The exterior of Duke's Malibu.

After more than a year, one of Southern California’s most recognizable oceanside restaurants is reopening this week. Duke’s Malibu, the sunny, surf-loving all day restaurant right on Pacific Coast Highway has been closed since Jan. 7, 2025, the day the devastating Palisades Fire tore through the area, destroying 6,831 structures and killing 12 people.

Now, the restaurant — which was spared by the flames but not the fire’s fallout — is making its grand return, reopening for limited hours on Friday, March 13.

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“We were very fortunate to survive the fires,” says Duke’s CEO Jackie Reed in a call with SFGATE. “The first responders and fire crews were staged in our parking lot when the fire came through, so we were very lucky that our building was saved by amazing fire stations from around LA, Malibu and Ventura County.”

A month after the fires, however, fresh winter rains that landed on newly burned hillsides sent a torrent of water, mud and debris down Las Flores Canyon Road and into the front door of Duke’s. More than 4 feet of mud sloshed and settled into corners of the restaurant. The mudslide damage was immense, forcing months of cleanup and reconstruction, resulting in the restaurant laying off 126 staff members while ownership considered next steps. “The thing that’s most important is that nobody was in the building either time,” she says, “so everybody was safe.”

Reed, who leads the TS Restaurants group that includes Duke’s locations in Hawaii and California as well as standalone restaurants like Hula Grill, Kimo’s and Sunnyside Restaurant and Lodge in West Lake Tahoe, said the layoffs were tremendously difficult for everyone involved.

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Initially, Reed believed that Duke’s March layoffs would be largely temporary, and that staff would be able to return for a summer reopening. The extent of the renovations, once known, made that return impossible, and soon Duke’s slipped into an early 2026 return. Reed blames permitting delays, the rising cost (and availability) of construction materials, and other factors, but says that giving up the 110-year-old property was simply never an option. She knew that the return of Duke’s Malibu wouldn’t just be the reopening of some restaurant, it would be the beginning of a hopeful next chapter of renewal for the area.

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All along Pacific Coast Highway, on both sides of Duke’s, work is underway to rebuild charred homes, businesses and fallow lots — including many right on the sand, in some of the priciest real estate in the world.

Fire crews from Mountain Home in Tulare County and Gabilan in Monterey County help clean up at Duke’s restaurant in Malibu, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.

“There is still quite a bit of work to be done, in terms of recovery, in Malibu,” Reed says, “but I think the thing that I would like for people to know is that there are businesses here that really need people to come.”

“It’s a beautiful community that we want to be able to share with people,” Reed adds.

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And now the day has come, with Duke’s reopening its dining room and popular Barefoot Bar on Friday. While not all staff has returned, Reed says that the company was able to hire back former executive chef Calvin Holladay and most of its management team, as well as a variety of servers and kitchen staff.

The restaurant will still have limited weekly hours, Reed says, as they slowly navigate the reopening, but there’s a sense of relief and determination to return. After a February Hawaiian reopening blessing, known as a kahu, the first meals served in the renovated space were, of course, the very same first responders who saved the building last January.

Duke's Malibu, 21150 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265. Expect limited reopening hours, four days per week, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. to start.

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