The Brief

Before it was destroyed in last year’s fires, the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates was a rare piece of beachfront real estate. The mobile home park provided affordable housing to families unable to buy one of the multi-million dollar homes more typical of the neighborhood.

“This was like paradise,” said Rashi Kaslow, a sailboat rigger who had lived at the property for 17 years. “There's nowhere else I want to be.”

Kaslow has been living on a boat since his Palisades Bowl home was lost in the fire.

Now that affordable housing could be permanently lost, with owners of the destroyed property now quietly seeking new buyers.

In a confidential offering memorandum obtained by LAist, the former 173-lot mobile home park is being pitched to investors as “a rare blank canvas for transformative development.”

Former residents are still fighting to return to the rent-controlled lots where they hope to rebuild new manufactured homes. But they say the owners have not been clear about the park’s future.

“A lot of our residents are already traumatized and still grieving,” said Jon Brown, president of the Palisades Bowl Community Group, an organization formed by displaced residents.

“Without the park owners communicating with us, we don't really know what's going on,” Brown added. “We can only remain confident that our government is going to continue to try to protect us.”

Rashi Kaslow stands in a beach parking lot across from the Palisades Bowl mobile home park, where residents' burned cars still haven't been removed.

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David Wagner/LAist

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No price disclosed

The Palisades Fire ripped through the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates.

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Myung J. Chun

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Matthew Wenzel, a broker with the firm Marcus & Millichap, did not share the price the owners are asking for the 861,181-square-foot property. When asked about the former residents, he told LAist, “The owner is exploring all options for future use of the property.”

LAist contacted park co-owner Colby Biggs for comment, but did not receive a response. We also received no response after emailing the attorney for co-owner Loretta Biggs.

According to the sales document, the land is zoned to allow single-family homes with minimum lot sizes of 40,000 square feet.

Muhammad Alameldin, senior policy advisor at the pro-housing group California YIMBY, said at that size, fewer than two dozen homes could fit on the property. He said redevelopment could involve replacing former residents with much fewer — and much wealthier — homeowners.

“It's a shame that these fires happened, they destroyed people's lives, and now the existing local rules say the only thing that can be built is mansions,” Alameldin said. “This is one of the last parcels of affordable home ownership in the Palisades area. That's going to disappear.”

What rights do residents have?

Mobile home residents have a unique relationship with park owners. Unlike most renters, they own the structures they live in. But unlike most homeowners, they don’t own their land — they rent lots from park owners.

Clemente Mojica, president of the affordable housing nonprofit Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services, said legal protections are often lacking for mobile home residents after natural disasters. He said mobile home parks have rarely been rebuilt after past California fires.

“Rebuilding isn't a choice for residents, but for the park ownership,” Mojica said. “In the case of the Palisades Bowl, the park ownership clearly does not intend to rebuild, which means that the next best option we see is a sale to the residents.”

Former residents have hung signs on the chain-link fence outside the Palisades Bowl mobile home park.

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Former residents say the Palisades Bowl owners should continue to honor their tenancies, which were subject to the city of L.A.’s rent control laws.

“They're hoping that somebody with a lot of money comes along, and maybe they don't do their due diligence,” said Lisa Ross, who lived at the Palisades Bowl for 33 years.

Since the fire, her family has been renting a Marina Del Rey apartment, but insurance money for rent has run out.

“I don't know what they possibly think,” Ross said of the owners. “I do know that we have people behind us in government officials who are adamant.”

State lawmakers worry about displaced seniors

State Sen. Ben Allen has introduced Senate Bill 1092, which would require mobile home park owners to give residents the chance to put in competitive bids to buy properties with the help of nonprofits or local governments.

“This park has been home to hundreds of seniors and families over the years,” Allen said in a statement to LAist. “The idea of deliberately and permanently displacing these residents, in such opportunistic fashion, puts a bad taste in all of our mouths.”

But even if Allen’s bill is signed into law, it likely wouldn’t take effect until 2027. Palisades Bowl residents worry a sale could be finalized before then. Allen said that if the sale goes through in the near future, residents should be legally entitled to relocation payments.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the neighborhood’s on the L.A. City Council member, told LAist she supports preserving the property’s use as a mobile home park. L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents the Palisades, said elected leaders are working to get the residents back to their former homes.

