Duke’s Malibu survived the Palisades Fire. The mud has kept it closed

Jimmy Chavez, the general manager of Duke's in Malibu, felt lucky in January. His restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway had survived the Palisades Fire, as it had the Woolsey and Franklin fires.

“Luckily, we didn’t sustain much direct damage from the fires,” Chavez said.

Duke’s was one of the few buildings still standing, which came with its own set of difficulties.

“All of our neighbors around us were dramatically impacted, if not lost their homes. So there was a little bit of survivor's guilt initially,” Chavez said.

But he was about two weeks from reopening when it began to rain.

On the evening of Feb. 13, a mudslide rushed down Las Flores Creek, turning into a river that charged into Duke’s.

The water filled the crawl space under the restaurant. Mud coated the walls. The furniture, the ovens, the refrigerators, the plumbing — all unusable.

The entry to Duke's, taken shortly after the mudslides.

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“The mudslide was initially like wow, we can’t get a break,” Chavez said.

Then began an odyssey that Duke’s continues to claw back from.

Unable to open, Chavez let go all 130 employees, some of whom had been there for 15 or 20 years. Five months out from the flood, unemployment has run out amidst delays.

“You’re feeling their pain,” Chavez said. “ There's lots of restaurants fun to work at and stuff, but we have very much a family feeling in our restaurant.”

He began to rebuild alone.

“It took a little over two months just to get the mud out of the building,” Chavez said.

Emptying the building was just the beginning.

“We essentially had to gut the restaurant,” Chavez said.

He’s had to replace the plumbing, electrical and myriad equipment — ovens, grills, flattops, the literal bar. And that has meant a lot of waiting and delays.

“ It seems like everything is taking a little longer than is expected,” he said.

Muddy water rose about a foot high inside the restaurant.

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Chavez and Duke’s have been through weather damage before. In 2011, the recovery after part of the restaurant was hit by flooding took 10 weeks.

“ I was there the night that it flooded in 2011, that you just, you can't do a whole lot to control that,” he said.

This time, “I was trying to just extrapolate that in my head of, how long is this going to be?”

He wondered if it would be three, four, even five months. In all, Chavez is looking at an eight- to nine-month repair.

Chavez said the city, local officials, the health department and even the insurance company have all come to aid the restaurant’s rebuild.

The restaurant had been a pillar in the community.

“We have good  brand recognition, but they're a lot more than that to the communities that they're in,” Chavez said about the restaurant. “They're places that families gather.”

And now, zooming out, he can see the flooding as “ probably a blessing in disguise for two reasons.”

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

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First, if Duke's had reopened in February, when Pacific Coast Highway would have been closed for the following three months, the restaurant would have struggled as other Malibu businesses did.

Second, “ We're almost 30 years old, and to get a full refresh is amazing,” he said.

For such an overhaul, permitting, fabrication and shipping materials are all taking longer than expected. Chavez is realistically looking at partially reopening the Barefoot Bar patio in mid- to late August.

“The marketing team is a little ahead of ourselves,” he said with a laugh, correcting an initial announcement of reopening in July.

The Barefoot Bar at Duke's in Malibu, before the mudslide. The restaurant's owner hopes to reopen at least the bar in August.

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He’s looking at a full reopening at the end of September or October. He calls this “stage two” and admits that it’s almost too far out to think about.

But he looks forward to doing events for the community as it rebuilds.

“ We’ll definitely be doing events, at least one, if not multiple big events for the community,” he said.

There are still blocks in eastern Malibu that haven’t cleared debris.

"Malibu’s ready to start the rebuilding process,” he said. He hopes to host events “ that honor those very specific communities and the people and the families that have been there for generations.”

He's spoken to the homeowners association from Big Rock, where homes were destroyed, to contribute to fundraising efforts.

Going into the restaurant’s 30th anniversary in 2026, Chavez’s focus will remain on the community.

“ I'm looking forward to that part of the rebuilding process and getting everybody down to the restaurant again, where we can hold an event for the community and everybody can then start to celebrate things again,” he said.