Landmarks and notable businesses lost: A year after the Eaton and Palisades fires ...Middle East

The fires in the Palisades and in Altadena and Pasadena one year ago wiped out many notable landmarks, from historic homes to famous restaurants, stores, museums and parks.

With landmarks reduced to ashes, they leave a hole in what makes the Palisades, Malibu, Sunset Mesa, Pasadena and Altadena unique communities. Most of these old, famous places were part of the fabric of these communities for decades.

Can these recognizable points of interest ever be restored?

Palisades fire

Camp Josepho: Scouts recently began restoring Scouting America’s 84-year-old, 110-acre camp, which suffered significant damage when the Palisades fire destroyed its hangar-like lodge, designated a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument, along with several cabins. According to the Los Angeles Times, recent rains worsened the damage, causing mud and debris flows that buried parts of the camp, including the amphitheater and veteran’s memorial.

The article also mentioned that the Scouting council is likely to reconstruct only some of the camp’s facilities, opting for a smaller footprint overall.

Community United Methodist Church in Pacific Palisades: Built in 1922, this church was one of the first structures in Pacific Palisades as a site for community gatherings until the Palisades fire destroyed it. The cross that crowned the church tower originally stood on Peace Hill, where special services were held.

At its official website, a link has been set up for direct donations to help those who lost homes recover and to fund the eventual reconstruction of the church.

Gelson’s Market: The company plans to rebuild, but it has no specific timeline for when that will happen.

Malibu Feed Bin: This full-service supply store for horses, livestock and pets was easily recognizable by its red barn-style exterior and simple hand-lettered signage. A longstanding fixture at the intersection of Topanga Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, it evolved from a 1920s grocery store and became a feed store in 1961.

Patricia Morehart and her late husband, Marty, took over the store in 1966, and it’s been in the family ever since. The Moreharts told Fox Business.com they hope to reopen the shop one day.

Malibu’s Reel Inn: In late August, the Wall Street Journal reported that the California Department of Parks and Recreation chose not to renew the lease for the Reel Inn, sparking significant backlash on social media. This beloved, kitschy fish shack had been a fixture on Pacific Coast Highway for 36 years. Several other businesses, including the Topanga Ranch Motel, Wiley’s Bait and Tackle, Cholada Thai and Rosenthal Wine Bar, also received notice that their leases were canceled and they couldn’t rebuild. But less than a week later, Eater reported that the state reached out to the Reel Inn’s owners, expressing a desire to find a way for it to continue. Co-owner Teddy Seaphine-Leonard assured the food and restaurant site that it “absolutely would” reopen.

Moonshadows: For nearly four decades, this oceanfront Malibu restaurant built atop pilings of the Big Rock Cafe dating back to 1949 was filled with the sights and sounds of waves crashing against the rocks below the patio. The Palisades fire destroyed the structure. Now the third-acre waterline where the restaurant stood is available for a long-term ground lease as the private owners decided not to rebuild, according to CoStar News.

Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates: The site of what was once a rent-controlled, 170-unit mobile home park now faces an uncertain future. According to the Los Angeles Times, as of October, debris still littered the ground.

FEMA declined to send in the Army Corps of Engineers for cleanup like it had in neighboring Tahitian Terrace, citing concerns about the landowners’ intentions to reopen the park to its displaced residents.

Edward Biggs, who purchased the park in 2005, had unsuccessfully attempted to develop it into a luxury resort before his death in 2021. Ownership now rests with his first and second wives and their families, who have failed to use a $1.2 million insurance payout for cleanup. The Board of Building and Safety Commissioners has labeled the park a public nuisance.

Rosenthal Wine Bar and Patio: Seven months after the Palisades fire destroyed its location on Pacific Coast Highway, Rosenthal – The Malibu Estate was back in business. The Malibu winery relocated the tasting room experience to its 28-acre estate and vineyard at the intersection of Kanan Dume and Newton Canyon roads. Surrounded by vines and oak trees, the winery is open to the public by reservation only.

To reserve a space, visit rosenthalestatewines.com or call 310-456-1392.

Theatre Palisades: In the wake of the Palisades fire that ravaged the Pierson Playhouse, home of Theatre Palisades, the community demonstrated resilience. The group vowed on its website that “Theatre Palisades will rise again.”  It has since secured temporary stages for several free-admission productions while actively seeking donations to establish a new permanent home.

Find the link to the Theatre Palisades Building Fund at theatrepalisades.org.

