How a high-end Santa Monica boutique pivoted to help fire victims

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A line of people snaked along Santa Monica’s chic Montana Avenue Saturday with bags in hand, waiting for their turn to donate clothes and other goods. The store they waited patiently outside, Openclosit, is normally an “AirBnB for designer clothing,” known for renting out dresses and fashion items previously worn at red carpet Hollywood events.

But after the fires devastated the Pacific Palisades community nearby, store owner Johanna Moonan and her friend Elizabeth Turner, a former model with almost a million followers on social media, pivoted to make the store a donation point, offering free essentials to their neighbors whose homes had been destroyed.

On Saturday, the store on 16th and Montana was full of racks holding shirts, jackets, bags and baseball hats as well as shelves covered with toiletries and other essentials.

The toiletries section at the pop-up store.

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“We’ve set up a little makeshift CVS in the back with donations,” said Moonan. “Food items, baby products, dog food, toys. We’re just checking each day what people need. Yesterday was iPhone chargers. We’re updating each day on socials what we need.”

Somewhat shell-shocked men and women, with IKEA blue bags or donated suitcases in hand, were searching through the racks and shelves for clothes their size, to supplement the clothes they were standing in — the only clothes they had left.

A woman who simply gave her name as Yvonne, a teacher in Santa Monica, said she’d found “a couple of jackets, and they’ve picked out some things for my daughter.”

She hadn’t been back to her house yet in the Pacific Palisades; she’d seen a video of its destruction on TV. She choked up as she talked about it. “It was horrific to see it all happen,” she said.

But she was appreciative of what the store was offering. “There’s so much generosity happening right now across L.A.” she said, looking around her. “People like me … we need to return to normalcy, we need clothes to wear for work, and clothes for our children and toiletries and things. Here they’re doing that.”

Volunteer Marissa Stahl says many of the fire victims are clearly traumatized.

“Mostly they’ve been at a loss and unable to put together sentences,” she said. “They’re really overwhelmed with the amount of things they do need, and also overwhelmed with where to start ... So we’re trying to do a little bit to get them some essentials so that they have other clothes to wear, something to wash their face with, something to brush their teeth with, basic things.”

Baseball hats up for grabs.

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Alaia Waters, who was coming out of the store with a large bag in her hand, said her family had lost their home in Altadena in the Eaton fire. “Me and my grandma were able to pack a bag, but my grandpa left with just the clothes he had on. So I’m trying to get him some extra things, get my grandma some things, and some for me.”

Alaia Waters who came to pick up essentials after her family lost their home in the Altadena fire.

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She said she’d been able to get pants for her grandfather, socks, underwear as well as skin care and make up. “Some deodorant, toothbrushes, aspirin, things like that. All the necessities.”

Turner said she and Moonan were surprised by what their efforts blossomed into. They had only figured it would last a few days, as “a little neighborhood relief effort."

Instead it had turned into a huge operation, with the women now collaborating with the city of Santa Monica and the Los Angeles Fire Department. “We’re doing three or four runs a day to the first responders,” she said.

Johanna Moonan (L) and Elizabeth Turner (R)

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The pair will be accepting donations through the weekend, but plan to wrap up their operation by end of day Monday. After that, donations will likely be accepted by the city of Santa Monica, who will be setting up a donation headquarters at Santa Monica College.