“After surviving one of the most devastating wildfires in our nation’s history, residents of Palisades Bowl should not be facing new uncertainty about their homes,” Horvath said.

Giorgi Antinori and her husband stand at the edge of Will Rogers State Beach.

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Sellers say park is a ‘generational offering’

The firms CBRE and Marcus & Millichap have been circulating the confidential sales document to institutional investors and developers. They’re positioning the property for high-end development. Just across Pacific Coast Highway from Will Rogers State Beach, the property is described as “a prime asset in a highly coveted, supply-constrained market.”

The document notes that the neighborhood’s average annual household income is north of $350,000, and average home values are above $1.9 million. It states that the Pacific Palisades is “one of Los Angeles’ most exclusive residential enclaves,” with “high barriers to entry,” such as “strict zoning regulations.”

Residents worry the plans are designed to stop them from ever returning.

Giorgi Antinori lived at the Palisades Bowl for five years with her husband. Their 3-year-old daughter was born in their home. Antinori, a Santa Monica native, said she and her husband spent years looking for affordable housing on L.A.’s Westside before discovering the Palisades Bowl.

Addressing potential buyers, Antinori said: “I would want them to really understand the heart of this place, and appeal to them to rebuild this for what it actually is and what it was. It was beautiful.”

State regulators voted Thursday to stop Southern California Gas Co. from charging customers to help pay for planning miles of pipelines that would bring hydrogen gas to the L.A. Basin.

The company says the project would reduce the region’s reliance on methane gas.

Southern California Gas estimates it would cost about $266 million to study and plan the project — called Angeles Link — and asked the state Public Utilities Commission to allow it to recover those costs through customer rates. The company had proposed a monthly increase of $0.35 on the average residential customer bill over the course of three years.

The commission unanimously rejected the request, saying the company had not proved any direct benefit to customers. The decision effectively halts the project for now, and comes amid a stall in federal funding for hydrogen projects under the Trump administration.

Local environmental groups involved in the community advisory process had also grown frustrated by negotiations that they said, in a letter to state regulators, “does not prioritize genuine community engagement.”

As global pollution levels continue to climb, the commission’s decision also highlights the growing challenge of transitioning to a cleaner energy supply amid rising utility bills and open questions about the safety and true environmental cost of largely untested technology.

Why hydrogen?

Hydrogen is a colorless gas that is considered "clean" because it doesn’t involve carbon, which — when burned to create energy — becomes carbon dioxide, a major planet-heating gas.

But it takes energy to produce hydrogen, and most hydrogen these days is created by burning fossil fuels. “Green” hydrogen is created by using clean energy sources like solar and wind to split water into oxygen and hydrogen.

SoCal Gas said the Angeles Link project would prioritize green hydrogen.

Most experts see green hydrogen as an important clean-burning fuel for hard-to-electrify industries, such as long-haul trucking and gas-fired power generation. The city of Los Angeles, for example, wants to retrofit its Scattergood Power Plant near El Segundo to burn hydrogen instead of methane gas to generate electricity.

There are many open questions about how safe the highly-combustible gas is for proposed uses and how much water it will require to make. At the same time, extracting and burning fossil fuels for electricity and fuel also takes water — a growing problem as climate change drives longer and hotter droughts.

Experts say, if done right, hydrogen can reduce that water intake and not have a major impact on water supplies.

Also, burning hydrogen could actually worsen local, lung-damaging nitrogen-oxide air pollution, at least with the technology as it currently stands, according to energy researchers.

Reactions to the decision

SoCal Gas will now have to turn to shareholders or other sources of funding if the company wants to proceed. The company did not directly answer LAist’s questions about whether it would.

“We continue to believe that hydrogen—including clean renewable hydrogen—can help advance California’s energy and climate goals while supporting the long‑term affordability, security and reliability of energy service for customers,” SoCal Gas spokesperson Brian Haas wrote in an email to LAist.

Environmental groups celebrated the vote, while emphasizing they see green hydrogen playing a role in the state’s future.

