Old Town Newhall Lost One Block in August. The Blocks Still Standing Need More Than One Night.

A green construction fence now runs along the 24200 block of Main Street. Behind it are the addresses from 24254 to 24274 Main St. and 24274 Railroad Ave., which were reduced to rubble in the early hours of Aug. 24. Canyon Theatre Guild's brick building still stands at one end of the block. Two months later, the fence is the most visible sign of the fire. The more serious damage is on the blocks where nothing burned.

That matters for this holiday season. On Saturday, Nov. 21, Light Up Main Street will bring one of the year's biggest crowds to Old Town. The businesses that made it through the fire are counting on the 40 nights between Light Up and New Year's Eve as well.

What Burned, and Where It Went

The fire was reported at 2:54 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 24. The Signal described the loss as "almost an entire block of Main Street, on one side of Main Street." In its Aug. 26 council report, KHTS named six businesses that were lost:

• The Newhall Refinery
• The MAIN theatre
• Care Tucker Style House
• Source Inc.
• El Trocadero Mesquite Grill and Cantina, a site The Signal reported had been closed for months before the fire
• Gary's Auto Collision Center

Fire officials said early on that the fire likely started at Gary's Auto Collision Center. That is an estimate of where it began, and no cause has been announced. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Arson and Explosives Detail is investigating both this fire and a second one at the former auto shop site on Sept. 20. As of mid-October, investigators had finished their on-site work but had not completed their findings or given a timeline.

The businesses that lost their buildings have spread out across the valley. The MAIN has kept producing shows at other venues. One production ran at Canyon Theatre Guild, 24242 Main St., in early October, and another ran at The Olive Branch Theatre, 24201 Valencia Blvd., Suite 3274. The MAIN's productions page lists "War of the Worlds" at The Olive Branch from Oct. 29 to 31. According to The Signal's coverage of a September benefit, The Newhall Refinery's owners said they want to stay in Newhall but are weighing their options, and that rebuilding the space would be difficult. Care Tucker Style House has kept selling through pop-ups and events. It held a fall fashion show on Oct. 24 at LA North Studios on Avenue Tibbitts.

A future theater space on Main Street is still an open question. The city's possible purchase of the former KHTS property at 24318–24322 Main St., at a negotiated $1.9 million, was on the City Council's Oct. 27 agenda. SCVNews reported that any future public or arts use would need its own separate review.

The Blocks That Didn't Burn

At the Oct. 13 City Council meeting, the owners of surviving businesses described what the past seven weeks had looked like, as reported by KHTS. Yoga Yoga, a studio on Walnut Street that has been in the community for 31 years, reported business down 75% since the fire, with most classes running at about 30% capacity. Eighth and Main Hair Lounge reported in written comments that new clients were down 43% from its pace in the first weeks of the year, and down 39% from the same period in 2025.

The salon's co-owner explained why a drop in the fall carries into next year: "Every new client we don't see now is a series of appointments we won't be booking in the spring. That loss lasts longer than a damaged block."

The owner of Cutz on Main Barber Shop also reported a large drop in foot traffic. He asked the city to say clearly whether the area is safe to visit, because worries about environmental effects may be keeping customers away. City Manager Ken Striplin said he was not aware of any designated air-quality health issue downtown. He added that removing the debris will require environmental mitigation and that the full extent of any contamination has not yet been determined. Mayor Laurene Weste called it "a disaster of economic proportion."

The city's response is aimed at regular visits more than one-time events. The council approved a shop-local marketing campaign of up to $40,000, led by the Old Town Newhall Association, to remind people that the district is open for business. It also backed adding March and October dates to the SENSES Block Party series in 2027, and will look at moving those events away from the fire-affected block.

Nov. 21 Is the Big Night

Light Up Main Street runs from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, across five blocks of Main Street. The tree lighting is set for about 5:30 p.m. at the Main and Lyons stage beside the Old Town Newhall Library, 24500 Main St. The event is six days later than last year's Nov. 15 date, with the same hours. Expect 20 tons of real snow, photos with Santa, Letters to Santa, a Maker's Marketplace, food trucks, Santa Paws therapy-dog photos, carnival games, ice-sculpting demonstrations and a sensory-friendly Chill Zone.

For getting there, free parking is available nearby, and a shuttle runs from Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church at 23233 Lyons Ave. Road closures begin at 6 a.m. Main Street will be closed between Lyons Avenue and the roundabout, and Lyons will be closed between Walnut Street and Railroad Avenue, with detours via Railroad and Newhall avenues. The event map and stage schedule were still listed as coming soon in late October.

The fence will also be dressed for the holidays. City plans call for a temporary holiday-themed screen over the green fencing along Main Street, timed to Light Up and kept through the season.

The city's own announcement for the event, carried by KHTS, asks people to support local businesses "before, during and after the event." The rest of the season is where that request matters most.

The Other Nights on the Calendar

Canyon Theatre Guild's run of It's a Wonderful Life puts close to four weeks of performances on Main Street through the holidays, at $25 for adults and $21 for juniors and seniors. It has 2 p.m. matinees and evening shows at 7 or 8 p.m. Holipalooza tickets were scheduled to go on sale Oct. 28, in tiers from $15 to $50 with a buffet dinner included. The page still shows parts of last year's schedule, so confirm the start time when you book.

A theater night is a natural time to eat nearby. Hart & Main at 24217 Main St. hosted the September benefit for the fire-affected businesses and their employees. Society Pizza Lounge at 24450 Main St., #150, opens at 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and stays open until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. After the fire, it offered to help fill catering and event orders for the affected businesses. The salon and barber appointments that business owners say are missing are on this same walk. Cutz on Main at 24333 Main St. takes bookings and walk-ins, and Eighth and Main Hair Lounge is at 24355 1/2 Main St.

Getting 5% Back on Old Town Purchases

The city expanded its Open Rewards program to Old Town Newhall on Sept. 17. It gives 5% back on eligible purchases at participating businesses. To use it:

1. Download the app.
2. Link a credit or debit card so purchases are tracked automatically, or upload a receipt for cash and unlinked-card purchases.
3. Look in the app's Discovery tab to see which businesses take part.
4. Spend the reward on a later purchase within three months, before it expires.

Rewards are capped at $5 per transaction and $100 per user, and they last only while program funds remain. Since rewards are spent on a later visit rather than taken off the bill at checkout, the program is built for second and third trips. Those repeat visits are exactly what Eighth and Main Hair Lounge described losing.

What Replaces the Green Fence

The council chose the largest of three proposed designs for a community art wall, covering about 715 linear feet along Main Street, Market Street and Railroad Avenue. The proposal calls for a 6-foot wood-frame fence with panels that local artists can paint. Council members supported a phased approach, with prefabricated artwork near Main and Market first and original pieces along Railroad Avenue after that, and the Arts Commission was asked to help choose the artists. According to The Signal, the longer-term wall depends on approval from the property owners. Cleanup itself is tied up in insurance claims and environmental mitigation, and insurers may wait until the cause of the fire is determined before acting. For this holiday season, that means the burned lot will be screened rather than rebuilt, and the businesses around it stay open on the nights in between.

Our team at Montemayor & Associates lives and works in the Santa Clarita Valley, and Old Town Newhall is part of our home. If you're a Newhall neighbor with questions about how the Main Street recovery affects your street, we're always glad to talk it through. Contact Us.