The Keeler House: Modernist architect Ray Kappe’s vision for jazz singer Ann Keeler and her husband, Gordon Melcher, took shape in 1991 as a 4,142-square-foot house with four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The house sat on a 7-acre-plus hillside in Pacific Palisades.

When it hit the market for the first time in March 2024 for $12 million, architecture broker Brian Linder of The Value of Architecture described it in an Instagram post as the end of post and beam.

“What he did here with these slender wood posts and giant cantilevered glulam beams, you just can’t do anymore,” said Linder, adding seismic codes and Title 24 energy regulations make it impossible to recreate.

Kappe died in 2019 at 92.

The Robert Bridges House: Built in 1974 and designed by architect Robert Bridges, now an emeritus professor at USC Marshall School of Business, this Brutalist icon stood high above Sunset Boulevard. The Palisades fire destroyed all but the concrete foundation and pylons, which Bridges family temporarily put on the market for $2.75 million before changing their minds.

“The fire burned the interior, but the super structure remains,” Mike Deasy of Compass told the Southern California News Group at the time of its listing. “It’s ready and able to take on construction within the structure that was there. And why wouldn’t you want to preserve history? It’s an iconic structure. The super structure is there. To tear it down would cost another $2 million. It’s an opportunity.”

Deasy said the family decided to proceed and restore the house. He added, “stay tuned to a newer and better version of that iconic property.”

Will Rogers State Historic Park: The 186-acre park, once part of the ranch of famous cowboy humorist, writer and actor Will Rogers, reopened to the public in November. Rogers built his family ranch house on the grounds. The Palisades fire incinerated that 31-room home, which received a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, horse stables and other park facilities.

“As the future of the ranch is still uncertain, the Rogers family is pleased to see the park once again open to the public—a place that has long been and will continue to serve as a living tribute to Will Rogers himself,” said Jennifer Rogers, a Rogers family representative in a news release issued by the California State Parks.

Eaton fire

Fox’s Restaurant: The home-spun, kitschy restaurant on Lake Avenue in Altadena has been serving up comfort food since 1947 until it was destroyed. According to an interview in February on KCRW radio, owners Paul Rosenbluh & Monique King have not yet decided on whether they can rebuild.

Posts on Facebook include one from Laura Solomon who said her grandma would take her there before they went to Mountain View Cemetery to tidy up the graves of relatives. Christina Balsam Curren wrote she remembers sitting in a high chair at the restaurant in the late 1950s. The owners also own Cindy’s and Little Beast restaurants in Eagle Rock. They’ve raised $64,345 on their gofundme page.

The Bunny Museum: This world famous, quirky museum at 2605 Lake Ave., just north of E. Altadena Drive, was founded by married couple Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski in 1998.

The museum, colloquially known as “the hoppiest place in the world,” is a living homage to the couple’s pet name for one another — “Honey Bunny.” It contained everything from rabbit dolls to ceramic bunnies to you name it before the fire destroyed it and forced them to close their doors.

During removal of burned, twisted debris, the Army Corps of Engineers stopped whenever they saw a bunny sticking out of the ground.

In the last year, they’ve lost 60,000 artifacts but managed to save 20,000, said Frazee on Dec. 17. “People have been donating bunnies from around the world,” said the co-founder, and that includes everything from figurines to dolls, toys and jewelry.

It will take them three to four years to rebuild, she said. “It is a long, expensive process.” Their gofundme page lists donations of $82,666.

Henry Dart Green House:  The 99-year-old Henry Dart Greene House in Altadena, the longtime home of noted architect Henry Mather Greene, who designed the residence, was designated a Los Angeles County landmark in August 2024 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The Mediterranean Revival Style home was located at 1405 La Solana Drive.

Greene achieved international acclaim in 1952 when he received special recognition from the American Institute of Architects for his work. He was the co-founder of the Greene and Greene architecture firm in Pasadena, which he established alongside his brother, Charles Sumner Greene, in 1894.

The architecture firm was known for its Craftsman bungalows.

It remains unclear whether the owners will rebuild on the property.

Andrew McNally House: The Queen Anne Style house — a landmark Altadena mansion on East Mariposa Street at Santa Rosa Avenue — was originally built for mapmaking tycoon Andrew McNally during the last decade of the 19th century. It was purchased in 2021 by Frank Mayor and his wife, Huan Gu.

