The Brief

Next door to a Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington, an oil pumpjack slowly bobs up and down. Across the street, oil holding tanks and a couple more pumpjacks pepper a park landscape.

This L.A. neighborhood has the highest concentration of oil drilling in the city. And in the absence of consistent monitoring by regulators, a small group of public health advocates has taken matters into their own hands, documenting equipment leaks using a high-tech camera.

It looks something like a camcorder, but it’s no ordinary video camera — it’s a forward looking infrared camera, or FLIR.

Cesar Aguirre with the Central California Environmental Justice Network uses a FLIR camera to monitor methane leaks at an oil drilling site at a park in Wilmington.

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“ Methane absorbs a certain wavelength of light, and this camera is tuned to that wavelength, so you're able to see methane,” explained Ivan Ortiz, an analyst and field investigator with the Central California Environmental Justice Network, based in Bakersfield in Kern County, where the vast majority of California’s oil drilling occurs.

The group was able to buy the camera, which cost around $100,000, through a combination of grants. It has allowed them to document leaks at dozens of sites near homes, schools and other sensitive areas in Kern County that otherwise may have gone unnoticed. The camera is approved by state and federal regulators to monitor such leaks.

Since October, they’ve partnered with a coalition of Angelenos to monitor drill sites in L.A. and submit data to regulators in the hopes they’ll conduct more thorough inspections and fix the leaks.

“We really want to hold regulators accountable to make sure that they do their job, and set an actual gold standard for community protection and not protecting profit,” said Cesar Aguirre, an associate director at CCEJN.

Cesar Aguirre, left, and Ivan Ortiz look at a methane leak from an idle oil pumpjack that they documented with a FLIR camera.

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Why it matters

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that’s rapidly heating up the planet. It often leaks from oil and gas wells, pipelines and tanks. And when methane leaks, it’s likely other chemicals are too, such as benzene, a carcinogen.

Research has found that communities living near oil drilling sites have higher rates of asthma, cancer and premature birth.

Monitoring methane has been a key way for researchers to parse out health impacts from oil and gas infrastructure, versus other sources of pollution, such as nearby freeways.

Homes in Wilmington are neighbors with oil infrastructure, including this holding tank.

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“ Methane, generally, is not considered a health toxin, but we use it as a proxy marker for exposure because it's specifically related to natural gas and oil extraction and not to traffic,” said Jill Johnston, an environmental health professor at USC who studies the health effects of oil drilling in L.A.

“Even in neighborhoods in L.A. where we know there's a lot of different kinds of pollution, that proximity to oil wells can be a factor that influences health outcomes,” Johnston said.

Her research was cited in a state law passed in 2022 that requires a 3,200-foot buffer zone between new oil and gas wells and neighborhoods and schools. It was also cited in the ordinances passed by the county and city of L.A. to phase out oil drilling in neighborhoods (which has been stalled by lawsuits brought by the oil industry).

A screenshot from the California Geologic Energy Management Division well map of oil wells and holding tanks in a park and next to a Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington.

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California Geologic Energy Management Division

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But L.A. was built on oil, so these drill sites are all over the city.

“This kind of aging infrastructure throughout L.A. is really concerning for health and safety,” said Emma Silber with Physicians for Social Responsibility L.A., one of a coalition of groups working to end urban oil drilling in the city.

Small leaks add up 

With the FLIR camera, Ortiz, Aguirre and Silber walked to one of the pumpjacks in the Wilmington park. This pumpjack is idle, which means it’s not producing oil. But it hasn’t been plugged, so it can still leak.

And sure enough, it is. Ortiz looked at the black and white viewfinder of the camera — tiny plumes of what look like smoke come out of a joint in a pipe.

“It's like very short burps coming from the pipe,” Ortiz observed.

Then we headed over to some oil holding tanks a couple hundred yards away, right next to the park’s soccer field. The numbers started to go up.

“I can smell it,” said Silber.

“ 14...14.9, that's as high as it went. It’s starting to go down,” Ortiz said.

“ Well, let's not stay here then,” Silber replied, adjusting her face mask.

“But now we have it, it's in the data, so we're able to submit that,” Ortiz said.

Emma Silber, right, and Cesar Aguirre assess a pumpjack for methane leaks.

