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After a tumultuous month of continued national immigration raids and the ICE shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, nationwide protests are set to occur today amid calls for a general strike. Small businesses across the L.A. area announced Friday closures in observation of the strike, while others who voiced support said the decision to close is impossible — especially for independent restaurants, which suffered an outsized string of hardships through 2025, causing a growing number of permanent closures.

Many operators who say they are unable to close are donating a portion or all profits from Friday’s business to immigrant rights causes. Some say they’ve left the decision up to their staff, who rely on the day’s wages. One restaurateur, who requested anonymity for fear of ICE retaliation, said their employees’ earnings regularly pay for undocumented staff’s private transportation to and from work, and they cannot afford to close for even a single night.

Some of L.A.’s restaurants, bars and cafes closed in observance of the strike and protests include Proof Bakery, Wilde’s, South LA Cafe, Lasita, Bar Flores, Canyon Coffee, Chainsaw, Yellow Paper Burger, Kitchen Mouse, Bacetti and Civil Coffee.

Guelaguetza‘s co-owner and Independent Hospitality Coalition member Bricia Lopez took to social media Thursday afternoon to provide tips for fellow restaurateurs who can’t afford to close their businesses today. They included donating to immigrant rights organizations or spotlighting specific fundraising dishes, as many across the county now are.

Some local restaurants are opting to remain open but are donating the day or the weekend’s proceeds to nonprofits and legal funds, or they’re temporarily flipping their dining rooms to centers for community action such as making protests signs.

Guelaguetza is offering free horchata and cafe de olla for protesters or those who can provide proof of donations to immigrant communities through 3 p.m. In Glassell Park, a pop-up tonight will raise funds for street vendors currently avoiding work for fear of ICE. Taiwanese chef Vivian Ku is fundraising at her downtown and Highland Park restaurants, while she closes Silver Lake’s Pine & Crane to the public in order to use it as a staging ground for aid groups today.

“For a lot of restaurants, coffee shops, etc., they’re just a few bad days from being upside down for the month, and a few bad months from having no business at all,” an owner of Highland Park’s Santa Canela posted to Instagram on Thursday. “We understand the weight and power of collective action, but plain and simple: We didn’t feel comfortable making financial decisions on behalf of our entire team as to whether or not they could afford to lose another shift at the end of the month at a time when cost of living has never been higher.”

Home-style Chinese restaurant Woon, with locations in Historic Filipinotown and on the edge of Pasadena bordering Altadena, will remain open, too.

“I wish we had the luxury of closing our doors, but we will keep them open as we stand in solidarity with our community and neighbors,” chef-owner Keegan Fong posted to Instagram. “We’ve given our staff the option to take the day off while also allowing those who need the hours to continue to work.”

Even those who are closing today have stressed the importance of supporting local restaurants.

Historic Filipinotown bar Thunderbolt posted its decision to close on Friday morning, with a statement on Instagram that read, “This strike isn’t about small businesses, but they will bear the weight of it…For small business in the food and beverage industry, closing the doors on a Friday night — during an already brutal January — can be catastrophic.”

Here are some L.A.-area restaurants remaining open today but fundraising for immigrant rights.

L.A.’s coastal and canyon communities are resilient and rebuilding since the Palisades fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures, including some of the city’s most locally beloved and iconic restaurants. Those that survived the blaze have become even more vital as communal linchpins and gathering places of Palisades, Topanga and Malibu residents.

In the Palisades, Sunset Boulevard snakes past swaths of burned-out lots, some punctuated by scaffolding and excavators beginning the rebuilding process. It winds past signs for road closures, park closures, business closures, and past signs that declare “REBUILDING TOGETHER” and “THEY LET US BURN.”

Neighboring Topanga Canyon saw fewer destroyed structures than the Palisades but faces its own extended rebuilding. Powerline repairs and landslides blocked the canyon’s PCH entry for much of 2025, and this access point, when open, is often whittled down to a single lane. Restaurants, the weekly farmers market and other businesses regularly post to social media to raise awareness that “Topanga is open.”

Farther north along PCH, Malibu restaurants are just beginning to recover. The scenic highway closed to nonresidents for the first five months of 2025. In the time since, business has gradually returned — but chefs, restaurateurs and staff say it still feels far more depleted than before the fire. Even toward the northern edge of the city, where Lily Castro sells burritos far from the Palisades fire’s reach, the popular restaurateur says business fell as much as 50% last year.

Some online listings and maps still mark destroyed restaurants as currently open, misrepresenting how affected many of these businesses remain.

A few restaurants managed to relocate and reopen, such as Flour Pizzeria in Brentwood and Cinque Terre West in Venice, both previously in the Palisades. Others already had additional locations, such as Cholada Thai’s Long Beach outpost or Cafe Vida’s in Culver City and El Segundo. Some are gradually rebuilding and readying to reopen, such as Duke’s, which survived the fire but suffered more than a year of closure due to the ensuing mudslides and flooding. Some, like the Reel Inn, are navigating an arduous rebuilding process rife with red tape and mixed messages.

You can help by visiting and supporting local dining spots. Here’s how to eat your way through some of the best restaurants of the coast and Topanga Canyon, including new Malibu destinations for sake, sushi and oysters; one of L.A.’s most scenic farmers markets; some of the city’s best burritos; and the sibling restaurant to the iconic Moonshadows.