After a Devastating Fire, Augustine Wine Bar Has Reopened in Sherman Oaks | Eater LA
"A May 2023 kitchen fire left the Sherman Oaks wine bar's entire kitchen charred, part of the roof missing, and much of the structure damaged by smoke; the wine storage room that shared a wall with the kitchen was "littered with broken wine bottles," bottles that didn’t break had labels "covered in soot, intact, or burned off," and the floor was "covered with corks that had burst from their vessels." Most of the owner's prized vintage wine collection, which he had collected for decades as a touring musician, was destroyed; it was a devastating sight, but "An hour after my initial shock, I knew we would rebuild and reopen," he said. After a year-and-a-half of rebuilding the Ventura Boulevard building — the facade remained but the rear lounge suffered smoke damage and nearly everything else (plumbing, walls, beams, drywall, roof, and ceiling) had to be replaced — the bar reopened on December 27, 2024. "During that time, I learned how to let go of physical things," Gibbs says. He places the fire in the broader context of the January 2025 wildfires (the Palisades and Eaton fires burned over 37,000 acres, destroyed thousands of structures, and killed at least 29 people) and is quick to minimize his own loss: "What they went through was so much worse than [the wine bar]," he says. "Their loss dwarfs what I went through as I can’t even imagine losing everything you own." Access was tightly restricted after a May 16, 2023 four-hour damage survey; insurers and the landlord locked the property until about four months later, leaving exposed bottles and rooms to rain, bird nests, cold, and heat. Staff were forced to find new jobs during the rebuild despite the bar's post-pandemic success; when contractors handled structural repairs Gibbs focused on salvage and restoration — the marble bar took 10 days to clean, art and décor that wasn’t melted were reframed, expensive wine glasses covered in soot and rainwater were cleaned and sanitized, and original lightbulbs were even rewired — and as he put it, "We live in a disposable world, so we took time to rebuild, clean, and restore everything that wasn’t beyond salvaging." During the recovery he returned to touring briefly, joining Tom Morello in summer 2024, and he reunited key staff for reopening: sommelier Silvia Gallo, chef Miguel Gonzalez (who had left to become chef de cuisine at Downtown LA's 71Above), longtime collaborator John Harris, and new partner Nick Caballero. "Getting the old team back together was an important piece to me. I am fortunate that so many came back," he says. Operations remain challenging amid a citywide slowdown after the wildfires, but for the venue's official 10th anniversary on February 18 he plans to open vintage bottles, some dating back to 1860; reflecting on losses he says, "I lost a lot of favorites. I picked up bottles while on tour in the 1980s and 1990s, birth year wines for my kids, and [some] old Rieslings. All were burned to a crisp," and offers the advice he was given: "Don't wait, drink the good stuff. Don't wait for that special occasion, because every day is a special occasion. It’s just stuff. Drink it now." - Mona Holmes
