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Jaimie Geller, David Tishbi and Elyse Walker all lost their stores in the wildfires that swept Los Angeles’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood in January 2025. But they didn’t let their heartbreak and devastation deter them from pivoting and finding new ways to keep their businesses going.
David Tishbi Jewelry: Grand reopening
In May of last year, Tishbi found a new location on Santa Monica’s Montana Avenue for his eponymous store. It took three months to remodel it, and it had its grand opening in August.
“After being shocked and sad…we decided that life is stronger and we have to move forward and get the most out of it and look to the future instead of being sorry for ourselves,” he says.
Tishbi describes the new store as an “upgrade” for the business, an inviting space that allows him and his staff to sit with customers as they look at jewelry and design new pieces.
“We have more privacy, with more peace of mind, and we are not exposed,” he says. “I don’t feel scared constantly that someone will come and break [into] my store.”
Many locals were unable to take anything with them when evacuating from the fires, but some people’s jewelry did survive, Tishbi adds. “In some cases, we are able to restore pieces, and some people found wedding rings in the rubble.” Despite the damage, he says, “at least they have some memory and some sentimental value.”
Some people wanted to design new pieces of jewelry to honor the Palisades, so Tishbi created the Pali heart charm and a necklace spelling out 90272 — the Palisades zip code.
Jaimie Geller Jewelry: Dabbling in hybrid
A couple of months after the fires, the founder of Jaimie Geller Jewelry opened a by-appointment office space in Santa Monica and continued to operate her business online.
“It’s kind of been refreshing,” says Geller, though “I don’t think it’s sustainable for us. I think there are jewelers out there that operate out of a website and an office. It’s not for me. I’m a store girl. I am a shop girl. I thrive in that space.”
As of this writing, she had plans to sign a lease “any minute” to go back to the Palisades.
“The Palisades is the only place we have ever been,” she declares. “It will be the only place I ever am. We are not taking over the world. Our little jewel box is the Palisades.”
Geller worked with a designer from the Palisades to create her current pale-pink and green office space, which she describes as a “girl’s dream.”
“This time, I really wanted to make it like you were coming to my apartment instead of coming to my store, and that is going to carry over to our real rebuild,” she says.
Like Tishbi, Geller created a 90272 necklace after the fire, working with fellow Palisades designer Lizzie Mandler.
Elysewalker: Rebuilding nearby
Fashion retailer Elyse Walker lost her elysewalker flagship store of 25 years in the fires, but she’ll be reopening it this August in the Palisades Village shopping area, across from its original location. Palisades Village was also host to a branch of Towne by elysewalker, the retailer’s casual-format store, which suffered damage in the blaze but is set to reopen as well.
The company began looking for new locations for the flagship three days after the fires, according to elysewalker president Summer Holl, and became the first store to sign on to rebuild with Palisades Village developer Rick Caruso.
“Our hope is that it feels not too fancy or stuffy or precious,” says Holl. “Even though we do carry fine jewelry and designer apparel and bags, we always want our stores to feel approachable. Now more than ever in Pacific Palisades, it’s very important for us. Our store was always a hangout spot, sort of a little party for women to come and shop together. Now we really want to ensure that we are part of the community.”
Jewelry has always been a core category for the store, adds Alex Lippin, elysewalker’s vice president of jewelry, noting that the original flagship offered brands such as Spinelli Kilcollin, Hoorsenbuhs and Jenna Blake. She hopes to continue centering jewelry in the new location, and would particularly “like to explore the opportunity of allowing some designers and collections that have…a history or a background or a connection to Pacific Palisades to be featured in our stores.”
A disaster in numbers
• The Palisades fire affected 10,658 properties and 1,117 businesses, according to a February 2025 report by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
• Following the fire, the LA County Wildfire Claims Tracker recorded 1,685 filed insurance claims for commercial property in the Palisades. As of November 17, 2025, payouts for the relevant claims totaled over $1.08 billion.
• Among the jewelers affected by the blaze were Renna founder Renna Brown-Taher, who lost her home, and J.J. Martin, whose La DoubleJ boutique — her Milan-based brand’s first US location — was destroyed weeks before it was set to open.
Main image: Rendering of the future elysewalker flagship store. (elysewalker)
