Just off Pacific Coast Highway, Paradise Cove Beach Cafe is once again filling with patrons, sitting under palapa umbrellas and enjoying oysters and ocean views for the first time in more than a month.
The waterfront restaurant, known by many as the location of beachy 1950s and 60s films like “Beach Blanket Bingo” and “Gidget,” was shuttered for 32 days after the Palisades fire ravaged many parts of Malibu.
While the cafe itself was unscathed, the closure of the area and PCH forced the restaurant to close before reopening its doors on Monday, Feb. 10.
The owners of the restaurant, longtime Malibu and Palisades residents and father and son, Bob and Tim Morris, say they want people to know “Malibu is alive” after the fire. While parts of the city suffered damage, many businesses survived.
“I think a lot of people think that Malibu fell off the map and into the ocean,” Tim said.
Though the cafe and many Malibu businesses were not burned in the fire, the lengthy closures of PCH, which reopened briefly but has faced subsequent closures as rain creates potential risks in the area, and Topanga Canyon have made access to many of the city’s restaurants and shops difficult.
The Morrises know that access to Malibu may be a challenge at times, but they and their staff make a visit to Paradise Cove worth it, Bob said. The family-owned restaurant is a place where anyone can have a California beach experience, and Bob is grateful to be reopening and sharing that experience with more people, residents and visitors alike.
“We’re the fortunate ones, we’re still here,” Bob said.
The Morris family are longtime restaurateurs and even longer time residents of the California coast. Bob has owned the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe for decades and owned other Malibu staples like Gladstones and RJ’s the Rib Joint. His face can be spotted in many of the vintage photographs that line the restaurant’s walls, chronicling its Hollywood features, celebrity visits, fishing escapades at its pier and many community events the restaurant and beach have hosted over the years.
“We’re Palisades, Brentwood, Malibu people. Malibu is my whole life,” Bob said, standing inside the beach cafe on the day it reopened. “I’ve owned almost every restaurant up and down the coast at one point.”
Though the cafe was not burned in the fire, Bob’s daughter and her family lost their home in the Palisades. His grandchildren also lost their high school, Palisades Charter High School, which one grandson is the student body president of.
As the devastation is close to the family for many reasons, including their overall dedication to the community and desire “to be there for people,” the Morrises are planning a “Day of Hope” at the restaurant now that it has reopened. In the near future, Paradise Cove Beach Cafe will open to those affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires to share food and community and to provide a space for people to talk about all that has happened.
When news of the fire reached the family, Tim’s first instinct was to get their grill going and to feed firefighters. But, unable to do so with the restaurant’s gas and power off due to the fire, Bob and Tim felt heartbroken that they could not offer support to firefighters and the community, as they had in years past, including during the 2018 Woolsey fire, when the cafe provided meals for first responders and even served as an evacuation shelter for those displaced.
“Not being able to give back and do something was heart-wrenching,” Tim said.
By planning the Day of Hope event, the owners hope to give back in a new way by offering a place for support and solidarity.
Now, as Paradise Cove returns to regular operations, the Morrisses are elated to not only bring people back to the idyllic slice of coast that is Paradise Cove, but also to be able to bring their 80 employees back to work.
“The thing I hold most dear is having 80 families that have roofs over their heads and livelihood,” Tim said.
During the closure, the kitchen managers were able to keep working, but the rest of the staff was able to return when the restaurant fully reopened.
The employees of the restaurant, many of whom have worked there for decades and some of whom commute from as far away as Downey and South L.A. for the family-like, respectful work environment they experience at the cafe, are a strong part of the cafe’s sense of community. Talking to one employee who has worked at the cafe for 13 years, Bob joked that he was a “new guy.”
Salomon Corchado, the restaurant’s bartender, has been working at Paradise Cove since 1975. Though this is not the longest closure he has seen the restaurant weather — that was for three months after floods hit the area in the 1980s — he was glad to see the Cove reopen.
“I was shocked that they (the restaurant) were closed that long,” Corchado said as he stood behind the bar, ready for business to be back.
In addition to the longtime employees, the restaurant has many regulars that have been coming to Paradise Cove for years and are looking tp support it after the lengthy closure.
Two of these regulars, longtime Malibu residents Ellie and Arny, were back at Paradise Cove on the day of the the reopening, ready to resume dining at a table looking out over the shoreline Arny calls “maybe the single most beautiful beach in the world,” three to four times per week as they have done for years.
The couple, who have been coming to the restaurant since 1972, love it because of not only the creative menu of “divine” food, but because of the friendly staff and family vibe.
“They don’t have turnover, they keep the same people for 20-30 years,” Arny said.
“They treat us like family,” Ellie added.
The bond between the patrons and the owners and staff was exemplified as Ellie and Arny wrapped up their meal and Bob came over and sat down. The three talked about their respective losses in the Palisades fire and the couple’s plan to rebuild.
From the regulars that Bob knows like family to first-time Malibu visitors, Bob and Tim hope that the reopening is the start of the return to the beachy sense of community they have created for years.
“We bring everybody into Malibu. Being able to share this with the people of Los Angeles and of California is what we love to do,” Tim said.
“We’ve been on the water forever,” Bob said. “We want to be here for people. We need people to come back.”