Duke's Malibu Reopens After More Than a Year of Palisades Fire Closure

Duke's Malibu is back open today, March 13, after the Palisades Fire and the mudslides that followed drove nearly four feet of debris through the beachfront restaurant and forced a closure lasting more than a year.

The restaurant shut down in early January 2025 when the Palisades Fire swept through Malibu, ultimately destroying more than 6,800 structures across the region. Duke's building survived the flames, partly because its large parking lot was pressed into service as a staging area for firefighters and first responders. That reprieve proved short-lived. Heavy rains weeks later sent mudslides cascading down Las Flores Canyon and straight into the property, filling the restaurant with roughly four feet of mud and triggering what became a year-long closure.

What emerged on the other side is, by management's own description, essentially a new restaurant. "We had to remodel everything so it's a brand new restaurant and we've been here 30 years so it's pretty rare to have a brand new restaurant 30 years in," said Kobe Kanan of Duke's Malibu. A replacement deck now gives diners back their unobstructed views over the Pacific Ocean along Pacific Coast Highway. Much of the interior ambiance has been preserved, according to Los Angeles magazine, with the familiar look and feel guests recognized kept largely intact through the rebuild.

Not everything is back yet. The Barefoot Bar is part of Duke's longer-term recovery plans, but no opening date has been announced. Other areas of the property also carry uncertain timelines, making today's reopening the first phase of a continuing restoration effort rather than a full return to pre-fire operations. The restaurant is starting with limited hours during this initial period.

Kanan was clear-eyed about the timing. "I'm sure we'll see a lot of surfers on our patio. It's the best weekend we can open, honestly. I mean it's March, it's 85, some good south swell so, it's a Duke's Malibu weekend for sure."

The restaurant has been a fixture along this stretch of Pacific Coast Highway for nearly 30 years, named for Duke Kahanamoku, the legendary Hawaiian surfer and Olympic swimmer. It became the default setting for Malibu's birthdays, sunset dinners, and out-of-town guests, the kind of place where you could sip a Mai Tai within earshot of actual waves. For the staff who waited out the closure and the community that lost so much in the fire, today's reopening carries weight beyond a single restaurant getting its doors back open.