Malibu, California, is a dawn patrol on Surfrider Beach, a coveted time for surfers to have the opportunity to catch the world-famous right-hand point breaking wave. But on this dark summer day, there are only a few dozen people bob on the surfboard, waiting for the perfect swell.

"It's like being empty," Maria Shen, a surfer, said of turnout. "We can have a hundred people trying to get the same wave in a day that's a little bigger than that."

Since the Palisades fire in January, apart from residents, emergency responders and construction engineers, a portion of the Pacific Coast Expressway has been closed, speeding up large-scale cleanups, but inadvertently isolating the beach city of Malibu.

All of this changed on Memorial Day weekend when city officials announced the reopening of the Pacific Coast Expressway, known locally as "PCH", just in time for a three-day weekend.

"Hallelujah, Memorial Day weekend, they opened the road!" Surfer Milton Willis, a surfer who has lived in Malibu for the past five years, was delighted.

He is glad that PCH is reopening, even if it means more crowded waves, as it also means the area is starting to heal from the fires that killed 12 people and burned 23,000 acres.

"It's tragic, you pray for the guys who have lost their lives and lost their homeland," Willis said. "But you can see progress happening."

This progress includes the Army Corps of Engineers cleaning up more than 60% of debris. Still, twisted metal beams, rusty car bodies and charred palm trees can be seen from the PCH, which itself is a bit worn and worn after months of use of the heavy construction vehicle.

"It's absolutely weird," said Alec Radtke, a cyclist. This time, he noticed a sea view that he had never seen before, with multi-storey buildings used to block the view.

“It’s super weird,” Radek said of the experience. "It's a little dusty; obviously a lot of heavy trucks. It looks like a lot of the structure has been cleaned up, but with a lot of separate walls and empty debris, it's definitely an emotional part of the journey."

General Manager Stephen McNelis said at Malibu Country Mart that shopping malls are “a bit like ghost towns.” He hopes this weekend will be a robust summer start.

It wasn't just the Palisades fire, it was the Franklin Fire, which arrived at the complex in December. Businesses lost the crucial Christmas holiday shopping season before being hit by Palisades Fire and PCH shutdowns a month later.

“We persisted in solving this problem,” McNelis said, noting that few stores here went bankrupt. As PCH is turned on again, “I think this will get better.”

Frank Milliren works in a high-end shoe store in the square and he is not sure. “The fire has caused a huge loss to the business,” he said, questioning whether travelers on the reopening road would harbor the best interests of the community.

"A lot of traffic will be a terrible damage to people," he said. He responded to some local concerns that PCH would bring lookie-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-look-therevers and Destress to traumatize locals.

“Many of my childhood friends who lived in Malibu all my life and had to move out of town,” said resident Emma Carroll. “After everything that happened, it was just a very different town.”

Carroll, director of Malibu Country Books, said the store has lost “a lot of money” in the past five months.

“We all have a hard time in this shopping mall,” she said. “The business in Malibu has been struggling and we are all very eager to attract some people to move around and spend the summer with some of these tourists.”

But she is “very, very hopeful” and will bring in some much-needed clients this weekend.

“It’s Memorial Day weekend,” she said with a smile. "anything could happen."