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What’s considered by regulators to be normal is a leak at 2 parts per million, or ppm. On this day, these tanks appeared to be leaking at nearly 15 ppm, and just a few months ago, the group measured leaks here as high as 134 ppm.

That’s far less than the 50,000 ppm that could cause an explosion, but researchers worry about the cumulative impact of these smaller, near-constant leaks — for both the planet’s and people’s health.

“They may be small leaks individually, but the cumulative impact means that there are higher risk exposures for the communities living around them,” said Kyle Ferrar, a researcher with FracTracker Alliance, a nonprofit that investigates leaks and associated health risks from oil and gas sites.

(LAist reached out to O’Donnell Oil, the oil company that owns the visited sites, via phone and email, but did not receive a response.)

Advocates have documented methane leaks from these tanks using infrared several times.

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Irregular monitoring 

Ferrar said a big part of the problem is the lack of consistent monitoring. While big refineries are required to have fence line air sensors, these small sites aren’t.

“All the monitoring has to be done via inspections, and typically there's not many triggers that would inspire an inspection to occur — that means that community members and researchers like myself have to be on the ground identifying issues,” Ferrar said. “Even when we do identify these leaks, we don't know how long they've been leaking for.”

It's time-consuming and expensive to inspect these sites one-by-one, so regulators often rely on community complaints and self-monitoring by oil companies.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which oversees these sites along with the state, has only 10 inspectors for a region with thousands of wells.

Small drill sites like these are not required to have fence line air sensors like big refineries are.

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A spokesperson for the agency told LAist in an email that “our enforcement team does its best to conduct unannounced on-site inspections, but some sites are visited more frequently if they are subject to public complaints.” The companies that own the sites are also required to submit self-monitoring reports more frequently to the district.

Better data, however, is necessary to actually drive effective policy, said Johnston, the USC professor.

“Regulators want data to push policy changes, but yet no one's going out and collecting the data that's needed,” she said. “And so, again, the burden has fallen on the community to have to prove that they're being harmed.”

If a minor leak is confirmed by an inspector, the air quality district sends a notice to the oil operator to fix it. If the leak hits more than 50,000 ppm, the inspector cites them with a violation, meaning the oil operator is subject to a fine and possible litigation. Operators have more time to fix smaller leaks — two weeks or more — whereas bigger leaks are required to be fixed as soon as within the day, according to the air quality district’s regulations.

Ivan Ortiz inputs data, from the FLIR camera, into an app. The data will also be submitted to regulators.

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Ferrar said the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the state now have some of the most robust monitoring efforts in the country — including a mobile van owned by the air quality district that can document leaks at the street level, a state law that went into effect in 2018 that says any level of leaking methane is a violation, and new satellite monitoring of methane leaks — but it still doesn’t go far enough.

“The oil and gas industry says that they're able to extract oil and gas safely without leaks — well, we have yet to see it,” Ferrar said. “And the people, taxpayers, are the ones who are paying for the inspections, paying for all regulatory oversight of these industries.”

Whack-a-mole accountability

Even if the sites are inspected and the leaks fixed, they’re likely to leak again in another spot, so it’s a bit like whack-a-mole, Ferrar said.

“Many of these sites are producing very little oil but still have a lot of pressure down hole, so there's still a lot of leaks coming up and the potential for leaks to form is always there,” he said.

The real answer, he said, is shutting them down.

“These wells that are producing very little oil, they need to be shut down,” Ferrar said. “There's no reason for them to be operating this close to homes.”

That’s something many community members have wanted for years. As a result of that advocacy, back in 2022, the city of L.A. passed an ordinance to end new drilling and phase out existing drilling in the city over the next 20 years, but the effort has been stalled by lawsuits brought by oil companies. A Superior Court judge struck down the ordinance last year, citing state law.

The team heads out to monitor methane leaks from oil wells and tanks at a Wilmington park.

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What’s next

The settlement on that case is nearly final, and once it is, the city will reintroduce the ordinance, said City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky.

“We have clear authority now from the state that we didn't have before, so we think it's important that we protect the public health of communities,” she told LAist.

That authority is a new state law passed last year that gives cities the explicit right to limit or prohibit oil drilling within their jurisdiction. Previously, only the state had that power.

