For nineteen months the corner of Sunset and Swarthmore has been the strangest kind of landmark: a shopping center that survived while almost nothing around it did. On Saturday, August 15, 2026, that pause ends. What returns will not be a copy of what closed. Roughly a third of the storefronts opening that morning will be new to the property, and the farmers market that once defined Sunday will restart on a Wednesday afternoon. If you live here, the calendar you knew is being rewritten in ways worth understanding before you walk down.
What the Village actually opens as
The reopening date was confirmed by Caruso on July 8, 2026, with the property described as 99% leased, most former tenants returning, and nearly one-third of the businesses new to the center. The rebuild came at a cost most residents underestimate. The shopping and dining district survived the fire itself, but Caruso said it required more than $100 million in repairs and environmental remediation before it could welcome the public back.
The tenant list Caruso released groups the returns and arrivals together in a way that reads deliberately. The property will welcome beloved neighborhood favorites such as Loomey's Toys and K Bakery, alongside returning names including elysewalker, A.L.C., Erewhon, and Zimmermann. Elyse Walker's flagship is not a like-for-like reopening. Walker, whose original boutique on Antioch Street was destroyed in the January wildfires, will relocate to a 5,000-square-foot space at the entrance to the Village on Sunset Boulevard and Swarthmore Avenue.
Two additions in particular change the character of the block:
- Spacca Tutto. An Italian-American steakhouse from Nancy Silverton with Caruso and River Jetty Restaurant Group, opening August 2026 at 15225 Palisades Village Lane. The project brings together Silverton, Caruso, and River Jetty Restaurant Group to introduce a steakhouse that blends Italian and American influences. Customers can expect a menu grounded in chi SPACCA traditions, classic steakhouse offerings, and an all-day dining format.
- Alphabet Bar & Grill. The h.wood Group and chef Tim Hollingsworth will open Alphabet Bar & Grill on Aug. 15 at Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades, its name a nod to the Alphabet Streets a few blocks south.
The bones people remember are still there. Palisades Village originally opened in September 2018 as a bespoke walkable village home to over 40 uniquely curated boutiques, entertainment and fresh food experiences… an extensive selection of dining venues, the historic Bay Theater, a specialty grocer, concierge service, a community room and a beautifully landscaped green space. If the reopening holds close to that footprint, a dozen or so signs will be unfamiliar. That is the difference between muscle memory and reading the directory.
The scale you are opening into
It helps to hold the Village against the surrounding block, not against itself. Cal Fire recorded that the fire destroyed 6,822 structures, including more than 5,500 homes and about 100 commercial buildings. Against that number, one reopening on August 15 is a beginning, not a restoration.
What has already returned tells you where the neighborhood has been eating and shopping in the meantime. Businesses now open in the Palisades are mainly catering to construction workers and homeowners who visit during the day, the Palisades Garden Cafe serves as a hub and meeting point, CVS Pharmacy was the first major retailer to reopen in November, and Chase Bank, Chipotle, and a couple of locally owned restaurants have also reopened. Anawalt Lumber, unsurprisingly, has been part of that early group. The first new business since the fire opened on the Fourth of July weekend: the Palisades' first new business since the 2025 fire officially opened on July 1 with a ribbon-cutting, news crews, and crowds of excited former Palisades residents. Amidst the swarm of construction projects, Pali Trading Post is a welcome reprieve where you can find household items, birthday gifts, self-care products, and more.
Up in the Highlands, Spruzzo has been open long enough for its operator to speak plainly about the math. Spruzzo Palisades owner Ryan Gowhari says months after reopening his restaurant, sales are not yet up to pre-fire levels. But business owners say confidence is growing as more residents begin the process of rebuilding.
The Sunday you remember is now a Wednesday
The single change most likely to reorder your week is the farmers market. Before the fire, Sundays on Swarthmore and Antioch belonged to it. That is not what August looks like.
The Pacific Palisades Farmers Market will return to Swarthmore Avenue on Wednesday, August 19, its first market since the January 2025 Palisades Fire forced the closure of much of the community's business district. The market will run weekly on Wednesday afternoons from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., a change from the Sunday morning schedule it kept before the fire.
The reasoning is practical rather than permanent. "Sundays are really packed and busy days for a lot of vendors," Farwell said in an interview with the Palisadian-Post. She said the group wanted to avoid pulling vendors from established Sunday markets and would gauge turnout before making any changes to the schedule. "We do want to bring the Sunday market back at some point, but we wanted to start with Wednesdays first," said Farwell.
The footprint has narrowed too. Before the fire, the Sunday market stretched across two streets, Swarthmore Avenue and Antioch Street. The August return will be limited to Swarthmore, on the same footprint the market has long occupied there. The operator has not changed. The market is operated by Raw Inspiration, the nonprofit behind California Certified Farmers Markets, which has run the Palisades market since 2000.
For anyone who used to plan Sunday around it, the practical rewrite is straightforward: pick up produce midweek on your way home, keep Sunday for the Village itself.
The Getty Villa, on a quieter cadence
The other pillar of a Palisades weekend has been open since last summer, but on a schedule that rewards planning. On the day of the Palisades Fire, January 7th, 17 Getty facilities, grounds, and security team members volunteered to stay on site to protect the museum. Staff were able to seal the galleries and put out small fires in the days that followed. The Villa was spared through the valiant efforts of the LAFD firefighters in the surrounding neighborhoods and targeted water drops. The cleanup was extensive: Getty's facilities and grounds teams have coordinated an extensive cleanup, including deep cleaning indoor and outdoor spaces, flushing the water system, replacing all air and water filters, and removing more than 1,300 fire-damaged trees. The site may look different to visitors, with less vegetation and some burn damage to the outer grounds.
Access remains deliberately constrained. The Villa will be open on a limited schedule of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, from 10am to 5pm, to limit the amount of traffic on Pacific Coast Highway. The Villa is currently not accessible via Sunset Blvd., so guests should enter via PCH only. Reservations will be limited to 500 visitors daily, and free timed-entry reservations are now available to book online. Parking will remain $25.
Fall brings a familiar closing note. Getty's Outdoor Classical Theater will also return this fall, with its 19th annual production at the Getty Villa Museum, Oedipus the King, Mama!, co-produced by Troubadour Theater Company.
How a weekend actually assembles now
The pieces are all here. They just do not click together the way they used to. A working sequence for the first weeks after August 15:
- Wednesday, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Swarthmore, on foot. Produce, flowers, and a walk through what has opened.
- Friday morning. A timed-entry reservation at the Getty Villa, in via PCH, out before afternoon traffic on the highway builds.
- Saturday. Coffee and errands at the Village. Loomey's for the kid on your block turning six, K Bakery for the table, elysewalker's new flagship at Sunset and Swarthmore to see how the space reads at 5,000 square feet.
- Saturday night. A booth at Spacca Tutto or a stool at Alphabet Bar & Grill, depending on which reservation you can pull.
- Sunday. The Bay Theater marquee, a slow lap of the green, and, this fall, an evening at Oedipus the King, Mama! at the Villa's outdoor theater.
That is a different rhythm than the pre-fire Sunday-heavy one, and it will be the rhythm for a while.
If your household is thinking through what a rebuilt Palisades routine looks like from inside a home you already own here, or from a property you are quietly considering listing as the block returns, Andrea Alberts offers discreet, design-led counsel drawing on Sotheby's International Realty's global network. Get My Valuation when the moment is yours.