Sanctuary Spa is set to reopen Thursday, October 29, 2026, at 530 Palisades Drive in Pacific Palisades, restoring spa services to the neighborhood nearly two years after the Palisades Fire forced it to close. Owners Racquel and Jeffrey Jacobs opened the holistic spa in December 2024, about a month before the fire. It will operate daily from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Jacobses’ plans for reopening follow a seven-month buildout and nearly two years of discussions with their insurer, according to the Palisadian-Post. Jeffrey Jacobs told the outlet they decided to proceed without waiting for an insurance settlement. The couple has lived in the Palisades for well over two decades. One of their two residences in the community was damaged and has undergone remediation; the other burned down in the fire, the report said.
Jeffrey Jacobs said the couple ultimately decided not to wait on a settlement before moving forward. “We decided that we were going to proceed one way or another with or without settling at this moment with the insurance company,” he said. The Jacobses have lived in the Palisades for well over two decades and own two residences in the community — one that sustained damage and has been undergoing remediation, and a second that burned down entirely in the fire, per the same report.
Spa Services Return, With a Nail Studio to Follow
Sanctuary Spa will offer facials, massages and body scrubs, as well as treatments for older adults. Racquel Jacobs, whose background includes massage therapy, aesthetic medicine and gerontology, described the spa’s intended atmosphere as “warm, coastal, calm,” according to the Palisadian-Post. One treatment, an “ageless massage,” is intended to support circulation, flexibility and relaxation.
The couple also plans to use vegan and clean products for the spa’s existing services and its forthcoming nail offerings, the outlet reported.
Nail Services Planned for Adjacent Suite
About a week after the spa reopens, the Jacobses plan to open Nails by Sanctuary Spa in an adjacent suite connected to the main spa. The expansion is set to offer manicures, pedicures and related services; Sanctuary Spa’s website describes the studio as located “adjacent to our main spa.”
The nail studio is intended to provide a quieter setting, with soft lighting, relaxing music and ventilation designed to reduce nail-polish odor. The timing matters for residents returning to the neighborhood: the Palisadian-Post reported that most other nail salons in town had burned down in the fire.
Reopening Is One Part of a Longer Business Recovery
Jeffrey Jacobs told the Palisadian-Post that he received daily calls and visits from people expressing support before the reopening. The business continued selling gift certificates while closed. Jacobs spoke about the community returning and supporting the business.
Sanctuary Spa’s reopening comes amid a wider recovery that has been uneven for businesses in fire-affected neighborhoods. A year after the January wildfires, most businesses in the affected areas remained shuttered, and more than 1,800 small businesses in the burn zones were tied to over 11,000 jobs, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Palisades Fire destroyed more than 6,800 structures and forced most neighborhood residents to relocate.
Commercial property owners also faced cleanup costs: unlike residential parcels, commercial properties were excluded from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ debris-cleanup assignment, leaving business owners to handle charred debris and toxic waste themselves, the Times reported. Ruby Nails & Spa, another Pacific Palisades business, reopened in September after an eight-month closure, but its owners told the paper that business remained at roughly half of pre-fire levels.
What Records Show About Returning and Recovery Aid
A NORC at the University of Chicago survey found that only about a quarter of Pacific Palisades residents had returned one year after the fire. That figure measures residential return, not business activity or customer traffic; the survey also found that 13 percent of heavily impacted homeowners had broken ground on construction. For businesses facing economic losses, Cal OES said eligible small businesses that suffered substantial economic injury could seek SBA disaster loans for working capital. The agency listed Oct. 8, 2025, as the application deadline and did not say whether any particular business received assistance.
