After the Main Fire, Light Up Main Street Has a Bigger Job in Old Town Newhall

"There's still like 10 of us that are open and you know, we want to have a party," Louise Castaldo, co-owner of Eighth & Rail, told The Signal in October. "It's still a destination place to come to."

Her bar sits at Eighth Street and Railroad Avenue, at the far end of Main Street from the fire. It didn't burn. It still lost business. That's the clearest way to understand Old Town Newhall this holiday season. The Aug. 24 fire destroyed one block, and the slowdown afterward spread to all the others. So when Light Up Main Street fills the street on Saturday, Nov. 21, it will be more than the annual tree lighting. It will be the biggest single night the district has had to bring people back.

One Block Burned, but the Slowdown Hit Every Block

The three-alarm fire was first reported at 2:54 a.m. on Aug. 24 in the 24200 block of Main Street, and The Signal reported that "an entire block of Main Street was burned." The losses included The Newhall Refinery, The MAIN theatre, and the former El Trocadero site. Care Tucker Style House, the boutique next door to the Refinery, burned as well. The fire stopped at the Canyon Theatre Guild. Mayor Laurene Weste noted that the Guild's historic brick building "was left intact, so theater can continue to thrive on Main Street."

The numbers that came later are what shape this season. At the Oct. 13 City Council meeting, Dani Ibarra, owner of Yoga Yoga on Main, said most of her classes were running at about 30% capacity. The Signal reported that she connected the drop to unfounded worries about air quality and to having fewer businesses on the street. Castaldo said Eighth & Rail was down 17% compared with the same six-week window a year earlier. City Manager Ken Striplin said there was no evidence behind the air-quality rumors. KHTS reported that the owners of Eighth & Main Hair Lounge and Cutz on Main described fewer new clients and less foot traffic.

Mayor Weste told The Signal that "time here is really critical because people will start to move away from going there if improvements don't happen." Everything the city approved this fall is built around getting people back before those habits settle in.

What the City Approved to Bring People Back

On Oct. 13, the City Council unanimously approved a package of recovery measures. Each piece targets the same problem, an empty sidewalk in front of a business that's still open.

The screening matters most for a December visit. As of mid-October, rubble from the fire was still on the site. Striplin said clearing it would require environmental mitigation, and the extent of any contamination hadn't yet been determined. Until the permanent wall goes up, the holiday screening is what people will see along that stretch of Main Street.

Business owners don't all agree on how to spend the money. Castaldo called the wall design "fabulous" but asked why the money was going there "when we need parking, we need that thing cleaned up." On parking, the city took a separate step on Oct. 27, when it awarded McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. the design-build contract for the Main Street Parking Structure, not to exceed $24,003,380. That garage is a long-term project and won't help with this year's holiday crowds.

Nov. 21 Is the Night the Recovery Plan Depends On

The city's September announcement for Light Up Main Street was written with the fire in mind. It invites people to "make an evening of the celebration and support local businesses before, during and after the event."

Here's what the city has listed for Saturday, Nov. 21, from 4 to 8 p.m.:

• Tree lighting at about 5:30 p.m.
• Snow Zone with 20 tons of real snow, presented by Snow Orthodontics
• Photos with Santa, presented by Infiniti of Valencia, and Letters to Santa, presented by The Rodriguez Agency at State Farm
• Maker's Marketplace with gifts from local artisans
• Santa Paws photos with therapy dogs from Giving Paws and Alliance
• Carnival games, holiday crafts, ice-sculpting demonstrations, and food trucks

The city calls the event "five festive blocks of Main Street." According to OldTownNewhall.com, Main Street will close between Lyons Avenue and the roundabout, and Lyons Avenue will close between Walnut Street and Railroad Avenue. The closures start at 6 a.m. on Nov. 21 and lift by midnight. Free parking is available at the Old Town Newhall Parking Garage at 22551 9th Street, the Main Street and 6th Street lot, and the Old Town Newhall Library at 24500 Main Street, among other spots. A free shuttle runs from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church at 23233 Lyons Avenue to Lyons Avenue and Walnut Street. The main-stage schedule and event map are still listed as coming soon.