“Residential customers should not subsidize speculative infrastructure for large industrial users,” said Michael Colvin, director of the California Energy Program at Environmental Defense Fund, in a statement.

“We look forward to working with regulators, utilities and large customers to build a credible, cost-effective strategy to cut climate pollution from sectors that are hardest to electrify,” the statement read.

Global events like the World Cup and the 2028 Olympics are sure to draw thousands of new visitors wanting to get to know Los Angeles.

L.A. has a lot to offer, including its vast and varied portfolio of public art. It’s even been referred to as the mural capital of the world. So if you want to explore some of the city’s art, here are a few murals you won’t want to miss.

Sports 

“LA Rising” at the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo celebrates the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, depicting him in his two roles — hitter and pitcher.
- Where to find it: 328 First St., Los Angeles

“Blue Heaven on Earth” is a love letter to the Dodgers, depicting both Shohei Ohtani and the late Fernando Venezuela.
- Where to find it: 1647 Blake Ave., Los Angeles

A mural honoring Winter Olympics Gold Medalist Alysa Liu in Gardena.

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Jay L Clendenin

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Getty Images

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California native and Olympian Alysa Liu captured the world’s attention with her figure skating in the Winter Olympics. This mural in Gardena celebrates her win.
- Where to find it: 15532 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena

A mural of L.A. Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna can be found outside Hardcore Fitness L.A.

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“City of Angels!” pays tribute to Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi.
- Where to find it: 400 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles

Music

Whitney Houston, Rihanna, Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse and Selena are memorialized on this Hollywood mural.
- Where to find it: 7677 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 

“Jazz on the field” is an ode to Wrigley Field and the Dunbar Hotel in South L.A. and depicts jazz icons Louis Armstrong and Etta James, as well as Martin Luther King Jr.
- Where to find it: 43rd St. and Grand Ave., Los Angeles

When Kendrick Lamar featured Tam’s Burgers in his “Not Like Us” music video, the burger spot in Compton commissioned a mural highlighting the rapper’s unforgettable single.
- Where to find it: 1201 Rosecrans Ave, Compton

Historic to LA

A section of the Great Wall of Los Angeles mural, designed by muralist Judy Baca, that showcases pivotal moments in Los Angeles History.

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Ashley Balderrama

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LAist

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“The Great Wall of Los Angeles” is one of the largest murals in the world, and it’s supposed to get bigger. The half-mile art piece depicts California’s rich history.
- Where to find it: Along the L.A. River in the San Fernando Valley, on Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Burbank Boulevard and Oxnard Street. 

“The Blessing of the Animals” at La Placita Olvera depicts the Catholic tradition of blessing one’s animals.
- Where to find it: 115 Paseo De La Plaza, Los Angeles

“El Grito” depicts a scene that sparked Mexican independence from Spanish rule.
- Where to find it: Placita de Dolores at 831 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles

When you take a bite of the lomo saltado burrito from Merka Saltao, a fast-casual Peruvian restaurant in Culver City, one of the first things you'll notice is the sauce.

The wok-fried chunks of steak, dressed in a soy-and-oyster sauce reduction spiked with vinegar, saturate the rice inside the tortilla, highlighting the sweet heat of ají amarillo mixed with the velvety texture of pinto beans.

It's a beautiful confluence of flavors. It is also, depending on who you ask, either a creative act of evolution or a betrayal of Peruvian culinary heritage.

Standing on business

The lomo saltado burrito at Merka Saltao wasn't exactly a calculated move. Lifelong friends Alonso Franco and Ignacio Barrios — who met in high school in Lima — came to Los Angeles to bring Peruvian food to the masses, first through a ghost kitchen concept they ran from 2021 to 2023. The burrito happened almost by accident: a member of their kitchen team brought in a tortilla one day, someone suggested wrapping the lomo saltado in it, they ate it, and within three days, it was on the menu.

Merka Saltao co-founders Ignacio Barrios, left, and Alonso Franco, right, inside their Culver City restaurant. The two lifelong friends from Lima opened the fast-casual brick-and-mortar location for their Peruvian concept in August 2025.