Mayor and Gu evacuated the night of the fire to a Pasadena hotel. A few hours later, Mayor came back and saw a single fire truck, the house engulfed in flames. “The firefighters were just standing there, watching the thing burn. They told me they tried to put it out, but they ran out of water,” he told this newspaper shortly after the fire.

The house was used in the filming of HBO’s “Entourage,” according to Deadline.com. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Mayor has been working on plans with an architect for rebuilding on the property, said Gu. She said the new house will be the size of the old one, about 6,900 square feet.

Zane Grey Estate: The 7,240-square-foot, three-story residence, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, had eight bedrooms, formal dining and living rooms and seven balconies.

The Mediterranean Revival-style estate was once owned by famed Western novelist, Zane Grey but was originally built for Chicago businessman Arthur Herbert Woodward in 1907 by the Pasadena architectural partnership of Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey (no relation to the author). Hunt designed several Southern California landmarks, including the Rose Bowl Stadium, the Spanish wing of the Mission Inn Hotel and Spa in Riverside, and the Huntington Art Gallery in San Marino.

Grey added an office and an east wing in the 1920s. “The main room was about 49 feet across with huge hand-carved beams decorated with Native American motifs,” said Altadena historian Michele Zack in an email on Dec. 18, whose book, “Altadena: Between Wilderness and City,” had a new edition published Dec. 10.

“It was magnificent and the most beautiful part of the mansion,” Zack said.

It’s unclear whether the owners will rebuild on the property.

William D. Davies Memorial Building at Farnsworth Park: The 1934 river rock and timber building and the adjoining park with its expansive amphitheater stood as a community focal point in Altadena. From summer concerts  at the park, to the John Muir High School’s 50th reunion celebration at the Davies building, these were just some of the events held there.

Major General Charles Farnsworth, along with William D. Davies oversaw the development of land used by Los Angeles County as a tree farm and turned it into Altadena Park, as it was first known. Farnsworth planned the park and supervised the grading, landscaping and construction work. It was dedicated in his honor at a ceremony June 3, 1939. The building at Farnsworth Park was later named the William D. Davies Memorial Building.

The price tag to rebuild the historic building, plus other on-site improvements, is a whopping $68.1 million. About  $8.75 million has been secured by LA County for some park restoration, including the addition of a reflection garden where people can pay tribute to loved ones who perished in the fire. Work is expected to start in 2026.

Zorthian Ranch: The fabled 48-acre ranch — part artist colony, part Bohemian refuge — hosted people like Andy Warhol, Charlie Parker, Bob Dylan and Nobel Prize winner Richard Feynman who would visit with Alan Zorthian’s artist dad, Jirayr Zorthian in the 1950s.

Most of the ranch, at 3990 Fair Oaks Avenue, was lost, despite Alan’s efforts to douse the flames. Also lost were the artwork created by the late Jirayr Zorthian, including the Zorthian Barn Gallery, wood retaining walls, the stage, the bridge and the community space. Luckily, the two main buildings on the property remain: The Main House and the Green House, according to the ranch’s gofundme page.

Alan’s daughter, Julian Zorthinia, who created the ranch’s fundraising page, wrote  Alan does not want to sell the land to developers. “Please help us keep this place a community space for generations of artists who’ve come before, and who’ve yet to come,” she wrote.

As of Dec. 18, the gofundme page had raised $135,853.

Places of worship: Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Altadena Community Church UCC, Altadena United Methodist Church, Altadena Baptist Church, Masjid Al-Taqwa (mosque), Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center:

The recently installed senior Rabbi Joshua Ratner of the Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center didn’t shy away from taking the job, despite the loss of its synagogue on North Altadena Drive. He was overwhelmed by the kindness of the members when he met them a month after the fire.

“I learned that this was a community that could not only survive the destruction of its spiritual home but ultimately would continue to thrive,” he said.

Longtime Pastor Connie DeVaughn of Altadena Baptist Church, which lost its buildings on the corner of El Molino Avenue and East Calaveras Street in Altadena, has begun a “without walls” movement to meet displaced Altadena residents. This included listening sessions with some who’ve parked their RVs on their cleared lots.

“We are thinking of doing more of that. That is our goal,” she said. A team from the church is considering what and how to rebuild.

The message on the Altadena United Methodist church website reads: “We have suffered a loss of structure, but God is on the Throne!”

Masjid Al-Taqwa was the first mosque established in the Altadena-Pasadena area, according to their gofundme page, which was started to raise funds for rebuilding efforts. As of Dec. 18, the page lists $857,953 in donations.

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