Café Vida Is Coming Back to the Palisades, Two Miles From Its Old Corner

Before the fire, Café Vida was in the Business Block at Swarthmore Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. That building took up nearly the whole block, and Bank of America and Casa Nostra were there too. The locally owned café has announced it will reopen this fall at 548 Palisades Drive in Highlands Plaza, with an October target. No exact day had been announced as of early October. Nobody has announced plans for the old block, and nothing is being built there.

The rest of the fall's reopenings follow the same pattern. Most of the Palisades routine is back. Coffee, a bakery run, dinner, the Wednesday market and a weekend walk are all possible again without leaving town. Most of that now happens in two places: Palisades Village along Swarthmore, and the Highlands at Sunset and Palisades Drive. The stretch of Sunset that used to be the town's center is still waiting.

The Sunset Blocks That Haven't Started

The Palisadian-Post's September 4 survey of commercial rebuilding is the best map of what's still missing. The same owner, Topa, holds the old Business Block and the former Chase Bank site at La Cruz Drive, and neither is under construction. The Sunset frontage just south of Monument Street hasn't started either. Before the fire it held OneWest Bank, Festa Insurance, Bellagio Nails and The Massage Place. The former Gelson's at Sunset and Via de la Paz shows no significant construction. The Post notes it was reportedly the best-performing Gelson's in the chain. Ralphs, across Sunset, hasn't broken ground. Construction also hasn't started at 881 Alma Real Drive, once the community's largest office building and home to many neighborhood doctors and dentists.

The Marquez Knolls district has a separate problem. Before the fire it was home to Vittorio Ristorante, Ronny's Market, Knolls Pharmacy, TLC Beauty Salon and Paws N' Claws. Several different owners hold the property there, and three of the four have announced plans to rebuild. The Post's writer points out that different insurers and finances tend to slow things down when a district has several owners.

Via de la Paz is coming back faster. 843 Via de la Paz, formerly home to Flour Pizzeria, is nearly complete. The Pacific Palisades Veterinary Center building came through the fire and the clinic has reopened.

Everything that has reopened is happening around these gaps.

Swarthmore Took On the Town-Center Role

Palisades Village reopened on Saturday, August 15. The Los Angeles Times reported that about 70% of its shops and restaurants were open that day, and about a third of the tenants were new. So the Village is a different lineup now, with some returning tenants and some new ones.

Elyse Walker reopened her Towne concept and moved her flagship store into the Village. Ludus Martial Arts is now in the former Pearl Dragon space.

Spacca Tutto is the most anticipated opening on the list. Nancy Silverton's modern Italian steakhouse at 15255 Palisades Village Lane draws on her Chi Spacca menu, including Focaccia di Recco and a chicken pot pie. Lunch and dinner reservations are open on OpenTable ahead of the October 15 opening. The restaurant was first announced for August 2026, so October 15 is the second date it has given.

The Village also hosts the town's weekly routines that aren't tied to a single business. The Pacific Palisades Farmers Market came back on August 19. It runs Wednesdays from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Swarthmore Avenue through December 30. There's live music on Swarthmore every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The Village calendar also lists weekly mahjong and Rummikub.

The grocery situation shows how much has moved. Vons at Sunset and Pacific Coast Highway survived the fire and was the first major grocery store in the Palisades to reopen. Once Erewhon opens in the Village in January 2027, the community will have two major grocers again. Neither is on the old Sunset grocery sites at Gelson's or Ralphs.

The Highlands and Sunset Filled In Through Smaller Openings

The Village reopened all at once. The other half of the recovery has come in one storefront at a time, and much of it by independent owners.

The Post's September survey calls the Highlands shopping center at Sunset and Palisades Drive "thriving." Starbucks, Moku Sushi, Spruzzo and Gerry Blanck's Martial Arts Center are all open, and the office and retail building at 1515 Palisades Drive survived the fire. Palisades General Store soft-opened at 542½ Palisades Drive in mid-August and held its grand opening on September 19. It carries home goods, apparel, jewelry, kitchenware and specialty foods. When Café Vida opens a few doors away, the Highlands will have the café that used to anchor Sunset and Swarthmore.

The independent openings on Sunset are recent:

• Pali Trading Post, 15248 W. Sunset Boulevard, opened July 1. It's a general store and gift shop selling Palisades-themed goods, apparel and home items.
• Pali Drip, inside Prima Cantina at 15246 Sunset Boulevard, opened Sunday, September 27. It serves coffee daily from 6 to 11:30 a.m.
• Loomey's Toys is aiming to open November 1 at 15275 W. Sunset Boulevard.

Pali Drip shows how this side of the recovery works. It opened as a morning coffee counter inside a restaurant that was already open, with no new building required.

Parks and Civic Spaces Run on Their Own Schedules

Outdoor and civic spaces are reopening on separate timelines from the shops, and several are open only in part.

Temescal Gateway Park reopened July 17, 2026. Rivas Trail, Sunset Trail, the route toward Temescal Ridge, and the Sycamore Grove and Rubell picnic areas are open again. The waterfall trail is still closed. At Will Rogers State Historic Park, State Parks' November 2025 limited reopening opened the polo field, main lawn and picnic area daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Inspiration Loop was partly open and several named trails were closed. The two agencies describe the Rivas connection between the parks differently. Check posted signs at the trailhead before planning a loop between them.

The library is working out of a temporary building. The Palisades Branch runs a temporary library in its parking lot at 861 Alma Real Drive, open Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. The office building next door at 881 Alma Real is one of the sites where construction hasn't started.

The Palisades Recreation Center broke ground on its reconstruction on September 15, with an estimated 12 to 15 months to finish. That puts completion somewhere between late summer and the end of 2027.

The October Calendar

The dated events this month are on Swarthmore or at the Chamber:

1. Sunday, October 11, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Malibu + Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce holds its Resource & Recovery Expo at the PaliBu Chamber office. It includes panels on financing, architecture and community restoration.
2. Thursday, October 15. Spacca Tutto opens at 15255 Palisades Village Lane.
3. October 6 through 29. The Village runs Kids Club sessions.
4. Thursday, October 22. Ludus teaches a women's self-defense class at the Village.
5. Sunday, October 25, 9 to 11 a.m. Cars & Coffee at Palisades Village.
6. Sunday, October 25, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Halloween Pali VegFest takes over Palisades Village Green, with a costume contest for all ages.

The farmers market also runs every Wednesday afternoon this month. Café Vida is expected to open in Highlands Plaza sometime in October, and Loomey's Toys is aiming for the first day of November. Neither had opened as of October 3.

If your plans for your own Palisades home depend on which blocks are coming back and when, the Pence Hathorn Silver team is following the rebuild street by street and is glad to share what we're seeing. Schedule a free consultation and we'll talk through your part of the neighborhood.