But Yaroslavsky emphasized that there needs to be faster ways to shut down sites to address both the public health and climate harms of these leaky wells and tanks.

“We can't just rely on one strategy, and we shouldn't wait for the courts; the legal process will take time,” Yaroslavsky said. “We know that the oil industry has very deep pockets, really limitless pockets, and they will sue on everything. So we're actively testing a couple of different models.”

One model is not renewing a pipeline franchise agreement, which allows an operator to move oil via underground pipelines. That’s what happened earlier this year at a drill site in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood that has a long history of violations. Now, the company that owns that site is coming to the table to discuss how to redevelop the site with community input, Yaroslavsky said. The city is also exploring other regulatory avenues to shut down other sites, she said.

“There's a lot of data that shows that urban oil drilling has negative health impacts on surrounding communities, so even low levels [of leaks] aren't acceptable feet from where people are going to school or work or living,” Yaroslavsky said. “There are these legacy polluters in the middle of neighborhoods, and we can't continue to normalize their presence.”

From left, Ortiz, Aguirre and Silber monitor an active oil pumpjack next to a Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington.

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If you suspect a leak

You can submit air quality complaints by calling South Coast Air Quality Management District’s hotline (800) CUT-SMOG (288-7664), by using AQMD's online form, or through the agency’s mobile app. Complaints can be filed anonymously.

You can search the record of violations for regulated facilities, such as oil wells, near you via the air district's F.I.N.D. tool.

An upgrade to the website used to make camping reservations within California State Parks may have you locked out of your account — just as highly-sought-after campsites are being released for the summer. 

The overhaul, which happened in late October of last year, requires anyone who had a ReserveCalifornia account before the change to reauthenticate their account before making any camping reservations.

That means if you’re planning on logging on at 8 a.m. to snag a campsite for a busy summer weekend, you may get caught in login troubles while other people are snapping up your top choice.

If you have a ReserveCalifornia account, keep reading for step-by-step instructions on what to do now — so you’ll be ready when summer reservations become available.

Jump straight to:

• What should people with existing ReserveCalifornia accounts do?
• What about those who never had an account?

What happened to the California State Parks reservation website?

On Oct. 29, 2025, the ReserveCalifornia website, which California State Parks uses to help visitors book campsites and other park amenities, underwent a system upgrade, said Adeline Yee, a spokesperson for the agency.

That upgrade helped improve the system’s operations and incorporated multi-factor authentication for users, requiring anyone trying to log into an account to provide a code sent to their email address to improve system security.

A public campground near Camp Richardson is shown on Aug. 4, 2013, in South Lake Tahoe, California. (George Rose/Getty Images)An email about the changes was sent to ReserveCalifornia account holders in advance of the Oct. 29 switchover, Yee said — but the initial instructions it contained for reauthenticating accounts, encouraging users to use a “Forgot Password?” link, didn’t actually work on the version of the website that went live on that date.

The day after the update went live, Yee said, state parks added a banner alert to ReserveCalifornia with updated login directions – which now required even existing account-holders to hit “Create Account” to reauthenticate their details.

Yee said while the update affected all 1.2 million ReserveCalifornia accounts, only around 400,000 of those accounts have been active in the past two years. During the first five days after the update, the ReserveCalifornia customer service line saw a 30% increase in calls and emails, Yee said — around 300 more inquiries per day than normal.

“State Parks apologizes for the confusion and inconvenience and will work with ReserveCalifornia so future website updates and account enhancements go smoother,” Yee said.

I have a ReserveCalifornia account, and I want to reserve a state parks campsite soon. What should I do?

First, don’t panic. Your account is still active, and your reservation and account history haven’t been lost — so if you were signed up for the lottery of a must-have spot like the Steep Ravine Cabins, you’re still on the list.

But you will have to go through a couple of steps to log back in – and it may take a few minutes, so it’s best to do it before you’re racing others to get a prime camping spot this summer.

Campsites are filled at Half Moon Bay State Beach in Half Moon Bay, California, on June 29, 2010. (Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)How to reauthenticate and reactivate your ReserveCalifornia account:

Go to “Log In/Sign Up” on the top right of ReserveCalifornia.com, and click the “Create an Account” link.

