Fire-scarred businesses still struggling

Some owners are rebuilding in Los Angeles area; others have given up

- BY CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN AND ROGER VINCENT

KAYLA BARTKOWSKI Los Angeles Times ALL THAT remains of the Pacific Palisades Business Block building are arches.

The charred remains of the historic Pacific Palisades Business Block cast a shadow over a once-bustling shopping district along West Sunset Boulevard.

Empty lots littered with debris and ash line the street where houses and small businesses once stood. A year since the Palisades fire roared through the neighborhood, only a handful of businesses have reopened.

The Starbucks, Bank of America, and other businesses that used to operate in the century-old Business Block are gone. All that remains of the Spanish Colonial Revival building are some arches surrounding what used to be a busy retail space. The burned-out, rusty remnants of a walk-in vault squat in the center of the structure.

Nearby, the Shade Store, the Free-est clothing store, Skin Local spa, a Hastens mattress store, Sweet Laurel Bakery and the Hydration Room are among the many stores still shuttered.

The barbershop Gornik & Drucker doesn’t know if it can reopen.

"We have been going back and forth on what it would take to survive,” co-owner Leslie Gornik said. “If we open, we have to start over from scratch.”

Hundreds gathered around Business Block on the anniversary of the fire Wednesday to witness a military-style white-glove ceremony to pay respects to the families who lost loved ones.

Photos of those from the neighborhood who were killed were placed at the Palisades Village Green next door.

The Palisades fire burned for 24 days, destroying more than 6,800 structures, damaging countless others and forcing most of the neighborhood's residents to move elsewhere. About 30 miles northeast, the Eaton fire burned more than 9,400 structures. Combined, the fires killed 31 people.