Westwood businesses unite to bring resources, comfort to people affected by fires

(Nicolas Greamo/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Sam Mulick
Jan. 12, 2025 6:04 p.m.
This post was updated Jan. 12 at 11:34 p.m.
When Farinaz Pirshirazi served the customers in her restaurant Tuesday, she found some of them in their pajamas.
Many of them had lost their homes in fires across Los Angeles County, she said, adding that her business was looking to support people impacted by the fires.
“We’re just there to comfort them and give them warm food and something to nourish their bodies at least,” said Pirshirazi, the owner of Toranj Restaurant.
As the Palisades fire ignited Tuesday and residents were evacuated, many went to hotels and businesses in Westwood to seek refuge, comfort and a hot meal. In a Friday Instagram post, Westwood Village said nine businesses were offering free food, Wi-Fi and charging stations to first responders and people in need. It later added more businesses to the post.
[Related: LIVE: JANUARY 2025 FIRES]
Local businesses such as Danny Boy’s Pizza, House of Mandi and Enzo’s Pizzeria opened their doors to first responders and community members beginning Tuesday, with owners saying the provisions will last as long as needed.

The nearest fire to Westwood, the Palisades fire, currently has a size over of 23,000 acres according, to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, website. The fire has destroyed 604 structures with over 10,000 more threatened and caused the evacuation of thousands of residents, as of 4:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
As of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, no evacuation warning or order has been issued for the UCLA campus. However, areas under evacuation warning directly border the campus perimeter.
Some evacuees from the Palisades came to the Westwood Recreation Center, where a shelter opened for people impacted by the fires.
[Related: Westwood Recreation Center provides shelter, essential resources amid LA fires]

When weather conditions worsened Wednesday, Toranj on Lindbrook Drive offered free chicken kebabs, rice, hummus and salads to firefighters, first responders and anyone who lost their homes, Pirshirazi said. Restaurant staff began hand-delivering food to the Westwood Fire Department on Thursday, she added.
Pirshirazi lost count of how many times she cried Tuesday with customers who lost their homes, she said, adding that she believes over 50% of the customers who visited that day lost their homes in the fires.
“I couldn’t do anything – just hug them and say how sorry I am and offer them some hot Persian tea and some sweets,” Pirshirazi said. “That’s what we do in Persian culture.”
Daniel Holzman, the owner of Danny Boy’s Pizza on Lindbrook Drive, said he coordinated with Tacos 1986, Jon and Vinny’s, and other local restaurants to bring food to the frontlines of the Palisades fire Thursday and Friday, in addition to offering free food in the restaurant to first responders and anyone displaced by the fire.
“We’re all a team because we are all at risk,” he said. “In the face of fire, there’s no sides, right? It’s us against destruction.”
The restaurants coordinated to send enough food for 200 people to the frontlines in Topanga and local shelters, where people are in need, Holzman added.

Enzo’s Pizzeria has also begun fundraising for victims, in addition to delivering free pizzas to fire stations and families in need, said Ramin Messian, the owner of Enzo’s Pizzeria on Westwood Boulevard. He added that about 20 families, mostly from Pacific Palisades, came in for free food Tuesday after the fires began.
[Related: ‘Everything is just gone’: Bruins grapple with homes lost in LA wildfires]
Faris AlQabass, the co-owner of Yemeni restaurant House of Mandi on Gayley Avenue, said every one of the over 200 meals he and his staff prepared for victims of the fire were eaten Wednesday. People lined up out the door of his restaurant Wednesday and Thursday as he told anyone walking by the restaurant who was in need to come in for free meals of lamb, rice and salad.

AlQabass said the people who came in to eat Wednesday were mostly from Pacific Palisades, South Santa Monica and Hollywood. What hurt him the most, he said, was one man crying to him after losing his home, adding that people’s amount of wealth is irrelevant after losing everything.
Hot food can comfort anyone in the face of loss, no matter who they are, he said.
“As a neighborhood, as a community, we should stand together,” AlQabass added. “It doesn’t matter what’s your nationality, what religion you believe – we have to stand together.”