This luxury mall in L.A. survived the wildfires—but not without a lot of help

Palisades Village, the high-end outdoor mall in Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades, is a rare chunk of the neighborhood that wasn’t destroyed in the wildfires that struck the region in January 2025. More than 6,800 structures perished in the Palisades fire, but aside from a few singed awnings and roasted patio cushions, the mall was relatively unscathed. After a year-and-a-half smoke cleanup and refresh, the shopping destination recently reopened, even as the neighborhood around it remains a mix of homes under reconstruction, charred land, and general uncertainty. [Photo: Connie & Stewart Photography/courtesy Caruso] Controversially, the mall remained standing through the fires partly because it had what many of those lost homes didn’t. Caruso, the developer of the mall and other L.A. shopping centers including The Grove, had a private firefighting service on call ahead of the fires, and its firefighters were on site protecting the property within hours of the wildfire’s first spark. Palisades Village, largely undamaged by the Palisades Fire, surrounded by damaged buildings on January 15, 2025. [Photo: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg/Getty Images] Caruso and its billionaire founder Rick Caruso…