After tragedy, LA waterside restaurant to reopen |
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........