Then, use the same email address of your existing account, and re-set up your profile. You can use the password you previously used for your ReserveCalifornia account, or create a new one.

Once you do so, your new ReserveCalifornia account should be automatically linked to your old one, Yee said — and you’ll be immediately able to make campsite reservations once more.

If you got an email or searched the web and got different instructions, like those saying to hit the “Forgot Password” button — ignore those.

And if you’re still having trouble or are stuck in password reset purgatory, try refreshing the page and starting over — or call ReserveCalifornia between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST at 800-444-7275.

I’m new to ReserveCalifornia. What should I know?

New account users shouldn’t have any issues. Simply go to ReserveCalifornia.com, hit the “Sign Up” button in the top right corner and create a new account.

Make sure you know the reservation policies at state parks, as they’ve just changed this year — and make canceling campsites more costly in an effort to keep more reservations open.

And you should know that campsite and cabin reservations open up to six months in advance at 8 a.m., so if you have big summer plans to get out into the wilderness, you may want to check now for availability. Read our full guide on how to snag desirable California campsites for summer 2026.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he was blindsided by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal Thursday to curtail the superintendent’s duties and he disagrees with it, although it’s unclear what he can do to stop it.

“Tony Thurmond is proud and grateful to work with Gov. Newsom. They’re both champions of public education,” said Elizabeth Sanders, spokeswoman for the California Department of Education, which Thurmond heads. Sanders was speaking on behalf of the superintendent.

“Unfortunately, on this particular issue they are not aligned.”

In his State of the State address on Thursday, Newsom proposed shifting oversight of the Department of Education, a 2,000-employee state agency, from the superintendent to the State Board of Education. The move would concentrate more power over K-12 schools with the governor, who appoints the school board.

The superintendent would remain an elected position, but with diminished and less defined duties.

Referencing a December report from Policy Analysis for California Education, Newsom’s aim is to simplify California’s convoluted system of K-12 school governance. Currently, education leadership comes from the governor, the Legislature, the State Board of Education, the superintendent and the Department of Education — who may or may not have the same vision for how to best run schools and teach children. At the local level, school boards and county offices of education also have a good deal of power over budgets and day-to-day school operations.

The result of the many-headed leadership structure is that schools often don’t know which policies to follow, according to the PACE report. Guidelines can be contradictory, redundant or just plain incoherent, researchers found.

A slew of education advocacy groups have supported Newsom’s proposal, saying it will clarify a system that’s been confusing and inefficient for a century. California is one of only a handful of states with such an education governance model.

‘Unnecessary disruption’

Thurmond’s staff had a few hints that an announcement might be forthcoming, but otherwise was caught off guard by Newsom’s proposal, Sanders said. They also hadn’t talked to PACE researchers about their report, although PACE staff said they reached out to the department prior to the report's publication.

Thurmond questions the point of the change, Sanders said.

“It’s unclear how this would benefit students and families,” Sanders said. “It’s an unnecessary disruption. … We should be staying focused on creating results for students.”

If the governor really wanted to help schools, he should pour more money into K-12 education. The Department of Education has been underfunded for years, she noted, and schools could use more funds for initiatives like tutoring and mandatory kindergarten.

John Affeldt, managing attorney at Public Advocates, a nonprofit law firm focused on education, also questioned the value of Newsom’s proposal. It would take power away from the voters and give it to the governor, which might be great if the governor supports public education but may backfire if a governor doesn’t, he said.

“It might improve the governance structure a bit, but I’m not sure it’s worth the tradeoff,” Affeldt said. “It might be a lot of political theater for not much real change.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Gov. Gavin Newsom painted a rosy picture of California’s fiscal future during his State of the State address Thursday. Flashing top-line numbers, the Democratic governor touted billions of dollars more in revenue, proposed new investments in education and pledged more toward the state’s reserves and pension debt.

But that was a one-sided story.

It’s not clear whether Newsom will forecast a budget deficit for the 2026-27 fiscal year, how big it will be and whether closing the gap would require painful spending cuts to core services like child care, food assistance and Medi-Cal, the state’s health care coverage for low-income residents, especially as federal funding diminishes.

Yet Newsom will be absent from his last annual budget proposal presentation Friday, when details of his spending plan will be unveiled, leaving his Department of Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw and Chief Deputy Director of Budgets Erika Li to field those questions.

