Events mark progress in rebuilding a neighborhood

By Judy Abel · Thu Jul 30 2026

’Let’s Go Home’ block party celebrated in Big Rock

With the chaos and heartbreak of the past 18 months still hanging over Malibu, rebuilding in Big Rock is bringing hope for a reunited community anxious to return home. This past week, two separate celebrations were held in the neighborhood savaged by the Palisades Fire.

Malibu’s former building ambassador Abe Roy, instrumental in helping his Big Rock neighbors who lost homes in the fire navigate the complicated rebuild process, held a celebration to mark the near-completion of some of the homes his construction company is overseeing. Roy expects at least two homes to be occupied in less than 60 days. 

“We wanted to get together to energize the community,” he said. “I wanted to intentionally bring people over to show them that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I know that there are several people still thinking, balking at the idea of whether they can or should go through a rebuild. The point of the event was to show folks that this is doable.”

Roy’s other intention for the “Let’s Go Home” block party July 23 was to thank the construction crews working for him. “They’re working tirelessly, sometimes six or even seven days a week to get these homes built and get families back home," he said. "I wanted to do something to recognize them.’’ But Roy also invited workers from other neighborhood sites not affiliated with him in appreciation of all their efforts. “I wanted to symbolically serve them food,” he said.

Roy, also a Big Rock resident, had the event catered and invited Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein and City Councilmember Haylynn Conrad to serve food. “We put on aprons and invited workers to grab their plates," he said. "It was an opportunity for us to thank them personally as well as buy them lunch and recognize them.” 

Neighbors were also invited to eat. “We want to thank those who are living on this street. We are causing a bunch of inconvenience with our construction trucks, so, it was a way to thank them as well for putting up with us," Roy added. "But most importantly, I think it was to see each other and really give each other energy and encouragement to go through with it and have the communities come back. Seeing the progress on the streets. It just left a very nice feeling.”

Just two days later, a second event was held in Big Rock organized by Malibu resident Eddie Makabi, who knows all too well about rebuilding after a fire. Makabi lost his home in the Woolsey Fire, leads a construction company, and is also overseeing a few rebuilds in Big Rock. The 14-year resident actually saw the Palisades Fire from an airplane while returning home from a trip. At that moment he told himself, “I need to do something for the community.” 

With the experience Makabi gained after rebuilding his own home after Woolsey and getting the second permit issued, his company Kash Construction and Management is deep in the rebuild process on four homes in Malibu.

His event was held July 25 in Big Rock, but open to anyone. An architect, an expediter, designers, and engineers were all on hand to answer questions. As many as 120 people showed up asking questions “primarily about  what exactly is to be expected, if there've been any pitfalls, red tape, or any issues with the planning department, with the city," Makabi said. "And we've pretty much explained to them, how the process takes place because some people, they're in limbo. They don't have enough money to rebuild their projects because their insurance was upside down or they want to sell their lot and just move on or they're waiting for plans to be prepared so they could sell the lot with plans or some people just don't know where to begin and we want to be there to help.”  

Makabi details some of his developments progress on his website KashContructionInc.com or on Instagram @Makabienterprises. 

“We are gonna do for the community as a whole," he said. "We are going to lend all of our contacts, subcontractors, if anybody needs, let's say a plumber for something, or they need a sourced material for something, we want to provide a list for them, because the bottom line is, we want to help as many people as possible to quickly get the process going and getting things rebuilt.”

Just like Abe Roy, rebuilding is personal for Makabi, who explained, “Some of these homes that were lost are literally the parents of my children's friends, because my kids go to school in Malibu.”