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The data from the ghost kitchen made the case for keeping it there. Franco and Barrios had launched with around 140 dishes — lomo saltado, ceviche, chicken dishes, the works. But the numbers kept pointing to the same thing: wherever lomo saltado appeared on the menu, in whatever form, burrito, bowl, salad, it was the winner.

(Ceviche, for all its cultural cachet, is raw fish with raw onion — a harder sell for a weekday lunch. Lomo saltado, Franco noted, is steak and fries — basically a hamburger.)

The backlash

The two friends made the leap to brick-and-mortar in August 2025, opening Merka Saltao in downtown Culver City. It's one of the more competitive dining corridors in L.A., the kind of block that can support a $16 wellness bowl and a craft beer bar in the same stretch, populated by Amazon employees on lunch breaks, families on weekend outings, and food-literate regulars who will absolutely have opinions about what goes in a burrito.

Those opinions arrived faster than Franco expected. Within the first week of opening, an influencer came in and posted about the restaurant — but instead of showing the full menu, the bowls, the chicha morada, the flexibility of the concept, they showed the burrito. Just the burrito.

Franco working the wok at Merka Saltao. The high-heat wok technique at the heart of lomo saltado traces its roots to Chinese immigrants in Peru

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Christopher Mortenson

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Courtesy Merka Saltao

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The comments turned quickly. "No! Peruvians don't eat burritos. ¿Qué car—o es eso?" — roughly, "what the hell is this?" — wrote one commenter. Another said "Burritos? We don't eat burritos in 🇵🇪”. Franco describes sitting at his computer reading the pile-on, feeling something between anger and devastation. "There was a moment where I probably even cried," he said, "thinking, I've made a mistake." But then he looked at the numbers. 30,000 had seen the post…. And half the comments were in his defense.

He took the conversation to Reddit, posting to r/FoodLosAngeles asking the community directly: am I wrong for this? The response was overwhelming — hundreds of comments, almost entirely in his favor, and a surge of new customers walking through the door shortly after.

Fusion by default

This is Los Angeles, where many of the dishes that define the Southern California diet were born precisely from cultures colliding. Roy Choi built an empire on Korean tacos. Al pastor traces its technique to Lebanese immigrants who brought the vertical spit. The California roll, invented by Japanese chefs in Los Angeles in the 1960s, introduced an entire country to sushi. None of these dishes destroyed the traditions they borrowed from. If anything, they expanded their audience. And the lomo saltado burrito isn't exactly a novel concept in Southern California to begin with — everyone from Pablitos Tacos in North Hollywood to Le Hut in Santa Ana, run by 2025 James Beard Award-nominated chef Daniel Castillo, has featured their own version. Even Disney's California Adventure got in on it, serving a lomo saltado burrito out of the Studio Catering Co. food truck as recently as last year.

The lomo saltado bowl and burrito at Merka Saltao in Culver City — two versions of the same dish that sparked an unlikely online debate about Peruvian culinary identity.

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Courtesy Merka Saltao

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Franco would also point out that lomo saltado itself — the dish the purists are so eager to protect — is a product of Chinese immigrants bringing the wok and soy sauce to Peru roughly 300 years ago. "Peruvian is by default fusion," he told me. "So we have all the right to wrap it up in a burrito." What the online critics were really doing, whether they knew it or not, was defending a dish that was itself once considered inauthentic — and doing so in the name of authenticity.

Where things stand

Since the backlash, Franco says business has been mostly steady — breaking even, which for a concept that requires high volume at a low price point, he considers a good sign. The controversy changed things in ways he didn't expect: people started coming in specifically because of the story, not just the food. He began putting himself front and center in the brand, regularly making videos on social media about what it's like to run the business, occasionally poking fun at himself and the whole debate. When we visited during the weekday lunch rush, there was a steady line of people waiting to order, many stopping to talk with Franco directly.

In a way, he's answered the authenticity question not with an argument but with a presence — showing up, telling the story, letting the food speak. "Honoring my food, if that requires pairing lomo saltado with a salad or wrapping it in a tortilla, I have no problem," he said. "I'm not being less authentic. We are evolving in Peru anytime. I have to be authentic on the individual flavor and then be flexible to reach more people to discover our flavors."

The burrito, it turns out, was never the point. It was just the door.