Newsom’s forecast will likely be far sunnier than the grim outlook by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, which in November projected an $18 billion deficit despite higher-than-expected tax revenue thanks to a booming AI industry. A shortfall of that size would require long-term fixes, although state leaders had relied on Band-Aids such as accounting maneuvers, internal borrowing and withdrawals from the state’s reserves to balance the books in past years.

But according to Newsom, California will have a $248.3 billion general fund next year — $13 billion higher than his office predicted in June.

Newsom also touted Thursday that the state would have $42.3 billion more in revenue than forecast last year. But that figure is for a three-year span, state Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer told CalMatters.

The omission of the cumulative nature of the $42 billion makes Newsom’s speech “troubling,” said Sen. Roger Niello, a Roseville Republican and vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

“That would be an intentional misrepresentation of the fact,” he said.

Nonetheless, Newsom teased multiple new proposals with unknown price tags or timelines, such as fully funding the state’s universal transitional kindergarten program and providing universal before and after-school programs at elementary schools. He also proposed spending $1 billion to add high-need community schools and redirecting $1 billion in Proposition 1 mental health funds annually for housing and homelessness.

The governor briefly nodded to “long-term structural challenges,” proposing a $7.3 billion deposit to the reserve fund, roughly the amount the state withdrew last year, whichwould bring the rainy day fund balance to roughly $21 billion. He also proposed to spend $11.8 billion over the next few years to pay down the state’s pension debt, including $3 billion in next year’s budget.

Some Democratic lawmakers struck a cautious tone while largely blaming President Donald Trump for withholding funds from Californians in need.

“California will not be able to fill the holes that have been left by the federal government,” said newly elected Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat. “We have to go back and look (at) what is feasible.”

Sen. John Laird, a Santa Cruz Democrat and the new chair of the Senate Budget Committee, warned that the high revenue projection indicates a bubble. Laird, who was elected to the state Assembly in 2002 after the 2000 dot-com bubble burst, said he’s concerned the AI-driven boom may not last.

“I think everybody agrees that this level of revenue can’t be maintained, but how big is the bubble? That’s probably the question,” he told CalMatters.

The Legislature must start chipping away at the long-term structural deficit this year instead of punting the problem, he said.

“We’re gonna have to do a piece of it,” he said. “We can’t go into next year with a $30 or $37 billion shortfall, because the reserves amount doesn’t get anywhere near that.”

Continued fight over homelessness funding

Newsom has tussled with counties over homelessness funding for years as political pressure to resolve the state’s homeless crisis continues to mount. Newsom has blamed counties for failing to deliver results despite his $24 billion investment over the years. Only a portion of the funding goes to county agencies and there is no dedicated annual funding to fight homelessness.

On Thursday, Newsom again bashed counties for the problem while attributing a drop in unsheltered homeless people last year to his statewide programs. In the same breath, he also proposed to redirect “$1 billion in annual mental health funding to housing and treatment for people living on the streets” under Proposition 1, a voter-approved bond primarily for mental health beds and supportive housing.

“No more excuses — it’s time to bring people off the streets, out of encampments, into housing, into treatment. Counties need to do their job!” Newsom said, drawing applause from legislators.

It wasn’t immediately clear how he plans to allocate those dollars. He did not mention any funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program, the state’s main homelessness funding source.

The California State Association of Counties, which represents all 58 counties and has lobbied for an annual allocation of $1 billion in HHAP funding, was displeased.

“Playing a shell game with existing funds is no substitute for the most successful program addressing homelessness at the local level,” said association CEO Graham Knaus. “Why on Earth would the state abdicate its responsibility and allow homelessness to soar again?”

Newsom’s plan also startled county behavioral health service providers, who rely on Prop. 1 dollars for services.

“While these one-time bricks and mortar investments are promising, the $1 billion in funding for ongoing housing subsidies under Proposition 1 comes at the expense of redirected mental health treatment and prevention programs,” said Michelle Doty Cabrera, executive director of the County Behavioral Health Directors Association.

No mention of Medi-Cal

Newsom also gave next to no detail on the outlook for Medi-Cal — the state’s most expensive program with a $200 billion budget and therefore an attractive target for potential cuts. He didn’t even name the program in his speech.

