PALISADES VILLAGE GRAND REOPENING

First, a bit of background: Just about eight years ago, Palisades Village, the very attractive outdoor shopping center in Pacific Palisades, had a grand opening that I attended. It was all really joyful. There were many people I knew, A-list celebs with their fams, (Tobey Maguire and Tyra Banks, among others,) and lots of fun touches. As the years went on, Mr. X even came there with me on a few occasions, mainly for various holiday festivities, such as a Christmas tree lighting.

And then, just a little over a year and a half ago, in January 2025, those evil LA fires destroyed most of that entire area. As I’m sure many of you know, sooooo many homes and businesses were lost—it was truly a tragedy.

Since I’m not a creepy lookie-lou, I’ve never driven down there to witness the devastation in person, despite living just about fifteen minutes away from the area. It was just too sad. (Still is.)

But, not thinking about it last Friday night, I took Sunset Boulevard down to the beach, and was shocked to see tons of houses along the way being rebuilt in Pacific Palisades. I had not thought about that situation in a while. As hopeful as that sight of the building frames was, it still broke my heart.

And then I ventured to that exact same area the very next day for the reopening of the beautiful Palisades Village, which looked like it hadn’t been changed one iota in all this time. And that’s because the owner of that outdoor mall, billionaire Rick Caruso, had hired private firefighters to protect it back then. (I’m assuming they’re still on speed dial.) I read that it did have a bit of smoke damage, although I still don’t understand how that warranted the over-a-hundred-million-dollar restoration! But oh well—not my business.

The reopening was tons of fun. And generous. It actually went from the morning until late night, but my friend was antsy to leave after a couple of hours, so I had to be satisfied with whatever we had experienced by then. I would have opted to stay much longer, and check-out absolutely everything. It’s not like I needed anything—I just didn’t want to miss something. (It was way too hot for me there, even with the occasional ocean breeze, and, because of my broken back it’s hard for me to wait on lines, but I would have just taken little sitting down breaks in the shade, and stayed till the end.)

There had to be over a thousand people there, of every age. (And that doesn’t even include all the dogs!) I’m sure most visitors came for the fun, some just out of curiosity, many to offer their support of the area, and some for all the free stuff. And a few, (like my pal and I,) for all of the above! (But, actually, I did not have an inkling that it would be anything like it was—because of the country’s current economy, I did not expect any freebies.) So that was a delightful surprise.

As soon as you walked onto the premises, (after leaving the parking structure, which was also free that day,) there was a cart with complimentary little bottles of water, (which, trust me, everyone needed that day!) Then you could choose a cute little “Pali” signature patch and have them iron them onto your items right there! (You could put one on something you already own, as I did for the matching-by-accident baseball cap I was wearing, or you could buy a bag, hat, sweatshirt, etc., and have it ironed onto that.)

At the far end of the premises were several canopied carts, each offering a different snack for no charge. There was popcorn, cotton candy, (I felt like I was back in the circus, selling the stuff,) big pretzels with a side of honey mustard, lemonade, and agua fresca. Every worker (except for one) I met at those was absolutely lovely; they all seemed very happy to hook you up. And they were even genuinely apologetic when they ran out of something!

On top of all the food and patches, there was one adorable craft for us to do for ourselves. They gave us little gold-toned chains, and then we each got to pick out five charms to attach to it, and then use it as a purse charm chain. The choices were initials, a sea-themed one, and a few others that pertained to the Village. There were very helpful girls assisting us along the way. My friend made hers on the spot and attached it to her purse right away. (I have fake nails at the moment, so mine is gonna have to wait a few more weeks to get made.)

And then there was Mother, a yet-to-open store at the end of the property. Guests got to spin a wheel to decide which gift they would receive. There were T-shirts, long sleeve polo shirts, baseball caps, skull caps, and what I believe was the real winner-–a pickleball kit with two paddles and a few balls! That place was mobbed, but all the people who worked there were as helpful as they could be.

And, of course, there was an obligatory Photo Booth. They emailed you the snap, and also gave everyone in your party a paper copy, which was nice of them.

Speaking of niceness, there was only that one very unpleasant worker out of the entire day! The popsicles, (doled-out from a cute popsicle truck,) had melted, so the workers were waiting for the next batch. (That last word is almost the same as what that one woman was!) People were already lined-up in the heat because a giant cooler, full of new popsicles, had appeared. It seemed like they were just waiting to put them into the truck, and then hand them out from there. But with so many people standing in the queue, directly in the sun, I asked the girls if they could please just start giving them to us right then. But that one girl was so nasty, not just to me, but to everyone who also beseeched them for the treats. She just kept telling us that “it will be ten more minutes.”

We all pointed-out that she had been saying that for well over a half hour, and that the rest of the bars were going to melt if they didn’t start just giving them to us. And she very nastily refused to do it. I honestly did not need a popsicle that badly, so I just got off the line and left. (If I knew her name, I’d definitely be sharing it here. She’s in the picture on the left. If you know her, please feel free to out her to us in the Comments section below.)

Back to the fun now. A group of musicians played on a little round stage in front of the Bay movie theater; they kept the joint hopping all day. And there was one really interesting thing that I would have never noticed myself, even though a friend in New York taught me years ago to always look up to discover architecture and whatever else could be above our line of sight. I had forgotten that lesson on this day, but the pal I was with called my attention to the roof above the theater, and lo and behold, there was a security guard with a gun on his hip! I could not figure out what that was about, (except that perhaps he was guarding the popsicles across the street!)

And then I looked right below him, and there was Rick Caruso in front of the theater, chatting and taking pix with a few of the guests. So I’m assuming the guard was there to safeguard him. Even though he’s a Republican, I must say that Rick did look really pleasant, and happy to meet and greet.

It appeared that a great time was had by all at that Palisades Village reopening. I hope it stays busy for a long while to come, and that having it open gives the Pacific Palisades residents that get to move back there at least a modicum of peace in perpetuity.