucky," said owner James Kwon, who greeted Schwartz with a hug. "Very fortunate.
"This big two-story building is gone. Four schools in a one block radius are gone. The big brick building. The church, the park, the library, right there.
"We’re just so saddened by what happened in this community. We're all eager to get back to work. I know people in this town need to eat. Just feel a little bit of normalcy. I feel like we brought hat and I hope we did. Just bringing a lot of hope to people in town. Just saying, yeah, there is hope right? Don’t give up."
Hours will be different as operations resume at the cafe.
