This Winter, the Palisades Gathers on Swarthmore While Its Park Is Rebuilt

On October 15, the Palisades Park Advisory Board held its quarterly meeting at Rustic Canyon Recreation Center, not at the park it advises. The Palisadian-Post's photographs of that evening show board members at Rustic Canyon getting the reconstruction schedule for the Palisades Recreation Center. Utility work and site clearing were set to begin Monday, October 26. The bigger closures come in mid-November.

The meeting location is a preview of the season. For the next several months, the neighborhood's regular gatherings move off Alma Real Drive. The weekly market, the monthly socials, the new dinner reservations and the movie screen hoped for before year-end are all scheduled in Palisades Village and along Swarthmore Avenue. The park's own staff have moved too.

What goes behind the fences in mid-November, and what stays open

According to the Palisadian-Post's report, Andy Starrels, president of the Park Advisory Board, spoke at the October 15 meeting on behalf of Steadfast LA, which is leading the reconstruction. He said the November closures will cover both parking lots, the playground, the basketball courts, the ball fields and the maintenance yard. The tennis and bocce courts are meant to stay open "as long as possible."

Tennis comes out of this better than anything else in the park. The Palisades Tennis Center has reopened two upper courts with new surfaces and fencing. Board member Mike Tomas said the last two courts were scheduled to be finished on October 19, which would put all eight in play. The courts don't have new lighting yet, and a new clubhouse is still at the planning stage.

The ball fields and lower parking lot are projected to reopen for baseball season in March 2027. Starrels was careful about that date, as he told the Palisadian-Post:

"Those dates will be constantly fine-tuned as they get further feedback from subcontractors and as weather conditions affect the build. There's no denying construction is tough, and a year-plus of construction at the park is going to have bumps and hurdles."

Recreation programs are still running. Winter basketball registration opens Monday, November 2, at 10 a.m. According to Councilwoman Traci Park's office, the Palisades Recreation Center staff are working out of Rustic Canyon Recreation Center for the length of the construction.

The Village calendar fills the week

Palisades Village reopened on August 15. A 10:30 a.m. ribbon cutting started the day, stores opened at 11 a.m., and an 8 p.m. finale closed it out. The more lasting part of the reopening was the free recurring programming Caruso announced alongside it, to begin in the weeks that followed. As announced, that schedule puts a gathering in the Village nearly every week:

• Mahjong Social: Mondays, 10 a.m. to noon
• Rummikub Social: first Tuesday of the month, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Pacific Palisades Farmers Market: Wednesdays, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.
• Cars & Coffee: fourth Sunday of the month, 8 to 10 a.m.

The market has kept its schedule. Councilwoman Park's October 2 update confirmed it was running every Wednesday on Swarthmore Avenue. The Palisades Village events page lists the season through December 30. The market came back on August 19 as a midweek afternoon event, and its organizers said they would gauge turnout before bringing back the Sunday market, with no date set.

Errands are coming back to the same blocks. City National Bank reopened its branch at 15273 Sunset Boulevard on October 5, open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gelson's has announced plans to rebuild at 15424 Sunset Boulevard, but it has not confirmed dates for construction or reopening.

Dinner is settled, and the movies are next

The restaurant list was the last major piece of the reopening still unfinished, and it filled in on October 15. That day Nancy Silverton opened Spacca Tutto, her Italian American steakhouse at 15255 Palisades Village Lane. The Daily News covered the opening. The restaurant serves lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. every day. Eater LA recommends booking through OpenTable and reports that the bar takes walk-ins only. When the restaurant was announced in 2025, it was expected to open in August 2026, so it arrived about two months later than first planned.

Spacca Tutto joins the restaurants that came back on reopening day. Porta Via is at 1063 North Swarthmore Avenue, open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Angelini and Blue Ribbon Sushi are back too, and Timothy Hollingsworth's Alphabet Bar & Grill is new to the Village.

The Bay Theater is meant to complete the evening. On October 19, Paramount Pictures and Rick Caruso announced a partnership to reopen it, which the Palisadian-Post reported they hope to do before the end of the year, with an opening date expected to be announced "in the coming weeks." Plans call for the theater to show first-run releases, classic films and curated events, with luxury seating and in-theater dining. The Lot, which runs dine-in cinemas in La Jolla, Point Loma, Newport Beach and San Ramon, will operate it. The Bay menu hasn't been released. At Fashion Island in Newport Beach, The Lot serves burgers, pasta, grilled salmon and buttermilk pancakes alongside popcorn. Netflix ran the Bay from 2021 until the January 2025 fire. Its return would give the Palisades a public evening venue for the first time since then.

Two family days on one weekend

Halloween weekend shows the new split most clearly. On Saturday, October 31, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Palisades and Rustic Canyon recreation centers will host a joint Halloween Carnival at Rustic Canyon, with games, costumes, arts and crafts, and face painting. The next morning, Loomey's Toys plans to open at 15275 West Sunset Boulevard. Owner Amanda Rastegar first opened Loomey's on Via de la Paz in March 2022, so this is a return home for a store that started in the Palisades. The November 1 date is the opening Rastegar announced over the summer, so check before you go.

From now through the end of the year, these are the dated events on the calendar:

The Bay Theater isn't in the table because it doesn't have a date yet.

Where the open space is while the park is closed

The playground and ball fields are closing, but the trails above the neighborhood reopened this summer. Temescal Gateway Park reopened on July 17. The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy listed the Rivas and Sunset trails as open, along with the Sycamore Grove and Rubell picnic areas. The waterfall trail stayed closed. Will Rogers State Historic Park has been open since November 2025, with access limited to some trails and areas.

Farther out, the long-requested Potrero Canyon pedestrian bridge is still in early stages. The Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering has finished soil borings and geological analysis, an environmental report comes next, and board member David Card told the Park Advisory Board, as the Palisadian-Post reported, that the agreement between Caltrans and the other agencies "is still pending because they're still talking."

The PaliBu Chamber of Commerce's Resource & Recovery Expo on October 11 shows where the neighborhood's public space has moved. More than 150 exhibitors set up along La Cruz Drive, Alma Real Drive and Swarthmore Avenue, the same streets that connect the closing park to the busy Village. The Chamber said it was the fourth and final quarterly expo of 2026. When the ball fields return in spring, they'll reopen next to a Village with a full winter calendar.

At The Carrabba Group, we follow the Palisades recovery one reopening at a time, from the new tennis courts to the first night the Bay Theater shows a film. If you'd like to talk about what this season means for your own plans in the neighborhood, we're glad to sit down with you. Work With Us.