All posts tagged: Palisades

It Wasn’t Fireworks… Social Isolation, Escalating Anger Drove Palisades Arsonist’s Desire For Revenge, Jury Told

It Wasn’t Fireworks… Social Isolation, Escalating Anger Drove Palisades Arsonist’s Desire For Revenge, Jury Told

Published by Jenni Sidey

Explosives and arson experts from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms this week told a jury in the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht that fireworks could not have been the culprit. The 29-year-old Rinderknecht is accused of starting a blaze in the Santa Monica Mountains, which investigators say led to the deadly Palisades Fire of 2025. “Anyone who was in this area—if there was a firework launched, burning, or landing here—would have seen it. They’re bright, there’s a lot of color, a lot of flame, a lot of stars. And you would definitely hear it,” Kevin Miner, an explosives enforcement officer and unit chief at the agency’s training facility in Huntsville, Alabama, told the court. “It’s 140 decibels of sound—that’s more than twice what it takes to harm the human ear.” Miner said he based his findings on video surveillance footage, witness testimony, and analysis of sound profiles, topography, and weather conditions. As Beige Luciano-Adams reports for The Epoch Times, Rinderknecht is on trial for three federal counts of arson related to …

Larry Vein, a voice for hope in the Palisades fire recovery, dies

Larry Vein, a voice for hope in the Palisades fire recovery, dies

Published by Sam Flores

Larry Vein, a Palisades fire survivor who became a beacon of hope for other survivors as he relayed essential recovery information through social media videos and community events, has died. He was 61. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled the April 27 death a suicide. Vein, the voice behind the Pali Strong recovery campaign, was ultimately swept up in a political storm surrounding the distribution of FireAid charity funds after he received $500,000 to build a social platform for wildfire survivors. Those close to him said the controversy weighed on him immensely in his final months. In the aftermath of the January 2025 firestorm, Vein’s energetic optimism and informational dispatches helped buoy the spirits of a fire-traumatized community — a group that researchers say bears an increased risk of depression, anxiety and thoughts of self-harm. Vein’s brother, Jon Vein, said he had received “literally hundreds of phone calls,” from members of the community saying his brother “was a bright light in the community; he did so much for us; he always had …

Prosecutors Say Arson Suspect in Los Angeles’ Palisades Fire Was Angry ‘At the World’

Prosecutors Say Arson Suspect in Los Angeles’ Palisades Fire Was Angry ‘At the World’

Published by Sam Flores

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire in Los Angeles was upset that he didn’t have plans for New Year’s Eve and ranted about being angry at the world before the initial blaze was sparked, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. Rinderknecht’s trial is set to begin June 8. His attorneys say he is being used as a scapegoat for the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze. An outline of the prosecutors’ strategy — with details about the defendant’s alleged state of mind on the night before the first fire began — appears in an April 29 pretrial memo filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Witnesses reported that Rinderknecht had been driving erratically while on Uber routes around the Palisades on New Year’s Eve, said prosecutors. His passengers described him as “angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world,’” the memo said. According to court filings, Rinderknecht ranted to passengers about accused UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione, capitalism …

Duke’s Malibu to reopen 14 months after Palisades fire

Duke’s Malibu to reopen 14 months after Palisades fire

Published by Sam Flores

Duke’s Malibu, the landmark oceanfront restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway, will reopen Friday following a 14-month closure because of mudslide damage. The popular coastal restaurant that’s celebrating 30 years in operation this year withstood the Palisades fire that tore through Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Topanga Canyon over a year ago, suffering only smoke damage. Plans to reopen were underway last February when mudslides from heavy rain sent four feet of mud into the restaurant, requiring extensive repairs, cleanup and a full renovation. “The mud just nearly wiped us out,” general manager Jimmy Chavez said. Duke’s planned to reopen last summer, but construction delays set the restaurant back even further, shifting the opening date to early 2026. The restaurant had to tear down its walls to ensure no mold was growing, and was forced to replace its equipment, furniture, plumbing and flooring. “The circumstances weren’t ideal, but we end up with a fully renovated restaurant at 30 years, 30 years old, which is unheard of,” Chavez said. Chavez said the building’s proximity to the water led …

Wildfire debris removal underway at Palisades Bowl Mobile Home park

Wildfire debris removal underway at Palisades Bowl Mobile Home park

Published by Sam Flores

Crews finally are removing fire debris from the Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Estates, a roughly 170-unit, rent-controlled mobile home park along Pacific Coast Highway. Cleanup of the property — the largest site in Pacific Palisades still filled with fire debris — is starting more than a year after wildfire destroyed the park, and more than four months after the city of Los Angeles declared the site a public nuisance. The sights of excavators and hazmat suits this week prompted a sigh of relief from Palisadians worried about the health risks of the potentially toxic debris. But for residents of the Bowl, it’s hardly a step toward returning home. Share via Close extra sharing options “The owner, still, is not communicating with us … and the only reason they’re doing this is because the city eventually threatened them,” said Jon Brown, who lived in the Palisades Bowl for 10 years and now helps lead the fight for residents to return home. “But once they get it cleaned up, they’re able to just sit on their hands …

Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire after-action report, sources say

Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire after-action report, sources say

Published by Sam Flores

For nearly two months, Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in altering an after-action report on the Palisades fire to downplay failures by the city and the Los Angeles Fire Department in combating the catastrophic blaze. But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures. Bass wanted key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or softened before the report was made public, the sources said — and that is what happened. The changes to the report, which was released on Oct. 8, came to light through a Times investigation published in December. The sources told The Times that two people close to Bass informed them of the mayor’s behind-the-scenes role in watering down the report. One source spoke to both of the people; the other spoke to one of them. The sources requested anonymity to speak frankly about the mayor’s private conversations with Villanueva …

Palisades fire victims will see building permit fee relief during recovery

Palisades fire victims will see building permit fee relief during recovery

Published by Sam Flores

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday signed off on a plan to give financial relief to Palisades fire victims who are seeking to rebuild, endorsing it nearly 10 months after Mayor Karen Bass first announced it. On a 15-0 vote, the council instructed the city’s lawyers to draft an ordinance that would spare the owners of homes, duplexes, condominium units, apartment complexes and commercial buildings from having to pay the permit fees that are typically charged by the Department of Building and Safety during the recovery. Forfeiting those fees is expected to cost as much as $90 million over three years, according to Matt Szabo, the city’s top budget analyst. The vote came at a time of heightened anxiety over the pace of the city’s decisions on the recovery among fire victims. Bart Young, whose home was destroyed in the fire, told council members his insurance company will cover only half the cost of rebuilding. “I’m living on Social Security. I’ve lost everything,” he said. “I’m not asking for special treatment. I’m asking for …

Restaurants to support in Malibu, Topanga Canyon and Pacific Palisades

Restaurants to support in Malibu, Topanga Canyon and Pacific Palisades

Published by Sam Flores

L.A.’s coastal and canyon communities are resilient and rebuilding since the Palisades fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures, including some of the city’s most locally beloved and iconic restaurants. Those that survived the blaze have become even more vital as communal linchpins and gathering places of Palisades, Topanga and Malibu residents. In the Palisades, Sunset Boulevard snakes past swaths of burned-out lots, some punctuated by scaffolding and excavators beginning the rebuilding process. It winds past signs for road closures, park closures, business closures, and past signs that declare “REBUILDING TOGETHER” and “THEY LET US BURN.” Neighboring Topanga Canyon saw fewer destroyed structures than the Palisades but faces its own extended rebuilding. Powerline repairs and landslides blocked the canyon’s PCH entry for much of 2025, and this access point, when open, is often whittled down to a single lane. Restaurants, the weekly farmers market and other businesses regularly post to social media to raise awareness that “Topanga is open.” Farther north along PCH, Malibu restaurants are just beginning to recover. The scenic highway closed to nonresidents for …

Reality TV personality Spencer Pratt announces bid for LA mayor after losing home in Palisades fire

Reality TV personality Spencer Pratt announces bid for LA mayor after losing home in Palisades fire

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Spencer Pratt has announced he is running to be the next mayor of Los Angeles. The 42-year-old found fame when his relationship with his now-wife Heidi Montag featured on reality television show The Hills in 2007. The couple lost their home in Pacific Palisades in last year’s wildfires, and subsequently became outspoken critics of the city’s response. They were part of a group who sued Los Angeles. Pratt announced his candidacy in front of around 1,000 demonstrators at a “They Let Us Burn” rally in the Palisades Village on Wednesday, marking one year since the devastating fire. As CBS reports, Pratt told the rally: “Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles, and I’m done waiting for someone to take real action. That’s why I am running for mayor.” Former ‘The Hills’ star Spencer Pratt, pictured at the American …

On fire anniversary, Palisades and Altadena residents mourn and protest

On fire anniversary, Palisades and Altadena residents mourn and protest

Published by Sam Flores

One year after two of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history erupted just hours apart, survivors commemorated the day in Altadena and Pacific Palisades with a mixture of anger and somber remembrance. At the American Legion veterans post in the Palisades, hundreds gathered at a military-style white-glove ceremony to pay respects to the 12 families who lost loved ones in the Palisades fire. Just down the street, an even larger crowd shouted the rally cry “They let us burn,” to demand comprehensive disaster planning, relief for families working to rebuild and accountability for government missteps that they say enabled the disaster and have slowed the recovery. Share via Close extra sharing options In Altadena, survivors congregated at the Eaton Fire Collaborative’s community center with a clear message: They are not backing down in the fight to return home. “This year has been the hardest year of our lives,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivor Network. “Unimaginable grief. The 31 people who died that day, and the hundreds who have died …