There are no fires burning in Malibu along the beach. Not anymore. But the pristine blue ocean and golden hues of sunset can’t mask the utter devastation along the shore. What astonishes about Malibu today is knowing that so much violence, destruction of hearth and home could happen so quickly.
The Palisades Fire tore through a strangely contained beachfront corridor of Malibu last Tuesday night. Some people went out to dinner in Beverly Hills or went for drinks at the Malibu Country Mart and could never go home again. From Carbon Canyon Road down to Topanga Canyon Road, it’s a mile-plus of utter devastation with a few odd exceptions.
Driving down Pacific Coast Highway from northern Malibu on Sunday evening, all you see for miles down the coast is pale blue sky and deep blue ocean reflecting off the cliffside red rocks. The National Guard has taken up position along the beach.
The Malibu Pier, all wood and fully flammable, is standing intact.
But just after the Malibu Pier, between Carbon Canyon and Rambla Pacifico Street, all is twisted metal and ash. In the blackened hulks of these structures, there’s absolutely nothing to be found. Not a photo. Not a promotional flyer left from a mailbox. Absolutely nothing.
A few houses were oddly spared in this mile-long rampage.
I talked to a crew from Orange County Alameda Station. They’ve been here on PCH since Tuesday, making sure that there are no gas lines or other embers that can flare up. An acrid smell hangs in the air. Ripped and torn power lines snake along the sidewalk.
Duke’s restaurant, which initially was thought to be burned, stands intact. The Getty Villa stands up on its hill with National Guard jeeps stationed in front of it on PCH. The famed Gladstones is standing. The fancy Bel-Air Bay Club is wounded but upright.
The devastation picks up right after Duke’s all the way down the coast toward the Pacific Palisades. A tree branch stuck in the air, a random metal beam juts out of the ground, askew. And almost nothing else. Everything is flattened up to the terra-cotta pots that sit out on what was the sidewalk in front of the houses.
And all along the winding road of PCH, across from the beach, the houses are untouched.
