Owners of mobile home park destroyed in the Palisades fire say they’re finally clearing the debris

Former residents of the Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Estates, a roughly 170-unit mobile home park completely destroyed in the Palisades fire, received a notice Dec. 23 from park owners saying debris removal would start as early as Jan. 2.

The Bowl is the largest of only a handful of properties in the Palisades still littered with debris nearly a year after the fire. It’s left the Bowl’s former residents, who described the park as a “slice of paradise,” stuck in limbo.

The email notice, which was reviewed by The Times, instructed residents to remove any burnt cars from their lots as quickly as possible, since contractors cannot dispose of vehicles without possessing the title. It followed months of near silence from the owners.

“The day before Christmas Eve … it triggers everybody and throws everybody upside down,” said Jon Brown, who lived in the Bowl for 10 years and now helps lead the fight for the residents’ right to return home. “Am I liable if I can’t get this done right now? Between Christmas and New Year’s? It’s just the most obnoxious, disgusting behavior.”

Brown is not optimistic the owners will follow through. “They’ve said things like this before over the years with a bunch of different things,” he said, “and then they find some reason not to do it.”

Earlier this year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied requests from the city and the Bowl’s owners to include the park in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleanup program, which FEMA said was focused on residential lots, not commercial properties. In a letter, FEMA argued it could not trust the owners of the Bowl to preserve the beachfront property as affordable housing.

The Bowl, which began as a Methodist camp in the 1890s, was purchased by Edward Biggs, a Northern California real estate mogul, in 2005 and split between his first and second wives after his death in 2021. The family has a history of failing to perform routine maintenance and seeking to redevelop the park into a more lucrative resort community.

After FEMA’s rejection, the owners failed to meet the City of L.A.’s debris removal deadlines. In October, the city’s Board of Building and Safety Commissioners declared the park a public nuisance alongside seven other properties, giving the city the authority to complete the debris removal itself and charge the owners the bill.

But the city has yet to find funds to front the work, which is expected to cost millions.

On Dec. 10, City Councilmember Traci Park filed a motion that would order the city to come up with a cost estimate for debris removal and identify funding sources within the city. It would also instruct the city attorney’s office to explore using criminal prosecution to address the uncleared properties.

The Department of Building and Safety did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Despite the recent movement on debris removal, residents of the Palisades Bowl still have a long road ahead.

On Wednesday, numerous burnt out vehicles still remained at the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Estates. The owners instructed residents they must get them removed as quickly as possible.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

In mobile home parks, tenants lease their spaces from the landowners but own the homes placed on the land. Before residents can start rebuilding, the Bowl’s owners need to replace or repair the foundations for the homes; fix any damage to the roads, utilities and retaining walls; and rebuild facilities like the community center and pool.

The owners have not responded to multiple requests for comment, but in February, Colby Biggs, Edward Biggs’ grandson, told CalMatters that “If we have to go invest $100 million to rebuild the park and we’re not able to recoup that in some fashion, then it’s not likely we will rebuild the park.”

Mobile home law experts and many residents doubt that the Biggs family would be able to convert the rent-controlled mobile home park into something else under existing law. The most realistic option, should the Biggs decide against rebuilding, would be to sell the park to another owner — or directly to the residents, a course of action the residents have been actively pursuing.

The lack of communication and action from the owners has nonetheless left the Bowl’s eclectic former community of artists, teachers, surfers, first responders and retirees in limbo.

Many are running out of insurance money for temporary housing and remain unsure whether they’ll ever be able to move back.