Food trucks and the marketplace bring in vendors for one night. The people who pass a storefront on the way to the tree and come back later are the ones who help an open business through the slow weeks afterward. That's why the city paired the event with a cash-back program.

How Open Rewards Works on Main Street

The city's Open Rewards program has included participating Main Street businesses since Sept. 17. Here's how it works:

1. Download the Open Rewards app. Under the Discovery tab you'll find which businesses are participating.
2. Link a credit or debit card so purchases are tracked automatically, or select the business in the app, tap "Claim Rewards," and upload a photo of your receipt.
3. You earn 5% back on eligible purchases, up to $5 per transaction and $100 per person, while program funds last.
4. Use your rewards on a later purchase at a participating business. They can't be applied at the register, and they're valid for three months.

If you shop the Maker's Marketplace and then eat dinner on Main Street, you'll have a small credit to bring back in December or January. Those are the slower weeks the businesses are worried about.

Who's Open, and Where the Burned-Out Businesses Are Going

Several businesses have been reported operating since the fire:

• Eighth & Rail, at Eighth Street and Railroad Avenue
• Yoga Yoga on Main
• Eighth & Main Hair Lounge and Cutz on Main
• Hart & Main, which hosted the Sept. 17 "Love on Main Street" benefit for affected business owners and employees
• Canyon Theatre Guild, whose playhouse survived

The two best-known businesses that burned are staying in Old Town Newhall. They'll reopen at new addresses a short distance from where they were.

Care Tucker is moving across Main Street into the former Mixed by Design space, across from Newhall Hardware. The Signal reported that the new space has three fitting rooms left from the previous tenant's design, and that the owners are aiming for a soft opening in December. "We wanted to stay on Main Street just because of the community that we built," Care Tucker told the paper.

The Newhall Refinery has signed a lease on the former Brewery Draconum space, on the north side of Main Street. KHTS reported that Draconum closed for good on Sept. 28. Co-owner Christine Munoz told The Signal the space needs renovation and that she hopes to reopen in the spring. In the meantime, she said, the restaurant plans to take part in community events like Light Up Main. Castaldo told the paper the move "kind of brings everything down to my end a little more."

Those moves shift some activity toward the north end of Main Street, near Eighth Street and Railroad Avenue. One new restaurant is also on the way a block over. KHTS reported that Spaghetti Western Restaurant & Bar is planning a December opening at 22520 Lyons Avenue, next to the Laemmle.

The Stage That Survived Is Carrying the Season

The MAIN, the city's theater on Main Street, was destroyed in the fire. Its shows had to go somewhere else. KHTS reported that the comedy Change the Station, delayed by the fire, ran Oct. 2 through 4 at the Canyon Theatre Guild, with 25% of ticket sales going to the Santa Clarita Shakespeare Company.

For the holidays, the Guild is staging It's a Wonderful Life from Nov. 27 through Dec. 23.

The Saturday matinees on Dec. 5, 12, and 19 end in time for an early dinner, and the 7 p.m. curtains leave time to eat beforehand. Either way, you'll spend part of the evening on Main Street.

The city is also planning for The MAIN's long-term future. On Oct. 27, the City Council approved buying 24318–24322 Main Street for $1.9 million. KHTS reported that the purchase doesn't commit the city to any particular use. Striplin estimated a theater comparable to The MAIN at about $8 million and said the council could take several months to decide what it wants before design begins. Until then, the Guild's playhouse is the live theater on Main Street. This December's shows depend on the same holiday crowd the restaurants and shops are counting on.

Old Town Newhall is personal for the families we work with, and Paula follows its recovery block by block. If the changes on Main Street have you wondering what your Newhall home is worth heading into the new year, Paula Stafford Estates is happy to put together a free home valuation. Request yours anytime, or we'll see you at the tree lighting on Nov. 21.