How Highlands Plaza Became the Palisades' Other Main Street

On Saturday, September 19, Amy Russo held the grand opening of the Palisades General Store at 542½ Palisades Drive. The guests ate food from two of her neighbors. One caterer was Spruzzo, a few doors down in the same center. The other was Café Vida, which had served the Palisades since 2002 from the Business Block and was getting ready to open again a few storefronts away.

That menu tells you what Highlands Plaza has turned into. The small center near Sunset Boulevard and Palisades Drive used to be the Highlands' everyday stop for coffee, dry cleaning and mail. It now houses a growing share of the businesses that once made up the Palisades downtown.

The Center That Stood

The Palisadian-Post's running list of structures after the January 2025 fire included Palisades Highlands Plaza, 514–548 Palisades Drive, among the buildings still standing. The same list named the Woman's Club, American Legion Post 283 and Palisades Village.

Standing did not mean open. Spruzzo, the Italian-American restaurant at 538, told the Palisadian-Post that its space had no fire damage but could not reopen until water and power came back. It reopened on May 1, 2025,. Starbucks at 514 followed on July 28, 2025.

That first wave was the plaza coming back as it had been. By May 2026, the Palisadian-Post's directory of reopened businesses listed the familiar tenants back at their addresses. Moku Sushi was at 524, Highland Postal Center at 528, LEAD Education at 532, Murre Cleaners at 534 and Palisades Wine & Spirits at 544.

The second wave, still under way, is something new.

Who Came Up the Hill

In 2026 the plaza started taking in businesses whose former neighborhoods are gone, and each one brought its own history.

Gerry Blanck taught martial arts in Pacific Palisades for 43 years. The fire destroyed his studio at 16624 Marquez Avenue and his longtime earlier location at 881 Alma Real Drive. According to the Palisadian-Post, he signed a three-year lease on about 1,200 square feet at 542 Palisades Drive. He began private lessons there on May 1, 2026, and held his grand opening on June 1. He told the paper what made the move possible:

"There's a core group of kids and adults that I didn't have to advertise for. Keeping that nucleus together was worth it."

Amy Russo co-owned Obsessed, a jewelry boutique on Via de la Paz that burned in the fire. Her next venture was the General Store, which soft-opened in mid-August before its September celebration.

Café Vida spent more than two decades in the Business Block before the fire destroyed that location. It is moving into the former K Bakery space at 548 Palisades Drive, at the north end of the plaza. Co-owner Luis Castaneda gave the Palisadian-Post a first-week-of-November target and said, "the place is ready to go."

The Yogurt Shoppe also used to be in or near the Business Block. It is on the same list of local businesses planning to relocate to Highlands Plaza.

In its report on Blanck's return, the Palisadian-Post described this cluster as the kind of critical mass that can start to shift a recovery's momentum.

Why the Moves Point Here

Part of the reason is plain geography. For a business that wants to stay in the Palisades, a standing building with its utilities back is a short list of options. The money behind the moves also mattered.

Build Back Pali is a teen-led nonprofit that has raised more than $500,000 for local business recovery. Its $50,000 contribution to Blanck came with one condition: he had to sign a lease in the Palisades. Once he did, the money went straight to his new landlord and covered his deposit and first few months of rent. The Yogurt Shoppe received Build Back Pali funding as well.

A grant that requires a Palisades address sends businesses toward whatever leasable space the Palisades has. In 2026, a good share of that space is on Palisades Drive.

The tenants' own commitments are long-term. Castaneda told the Palisadian-Post that Café Vida signed a long-term lease:

"We're confident that the Palisades will be back. We do know that it's been challenging and still a lot of development needs to happen. So it'll be a slow build but we are confident in that long term."

The Plaza, Storefront by Storefront

This is the plaza as reported through late October, in address order from Sunset toward the north end.

Café Vida, Sanctuary Spa and the General Store are the plaza's most recent arrivals and returns.

Café Vida will have more seating than it had in the Business Block. Most of it is on a year-round patio with a pergola and heaters, which makes up for a small interior with only a few tables. It will start with breakfast and lunch and add beer and wine. Castaneda said dinner may come once the restaurant is settled.

Sanctuary Spa first opened in December 2024, a month before the fire. Racquel and Jeffrey Jacobs announced an October 29 reopening after a seven-month buildout designed by local architect Michael Kovac. The suite next door used to hold a nail salon that chose not to return. The couple announced Nails by Sanctuary Spa for that space, connected through the spa's lobby, and planned a quiet setting with two private treatment rooms. "So we felt the community needed it and that the community would love it," Jeffrey Jacobs told the Palisadian-Post. Sanctuary's website lists hours of 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, with booking for both spa and nail services.

Palisades General Store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. It sells Loonen bottled water, specialty teas, home décor, jewelry, kitchenware, clothing and candles made in West Hollywood. Russo introduced a frozen yogurt machine at the grand opening and plans to make it permanent. Through a Buenas Florals arrangement, fresh bouquets are scheduled to arrive at the store every Thursday.

How the Plaza Fits With the Village

Highlands Plaza does not replace the commercial district down the hill, which is coming back on a different schedule. The Wednesday farmers market runs on Swarthmore Avenue at Palisades Village from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. through December 30. Nancy Silverton's Spacca Tutto opened at 15255 Palisades Village Lane on October 15. Village retail is filling in around both.

The two centers fill different roles. The Village has destination dining and the weekly market. The plaza on Palisades Drive has the errands: shipping, dry cleaning, a morning coffee, a lesson after school, a sushi order on the way home. Some of those errands are now handled by businesses that used to be in and around the Business Block, at new addresses a few minutes up Palisades Drive.

With Café Vida at the north end and The Yogurt Shoppe on the way, the plaza's lineup at the start of 2027 will look very different from what stood there in January 2025. Because these openings are new, hours may still change, so it is worth checking a business's own channels before driving up.

A shopping center's lineup affects the value of the homes around it. If you own in the Highlands or along Palisades Drive and want to know how this new mix of neighbors could factor into your home's value, Irene Dazzan-Palmer and her team can walk you through it in a private conversation. Request a Private Market Valuation.