Nearly two years after wildfire devastated Pacific Palisades, a cluster of major financial institutions along Sunset Boulevard is emerging as a sign of confidence in the community’s future, but local leaders say the bigger test is whether that confidence translates into capital for residents and businesses still trying to return.
Four major banks are now operating within the immediate vicinity of the Palisades Recovery Coalition, according to Maryam Zar, CEO of the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce and founder and president of the Palisades Recovery Coalition.
For Zar, their presence sends an important economic signal at a moment when rebuilding remains far from complete. “Within the immediate vicinity of the Palisades Recovery Coalition on Sunset Boulevard, we now have four major banks,” Zar said. “That tells financial institutions believe in the future of Pacific Palisades, and they’re investing in our comeback.”
Nearly two years after the fires, the return of financial institutions is only part of the equation. “That confidence must translate into capital, resources and real recovery solutions for fire survivors who, nearly two years after the devastation, are still struggling to return home,” Zar said.
The latest sign came with City National Bank’s reopening of its Palisades Village branch at 15273 W. Sunset Blvd., restoring a physical banking location the company had operated for more than a decade before the fire displaced it.
The branch’s return provides residents and business owners with in-person access to mortgage consultations, business financing and personal banking as many continue to navigate insurance settlements, reconstruction costs and the financial consequences of prolonged displacement.
City National said its 1,423-square-foot renovated branch includes two private consultation rooms, an ATM and three service desks. “Many of our clients lost homes or businesses in the fires,” said Lindsay Dunn, executive vice president and head of Personal & Business Banking at City National. “We’re here to help them navigate their financial needs as the community continues to rebuild and recover.”
The bank and its parent company, Royal Bank of Canada, committed a combined $3 million to Southern California wildfire relief efforts following the fires. City National also offered qualifying clients affected by the disaster a three-year mortgage and home-equity-line-of-credit forbearance period.
Yet the larger challenge facing the Palisades extends beyond the reopening of individual institutions. Restoring a functioning community requires homes to be rebuilt, businesses to reopen and residents to return, all of which depend, in part, on access to financing and the ability of public and private institutions to support a recovery expected to take years. “Residents remain determined to rebuild and businesses are fighting to come back,” Zar said. “This community has every reason to achieve a historic recovery, but what we need now are the systems, financing and institutional commitments to match that determination.”
That challenge also carries implications beyond the Palisades. The rebuilding is unfolding within the interconnected Westside economy, where Santa Monica and neighboring communities share residents, workers, customers, businesses and tourism.
As the Palisades moves further from immediate disaster response and deeper into long-term reconstruction, the return of banks and other essential businesses offers one measure of economic confidence. Whether that confidence ultimately helps residents rebuild homes and entrepreneurs restore businesses will provide another.
Zar said the community should be aiming for more than simply recreating what existed before the disaster. “This was a devastating and, in my view, preventable fire, made possible by years of inadequate attention to public safety and preparedness,” Zar said. “We owe this community more than a return to normal. We owe it a recovery worthy of its resilience and its future.”