This Fall, the Palisades Runs on Borrowed Space

Nando Silvestri came close to closing Prima Cantina. His restaurant at 15246 Sunset Boulevard reopened in May 2025, one of the first in Pacific Palisades to come back after the fire. Fewer people living nearby made the months that followed hard. "I really almost was going to throw in the towel," he told the Palisadian-Post.

This fall he found a use for the hours his dining room sat empty. Since Sunday, September 27, Eddie Navarro has run a coffee counter called Pali Drip inside Prima from 6 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. He hands the room back when Prima opens for lunch. The same pattern runs through the town's other new arrivals. The coffee counter, the library, the YMCA and the newest gathering place all work inside someone else's hours or on ground they expect to leave. For anyone putting a weekly routine back together here, when a place is open matters as much as where it is.

A Dining Room's Empty Morning

Navarro has been here before. He opened Estate Coffee on Via de la Paz in 2018. Silvestri said he offered Prima's room because "so many had burned down" and the space "is not used in the morning."

The menu fits a five-and-a-half-hour window: espresso drinks, coffee, pastries and breakfast items. Navarro makes his own vanilla syrup and a homemade pumpkin spice latte. The Pali Quattro is four shots of espresso over ice with your choice of milk, dark chocolate and organic raw sugar. The Prima Quattro is the same drink without the chocolate. Pali Drip's own website also lists daily hours of 6 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The arrangement works both ways. Silvestri said that in the couple of months since Palisades Village reopened, Prima has come "very close to prefire numbers." A morning tenant brings people through his door at hours he wasn't serving anyone. In practice, coffee on this stretch of Sunset ends at 11:30.

A Library in Its Own Parking Lot

Up the hill, the Temporary Palisades Branch Library runs out of the parking lot at 861 Alma Real Drive. It is open Tuesday through Saturday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The Friends of the Palisades Library call it a temporary green bungalow with a community room. They held their one-day book sale in that lot and room on October 3.

The branch calendar for the rest of October is fuller than its four-hour afternoons suggest.

• October 7, 10:30 a.m. Baby & Toddler Storytime
• October 8, 3 to 4 p.m. East West Players youth performance
• October 24, 10 a.m. Middle-grade book club
• October 24, 2 to 3 p.m. Chinese dessert dumplings demonstration and tasting
• October 30, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Día de los Muertos crafts

The library also closes Monday, October 12, for Indigenous Peoples' Day.

The setup will last a while. Next door sits the Palisades Recreation Center at 851 Alma Real Drive. It broke ground on its rebuild September 15, and the work is estimated to take 12 to 15 months. Counting forward from September 2026, that estimate runs into late 2027. The Alma Real block will be part construction site and part improvised library through that whole stretch.

A YMCA Without Walls

The Lowe Family YMCA lost its building on Via de la Paz in the fire. It describes itself as a "YMCA without walls" while it rebuilds. In May it reported holding classes at the American Legion and other local venues. This month its most visible home is Simon Meadow, at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Temescal Canyon Road.

The pumpkin patch opened October 1 and raises money for the new facility. It runs 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Along with hundreds of pumpkins and gourds, there is a hay maze and photo props. Palisadian artist Cindy Simon has also set an installation of upcycled scarecrows and webs along the meadow's Winding Way.

The meadow hosts two more events this month. The Santa Monica College glass pumpkin sale is Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with proceeds going to the college's Art Department, the YMCA and local artists. The YMCA's Fall Community Picnic, with local food trucks, follows on Saturday, October 17. The weekday hours start at 3 p.m., when school lets out, which suits families.

A Gathering Place Built to Move

Palisades Towne Hall is the most deliberate version of the idea. Brian Garrett grew frustrated watching commercial lots sit vacant more than a year after the fire. He came up with a crowdfunded food-and-beverage pop-up that can move from empty lot to empty lot until each owner is ready to rebuild. He runs it as a nonprofit with Scott Saunders of Vista Engineering. Its first lot is 861 Via de la Paz.

The September 25 launch party showed what that looks like. Green shipping containers lined the edges of the lot. One poured wine from Pali Wine Co. and beer from Tarantula Hill Brewing of Thousand Oaks, and the other sold Towne Hall merchandise. Food trucks from CHX and Gracias Señor parked alongside. Boxes from Flour Pizzeria were stacked on the tables, and a Creamy Boys Ice Cream cart worked the crowd. Kids played cornhole on the green with beanbags monogrammed with the Towne Hall logo.

"We basically MacGyver-ed our way to the finish line. It's literally bubble gum, some glue and some paper clips." Brian Garrett, to the Palisadian-Post

Opening to the public is still pending. As of the September 28 report, Garrett could host private parties and events but was waiting on permits for general access. His team is looking at temporary nonprofit permits and a tasting-room license. Until a permit comes through, this one runs on an event-by-event calendar rather than set hours.

Storefronts With Borrowed Histories

The businesses with permanent addresses carry the same theme in a quieter way. Many have taken over another business's former space or partnered with their neighbors to get open.

The Palisades General Store opened in Highlands Plaza at 542½ Palisades Drive. It soft-opened in mid-August and held its grand opening September 19. Owner Amy Russo co-owned the jewelry boutique Obsessed, which burned on Via de la Paz. The new shop carries Loonen Water, specialty teas, home décor, jewelry, kitchenware, clothing and candles handmade in West Hollywood. A frozen yogurt machine handing out samples at the opening is set to become a permanent fixture. Russo had the opening catered by two Highlands Plaza neighbors, Spruzzo, a few doors down, and Café Vida. The store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Café Vida is the one still waiting in that plaza. Its website lists the Palisades location at 548 Palisades Drive as "Coming Soon Fall 2026."

In Palisades Village, Kim Kedeshian reopened K Bakery on August 15 at 1061 Swarthmore Avenue. Before the fire, that space was chef Jackson Kalb's Jemma Pizzeria. Kedeshian calls her approach "simple is scalable" and is putting all her focus into one location. The bakery runs a mostly to-go format with pastries, cakes, breads, coffee, and breakfast and lunch items. Nearby, Nancy Silverton's Spacca Tutto is still marked "Coming Soon," with an opening date of October 15.

Gallery 169 at 169 West Channel Road works on appointments. Its Jack Boul exhibition, "Intimate Expressions," opened with a reception October 3 and can be seen by appointment through the end of November.

An October Week, by the Clock

Stack those hours together and you get a workable Saturday. Coffee at Prima before 11:30, the library from 1 p.m., and the pumpkin patch at Simon Meadow until 4.

A dining room that serves coffee in the morning and a lot that hosts a beer garden until its owner is ready to build are both spaces doing double duty. That is the kind of planning we do at Steven James Design & Development, on rebuilds and remodels across the Palisades where each room has to work at more than one hour of the day. If you are planning a home here, schedule a consultation to discuss your project.