AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Sun, sand, surf - California's scenic Pacific Coast Highway has it all. Since the deadly Palisades fire last January, the portion of road that runs through the burn scar has been closed to all but residents and cleanup crews. Now the section is open in time for the holiday weekend, bringing much-needed business and mixed emotions. NPR's Liz Baker takes us up the coast.
(SOUNDBITE OF WAVES CRASHING)
LIZ BAKER, BYLINE: Since the Palisades fire nearly five months ago, getting to this world-famous break at Surfrider has been more difficult than usual.
MILTON WILLIS: Hallelujah, Memorial Day weekend and they opened up the road.
BAKER: Surfer Milton Willis lives in Malibu, and he has the beach almost to himself today. He's glad PCH is reopening, even if it means more competition in the lineup, because it also means that the area is starting to heal from the fire that killed 12 people and burned over 23,000 acres.
WILLIS: It's tragic, and we pray for the guys who lost their homes and everything negative that happened, but you can see that progress is happening.
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BAKER: Waxing up his surfboard in the parking lot, Adam Hutzle says it's also an opportunity to remember what was lost.
ADAM HUTZLE: You forget about it a little bit. We just go about our lives not realizing. And then you drive by Altadena or the Palisades or something, and then it really hits, again, what the city went through and what it's still going through.
BAKER: With PCH open, carpool buddies Maria Shen and Emma Fresco debate making the drive for the first time.
MARIA SHEN: It'd be worth it, right? What do you think?
EMMA FRESCO: Yeah, I would like - it's a nicer drive.
SHEN: Well...
FRESCO: Well, actually, no, it's not anymore.
SHEN: It's just a drive.
FRESCO: Yeah. Never mind.
BAKER: It might be too soon and too emotional, she says.
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ALEC RADTKE: Yeah, it was super bizarre. It was a little bit dusty. Obviously, a lot of heavy trucks.
BAKER: Cyclist Alec Radtke rode his bike up the reopened stretch, which passes right next to the melted and warped remains of a large trailer park. In other spots, unobstructed ocean views are all that remain where tall buildings once stood.
RADTKE: It looks like a lot of the structures have been sort of cleaned out, but, of course, there's a bunch of freestanding walls and empty debris, and that was definitely kind of an emotional section of the ride.
BAKER: At the Malibu Country Mart shopping center, business is just starting to pick up.
SCOTT RICHTER: I think it's just going to take time for people to get used to coming here 'cause they've been used to not for five months.
BAKER: Scott Richter owns a cafe and deli. He's optimistic things will pick up over the long weekend. And so is Emma Carroll, who works at Malibu Village Books across the plaza.
EMMA CARROLL: It's been so, so difficult for all of us in this shopping center.
BAKER: Carroll grew up in Malibu, so she understands why some residents are anxiously bracing for lookie-loos, looters and outsiders insensitive to the trauma locals have endured. But she's hopeful it'll bring good things, too, like enough new customers to make up for five months of lost business.
CARROLL: It's Memorial Day weekend. Anything could happen.
BAKER: After all, she says, who doesn't love a good beach read?
Liz Baker, NPR News, Malibu.
(SOUNDBITE OF ILIAS' "SEPTEMBER MEMORY") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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