School along the Pacific coast road with a view in front of the sea, Gladstones Malibu has long served as a boxes for residents and hikers who seek to refuel on Mai Tais and Showder of Alms. Now, after almost six months of closing due to the damage suffered in the fire of Palisades, the iconic restaurant will reopen its outdoor terrace for dinner on July 4.
“We only wanted to have something where the community could meet and have a place to visit while visiting their place of residence … and we feel a little normality after such a devastating event,” said Jim Harris, restaurant manager and executive director of Gladstones Legacy Group.
The restaurant manager, Jim Harris, wanted gladstones to be a place where residents could “feel a bit normally” after Palisades fire.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
The Palisades fire led to at least 12 deaths and the loss of more than 5,400 homes. At least six Gladstones staff members lost their homes in the fire, according to the general manager associated Alex Peniston. Gladstones itself was largely saved due to the heroic stresses of the 238 engine, Harris said, although the back of the main building burned, leaving harm to toxic smoke throughout the dining room and “ashes the size of a football ball” that damaged the furniture on the deck.
A basic element on PCH since 1981, community members cried the temporary closure of the restaurant on social networks and raised almost $ 30,000 on Gofundme to support staff after the fire.
1. Construction and renovations continue at Gladstones. 2. The back of Gladstones was damaged in the Palisades fire. 3. Damage from the Palisades fire included previously stored freezers and ice machines. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“Gladstones is as iconic as any restaurant in Los Angeles and definitely a place where people can relive the good old days,” said Peniston, who said regulars constantly texted him wondering when the business was going to reopen. “Luckily, Gladstones has been through a lot of openings or proposed closings and reopenings, so we’ve got some practice doing it.”
Gladstones received the green light from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to open its auxiliary kitchen and outdoor public deck in early June, said Harris. Since then, it’s been a sprint to reopen the public deck for the summer season, with construction ongoing right up until the launch. Harris hopes the main dining building — which has to undergo more extensive repairs — can reopen by next spring.
Harris confirmed the restaurant’s famous deck will offer a truncated menu — and no brunch service — but that visitors can still expect classics like calamari, burgers and Bloody Marys.
For the month of July, the restaurant is offering 50% off food and drinks to Malibu and Palisades residents as well as first responders.
Harris and partners also said the reopening represents the resilient spirit of the Pacific Palisades.
Gladstones has been a staple on PCH since 1981. “We wanted to become a community center for people who lost their homes,” said architect Stephen Francis Jones.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“The idea was that we wanted to become a community center for people who lost their homes,” said architect Stephen Francis Jones, who is leading the redesign of the deck and surrounding outdoor areas, which seat 250 people, as well as the auxiliary kitchen and the main dining building.
The new deck design will have a “warm feeling with accents of white,” said Jones, who swapped the old graying deck for new wood flooring and teak furniture. A raised platform will offer a more elevated experience with lights strung between lofty palm trees.
But the highlight of the new design is what Jones calls the “community circle,” a sectioned-off area near the patio’s entrance where people can lounge with drinks from the walk-up bar if they don’t care to dine in. The alcove features a fire pit surrounded by four eight-foot-tall walls, which local artist Jonas Never brought to life with murals depicting the neighborhoods that intersect at Gladstones — Malibu, the Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica.
“We always envisioned that that might be the place where people that haven’t seen each other in a long time want to catch up with what’s going on,” Jones said.
The northern wall depicts a 1953 Corvette coming down PCH from Malibu — the driver and passenger “obscured by the glare of the sunset in order to make the view anyone’s California dream,” said Never. The southern wall, to be completed later this summer, will depict the Santa Monica Pier at sunset. The eastern wall spells out “Gladstones,” the block letters filled in with depictions of beach life. And the final wall depicts local places and businesses lost in the fire, including Reel Inn, Malibu Feed Bin, the Business Block Building, Wylie’s Bait and Tackle, Moonshadows, Rosenthal Wine Bar, Topanga Ranch Motel, Cholada Thai Cuisine and Tahitian Terrace.
“I drove past almost all of them for so much of my life that I feel some sort of connection to each one of them,” said Never, who described the mural as a “memorial wall” that can offer residents a place to grieve and keep memories alive.
Local artist Jonas Never brought the restaurant’s walls to life with murals depicting the neighborhoods that intersect at Gladstones — Malibu, the Pacific Palisades and Santa Monica.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“They were landmarks … and it makes the survival of Gladstones that much more special,” he said. “It’s the perfect place to honor the memories of the places lost in the fire.”
When the main building reopens next year, Harris said the vision is to transform the dining room’s open floor plan into a space with distinct pockets that speak to different eras of the restaurant’s history. A mural originally commissioned by its most recent owner and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan will still display in the restaurant’s overflow room.
The back room, which was once original owner Bob Morris’ office, will be transformed into a speakeasy. A room upstairs will become a bridal suite and green room for private events.
The distant future remains unclear, as a forthcoming restaurant from celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and famed architect Frank Gehry was meant to take over the location following Riordan’s death in April 2023 — though development has stalled. Gladstones Legacy Group, formed by longtime staff, was brought on by L.A. County as the restaurant’s operator to ensure the location did not fall into disrepair in the interim. The group is currently working towards extending its concession agreement with the county until the current Coastal Development Permit expires in 2029, according to a county representative.
“Gladstones is expected to continue operating until the developer of the replacement facility is ready to begin construction,” said chief deputy director Amy Caves of the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors. “Unfortunately, when that will happen is hard to predict, but the development process is ongoing, and the California Coastal Commission is tentatively scheduled to hold a hearing on the project later this year.”
Puck’s business partner, developer Tom Tellefsen, told The Times that his team is “anticipating commencing construction in early to mid 2026.”
In the meantime, Harris said his team is “planning on being here as long as the county needs us to hold the place.”
“We’re looking forward to just having a great summer and again, being a place for people to gather,” he said.
