In January, flames burned through more than 55,000 acres of Los Angeles—the costliest blaze in U.S. history. Post-disaster, the city’s coffee shops are still healing.

BY MELINA DEVONEY
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE

Featured photo by Max Kukurudziak

From January 7 to January 31, 2025, an onslaught of wildfires charred a large portion of Los Angeles, with most of the damage done by the Eaton Fire in Altadena and the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades. From the chaotic dispatch of evacuation orders to the National Guard patrolling a number of neighborhoods, the city’s coffee shops had no idea what to expect as the fires grew over the course of three weeks.

Three months later, Angelenos affected by the fires are still living a surreal existence. Today, we’re talking to a number of coffee shops affected to learn how they’re healing in the aftermath of the disaster.

A Café Owner’s Perspective: On Coping & Rebuilding

For Frank Kim, owner of Highlight Coffee in Altadena, time seemed to slow down both during and after the disaster. “It almost feels like we’re living in a fishbowl, looking at the whole world go about their lives while we’re in here trying to pick up the pieces,” Frank says. While his shop escaped structural damage, his team toiled for two months to sufficiently remediate and reopen the café.

Half of Caffe Luxxe’s eight cafés shut down due to the Palisades fire evacuation orders, including the Pacific Palisades location, which was completely destroyed. “We actually found out on the news, which was really difficult,” says the café‘s co-founder, Mark Wain. 

Caffe Luxxe’s affected Santa Monica and Brentwood locations reopened following the lift of evacuation warnings a week later, but its Malibu location was not accessible until a section of the Pacific Coast Highway reopened in early April (rain and mudslides in weeks following the fires compounded the extensive damage on either side of the highway and rendered it impassable). Mark hopes to reopen the Malibu location in late April.

Bevel Coffee, operating a coffee cart on the patio of Prime Pizza, sat less than a mile away from the epicenter of the Eaton Fire. Owner and roaster Kevin Mejia rescued his coffee cart from the patio as flames flickered in the distance. Unbound to a brick-and-mortar location, Bevel was essentially the only coffee shop in Altadena that could reopen come February—and, luckily, Prime Pizza remained relatively unscathed.

As the Dust Settles, Uncertainty Remains

As of now, evacuation warnings have been lifted, cleanup by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is underway, and ash has been scrubbed from coffee shop walls. But though the dust has finally begun to settle across the city, the trauma caused by the disaster is hard to shake. “Speech gets slurred, brain gets foggy, tasks are difficult to complete,” Frank says.

Grave uncertainty lingers in the burn scars, but cafés are reopening to serve their resurrecting communities, and coffee-business owners reflect on what the wildfires elucidated.

For Caffe Luxxe, Highlight, and Bevel, the most significant loss from the fires is the fracturing of community and hardship faced by customers. Kevin describes the pain shared between grieving regulars and his café’s employees as “vicarious trauma.”

“In the early days of the fire, I drove through the area and saw our regulars sifting (through) smoking rubble of what was their homes. It’s a sight I’ll never forget, and (it) breaks my heart to imagine the loss to so many in our community,” Frank says.

Of the tens of thousands of Altadena residents that were displaced, Frank suspects that at least 20% of Highlight customers will never return. In a more extreme case, Kevin estimates that Bevel lost 70% of its customers—but he expresses that he can’t begin to predict the ultimate loss.

Over the past few months, loyal customers have stepped up to help each business stay afloat, with post-fire sales at Bevel remaining nearly on par with their normal numbers. Many displaced customers refused free coffee from Kevin, insisting on paying to keep Bevel open.

Bevel also sold hundreds of “Altadena” mugs, designed and printed entirely through donations, and gave the proceeds to displaced families.  

The fires directed attention and donations toward the broader L.A. community and, albeit unfortunate, “It’s still attention that we can use to do good things—like sell these mugs—so that we can get money to people that need it, or just serve coffee to somebody that needs it,” Kevin says.  

“It sucks a little bit that it takes a natural disaster to bring people together in this way, but I’m also happy that the community exists and rallies in a way that makes us really feel like we’re doing the right thing, and that we have to keep doing what we’re doing,” he continues.

Shaking Survivor’s Guilt 

“We felt lucky to have survived when so many others lost everything. First, there is survivor’s guilt and, eventually, the reality of the challenges ahead began to set in,” Frank says. 

Initially, Highlight rallied support for friends in immediate need, such as community members who lost their homes—including one of their baristas. Only after the most affected people received support did Frank request financial assistance for the shop.

“People in our community really came through for us, and we will be forever grateful,” Frank says. “It will be extremely difficult for many businesses to stay afloat with the lack of customers, but as our neighborhood rebuilds, we will need small businesses to be around so we can feel back at home again.” 

Because Bevel’s coffee cart escaped the flames, and because he lives and roasts in Monrovia, Kevin felt an uncomfortable disconnect of “living in this liminal space.” It was the Altadena community that convinced Kevin to mobilize his fortune and provide a “third space” to unite: Kevin applied for a Small Business Administration loan to cover revenue loss and fund additional equipment for pop-ups.

Bevel was planning to open a brick-and-mortar in Altadena this year—and still hopes to do so. “We’re committed to being a part of Altadena, especially now,” Kevin says.  

The Importance of Third Spaces: Healing Post-Disaster

Across the three businesses, customers expressed immense gratitude that they reopened as soon as possible to provide emotional support and a sense of normalcy. For everyone working and visiting, cafés offer space to lean on one another and help shake what Frank refers to as the “sometimes paralyzing grief.”

Post-disaster, Caffe Luxxe regulars who lost their homes still made the trek to the shop’s open locations. The establishment also offered solace to its employees who needed company and the comfort of a routine, when all else felt uncertain. 

“One of our baristas lived in the Palisades and lost his home. Within five days, he was back at work … that really hit home,” Mark recalls. “It was really important for him to be there for his team, (and to) allow his team to be there for him … and, also, (for him to) be there for our customers who were in the same boat as him.”

Mark shares that Caffe Luxxe plans to make its return to the Palisades as soon as possible. “We’re going to be there helping to rebuild the Palisades community: one brick at a time, one cup of coffee at a time,” he says.

Tomorrow, we’ll publish part two of this article and hear more on how L.A. coffee shops are healing from January’s wildfires.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melina Devoney (she/her) is a barista and freelance writer in Los Angeles zeroed in on coffee and agriculture. She aims to amplify the voices of farmers and a diversity of perspectives within the coffee industry, and she’s happiest when running on wooded trails and dancing at concerts.

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