The road to recovery after the devastating Palisades Fire has been anything but smooth for a group of historic business owners on the eastern edge of Malibu. Once-bustling landmarks along Pacific Coast Highway — longtime favorites for locals, surfers, and visitors alike—are now reduced to rubble, with little clarity about what comes next.
Among the most heartbreaking losses is The Reel Inn, a seafood shack at Topanga Canyon Boulevard that for nearly 40 years served up fried fish baskets, clam chowder, and quirky seafood puns to generations of loyal customers. Its colorful sign now sits in ruins, and the future of the restaurant appears bleak.
Last week, The Malibu Times reported that The Reel Inn, which greeted drivers with a dose of humor and the smell of fresh seafood for more than 36 years, will not be allowed to rebuild at its longtime location. The rustic fish shack burned to the ground in the Palisades Fire, which tore through the area earlier this year. Owners Teddy and Andy Leonard, who leased the land from California State Parks, had initially hoped to rebuild once the disaster subsided.
In January, Teddy Leonard told The Malibu Times the couple was awaiting a meeting with State Parks regarding their lease. That meeting, delayed by fire recovery efforts, finally took place in August — only for the Leonards to learn that their lease would not be renewed. “It was devastating,” Leonard said. “We wanted nothing more than to bring the Reel Inn back to life, but the decision was taken out of our hands.”
The couple has since shifted focus to helping their nearly two dozen employees who lost their jobs in the blaze, including launching a GoFundMe campaign to provide financial relief. Meanwhile, the former Reel Inn site has been repurposed as a staging area for utility restoration—work that could continue for as long as two years.
California State Parks has indicated it will issue a request for proposals for new concessions at the site once recovery work is complete. But those leases may last only two to three years, a restriction that makes it nearly impossible for small business owners to invest in long-term rebuilding. “Operating the Reel Inn somewhere else would be too expensive,” the Leonards said in a statement. “The only way we were able to provide high-quality seafood at a reasonable price was through our unique lease agreement with the State Parks.”
The Reel Inn isn’t alone in its struggle. Other iconic businesses destroyed in the fire — including the Topanga Ranch Motel, Wiley’s Bait and Tackle, Cholada Thai, and Rosenthal Wine Bar — face the same legal and logistical roadblocks to reopening. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), which is using the fire-ravaged land for infrastructure restoration, recently confirmed to business owners that their leases have been terminated, effectively preventing any chance of rebuilding in the near future.
For now, what was once a colorful gateway to Malibu stands silent. Longtime patrons mourn not only the loss of food, drink, and surf culture, but also a sense of community rooted in these coastal businesses. “It wasn’t just about the fish,” one customer shared on social media. “The Reel Inn was part of Malibu’s soul.”
As the Pacific Coast Highway corridor continues its slow recovery, the question remains: will the beloved businesses that defined this stretch of coastline ever return — or will their absence mark the end of an era?