The governor slammed Trump for passing a federal budget that could kick 1.8 million Californians off their insurance and raise the premiums for another 2 million. The state would have to spend at least $1.3 billion more than previously expected next year just to implement the federal law, the LAO previously estimated.

Assemblymember Mia Bonta, an Oakland Democrat who chairs the Assembly Health Committee, said the state must “use the bully pulpit” to fight the federal government, find ways to lower costs or even revive indigent care, a form of last-resort care that has largely become obsolete due to Medi-Cal.

“Because the alternative is, people are going to be dying on the streets,” Bonta said.

Bonta said the Legislature should explore new funding sources. Some advocates are already pushing for a pair of proposed wealth tax ballot measures to fund health care and education, which Newsom opposes.

“We need to think about ways that we can increase our revenue sources … (with) openness around looking at our tax structure,” Bonta said, adding that there are ways “to make sure that everybody’s carrying their fair share.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

A year out from the Palisades Fire of January 2025, life’s not fully back to normal — and especially not without some of our favorite restaurants.

But some are open, catering in a different form, or have reached some closure.

Here’s a list of affected restaurants that are open (and would love your support), those still rebuilding and some that remain closed.

Reopened

Gladstones 

Open, outdoor seating only

17300 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades

Gladstones is still serving its staple seafood — but only outside, under the stars and very warm heaters. The restaurant isn’t taking reservations now, so you can walk in anytime between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Gladstone’s is still renovating its insides from the damage from the fire and flooding that followed.

Rosenthal Wine and Bar Patio

A patio at Rosenthal Wine's new location.

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Open in a new location, limited hours
Kanan Dume Road and W. Newton Canyon Road, Malibu, 90265

Rosenthal Wine Bar and Patio is open at a new location on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Open since mid-August, they’ve been putting on events, comedy shows and concerts. They are also open to groups and parties to rent out any day of the week, and Mark Applebaum, Rosenthal marketing director, hopes that they can return to seven days a week in the new year.

Tramonto 

Catering and delivery services

Tramonto has turned to catering and delivery services from a kitchen in Santa Monica. They had served Italian food in Malibu for 10 years.

“We love Malibu, and it’s not like being in Malibu,” said owner Wilfredo Posadas.

But now those in the Malibu community and beyond can try their pasta from the comfort of their own home or at a catering event.

Duke’s 

Duke's signature sculpture of Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku, covered in debris and mud.

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Duke's Malibu

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Open for private events
Grand reopening expected in February
21150 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu

Duke’s hopes to have its grand reopening in February. A planned partial reopening was delayed because of construction.

“You open one can of worms, and there’s three cans underneath it,” said Jimmy Chavez, Duke’s general manager who has been handling the remediation process.

However, Duke’s has been open for private events in their Ocean Room, which has gotten the community together and supported many core staff members. Regulars can expect to see nearly a brand new restaurant after a year of construction, but hopefully, some familiar faces as well.

Palisades Garden Cafe

Open
15231 La Cruz Drive, Pacific Palisades

The Garden Cafe has been open since March. While it may no longer be the easy stop after tennis lessons, it still serves its breakfast all day and wagyu burgers.

Prima Cantina

Open 

15246 W. Sunset Blvd., Pacific Palisades

Prima Cantina has been open since July, available for sit-down eating as well. It’s one of three restaurants open in the area right now, alongside the Garden Cafe and Chipotle across the street.

Closed

Moonshadows

The site where Moonshadows was in Malibu, seen in January 2025.

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Permanently closed

Moonshadows closed after nearly 40 years of serving Malibu. However, you can still find traces of their fine dining at sister restaurants the Sunset and Ca Del Sole, which are owned by the same people. If you yearn for the pumpkin tortellini or the spicy ahi tuna tartare, the Sunset is able to satisfy that craving.

Reel Inn and Cholada Thai

Closed

Reel Inn and Cholada Thai remain closed. The two faced licensing issues from the state, which according to ABC news, sent them a letter earlier this year terminating their lease.

Casa Nostra

Closed, may reopen 

Casa Nostra has not started rebuilding yet. They are a long way from a decision on that, said a manager at the Westlake location. They haven’t ruled it out, but for now, they are focusing on their Westlake location.