Palisades Towne Hall Foundation
Organized by Towne Hall Foundation
Our place to gather and rebuild together!
A non-profit community endeavor - by the Palisades, for the Palisades.
Please note: this fundraising page is specifically for families wanting to make a tax-deductible donation to the Towne Hall project. Everything else is the same except for the use of funds and the unavailability of perks/gifts that you can receive on the Crowdfunding page you can find here. You family will still receive the acknowledgement for your contribution, but by non-profit laws, you cannot receive "gifts of value" in exchange for your charitable donation.
Similarly, Towne Hall will not be able to use these proceeds to build out the property - build the containers other physical assets. These proceeds will be used to operate the facility and to support community events.
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We need a place in the Palisades to come together, rebuild our community, share resources and heal from the devastating Los Angeles Fires. I'm a Palisades native, born and raised, and I lost all 7 homes I've ever lived in in this town. I'm back and renting on El Medio while we push ahead with my family's rebuilding efforts.
We have no local services - very few restaurants. It's a ghost town once the construction ends each day and we all know it will be years before things feel remotely normal again. I want to help accelerate those efforts by building our new community hub where residents can come together to solve the problems we face and work together to bring solutions so the Palisades can come back stronger than ever. Hence the name - Towne Hall.
My vision is to build a portable, modular outdoor marketplace - something we can execute quickly and also relocate to other undeveloped commercial lots as needed. We've secured a lease for a lot on Via de La Paz. We will start here and see if we can make this a special place for the community and supporters that want to help our cause.
Every contribution makes you a permanent Founding Member of Towne Hall.
Your charitable contribution will directly fund:
- Free and subsidized community events open to all Palisades residents — art exhibitions supporting local artists whose studios were lost in the fires, Little League and youth sporting events, fundraisers for community organizations, neighborhood association meetings, and community healing gatherings.
- Physical space and support for local nonprofits — arts organizations, youth sports leagues, neighborhood associations, and fire recovery organizations will have a home at Towne Hall to host their own events and programming.
- Community recovery programming — resource fairs, civic planning events, and long-term revitalization initiatives that help bring the Palisades back stronger.
- The operational costs of keeping Towne Hall running as a community resource — rent, utilities, staffing for community programming, and the costs of maintaining the space for nonprofit and community use.
The vision for Towne Hall is being brought to you by Brian Garrett, his wife and kids (Elisa, Oliver, Xander and Nate) and his two best friends since Kindergarten at Marquez - Craig Polin and Andrew Robins. Our life, our memories and our friendships are built around the foundational experiences that are core to the Palisades - PPBA, Herb's League, Junior Lifeguards at Jetty, the YMCA, Mort's Deli, Baskin Robbins and the Mobil Mart!
Numerous other multi-generational Palisades families are contributing their skills and services to bring this project to life and all of them will be recognized at the Grand Opening.
We want to bring back that sense of community and togetherness that is the very essence of what makes the Palisades so great.
Please support this effort and help us amplify the impact we can have on rebuilding the Palisades!
Updates
24 days ago
Groundbreakers Opening Party! Next Friday September 25th from 5-8pm
Well, I said I would be pouring beers before the end of September and I didn't want to break my promise! And, while we aren't quite ready for our Grand Opening, we figured this was a great way to show appreciation for the Donors and Partners to Towne Hall that have made this all possible.
This has been an incredible effort from the team - our contractors, product sponsors and the community at-large. Unbelievable support from this community. Every day, someone new reaches out with an idea or product sponsor - so appreciated!
Please come by to catch-up with your neighbors, grab a drink and see the progress we've made in just under 3 months. We will have the CHX food truck, Flour Pizza, dessert and beer and wine a flowing!
This is a private event and just for the contributing Donors and Partners that have helped make Towne Hall a reality. If you contributed, your extended family is of course welcome to attend. That said, we want all Palisadians to support this effort, so share the link, then nudge them to contribute to the Crowdfunding effort as well!
There is no cost to attend, but please test out our next Ticketing/Event system by RSVP'ing at this link below:
about 2 months ago
To all of our Towne Hall Donors:
We've been hard at work since this project first kicked off and I'm so appreciative of the support all of you and the broader Palisades community have shown for this idea. Clearly, this concept has hit a nerve with our community and will hopefully serve the need we all feel/see in this town.
If you missed our update this week, please give this Instagram update a like/share/repost!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db8svD7CLiW/
Beyond these updates, here is where we stand with the project:
- Construction and buildout are going great - thanks to Vista Engineering and Scotty Saunder's team leaning in every day.
- This week we should lay down the base/decomposed granite and start the front fencing solution. We will also lay the low voltage wiring for outdoor speakers/entertainment.
- Our beverage unit is being designed. We anticipate having this built out by the end of August.
- We've had incredible interest from other merchants that want to be a part of the marketplace. I haven't committed to any partners yet as I have to see how final design/layout of the site ends up. That said, we are excited to support other vendors/small businesses at Towne Hall in whatever capacity we can.
- We are just beginning the permit process - it's unclear what's ahead and it's clearly not a simple and smooth path. I'll keep updating you on open dates/timelines as I learn more.
- Everything is expensive! I'm shocked at how much everything costs and we are working hard to get donations and discounts for every aspect of the buildout.
So, how can you most help? Please spread the word. I think we need to raise more money to make sure this project is a success. Think about it - we've raised north of $400K from less than 300 donors. The Palisades has 10K+ residents. As I've said before, Towne Hall only works if EVERY Palisadian feels this is their community center and the place to host meetings, events, etc. So, please, push this out to your neighbors and friends!
We've got more press coverage, social posts and political support coming our way, but I feel we are just scratching the surface on the community support that we could achieve.
Thank you and I'll be in touch soon with more updates!
-Brian and the Towne Hall team
