Teddy Saraphine Leonard, owner of real In. You can find out all about them at real i n Malibu dot com reel in Malibu dot com. Teddy, welcome to the Fork Report.
Thank you for having me.
So please tell us tell us where about For those that don't know real In there in Malibu, tell us about that? Uh and uh? What's what? Where you are left right now? After the horrific circumstances of January and the fires.
Well, the reel in where we were located was right just west of Topanga Canyon on Pacific Coast Highway, and my husband has had the store for thirty seven years and we had a big, you know, old neon sign. We were a fish shack across the street from a very popular surf spot on Topanga and we had puns on the sign. Every day we would change the puns, yes.
And if you are local, you know.
Them quite well exactly.
And what was funny was, you know, each day, different screenwriters going into work. People would call us and give us ideas for the puns for the sign, and if we used one, we would buy them dinner. And it was really fun because people would say, I mean, some people weren't even customers. They just said they knew when they saw the sign they were out of the city. They were heading into Malibu. It was like we were sort of the gateway to the Malibu and that sign
meant a lot to a lot of people. In fact, the firemen after everything burnt down were adamant about can we get up there and change and put up some signs. We just want to give people that hope again, like that it's going to come back. Because it was a iconic place. It was a place where a lot of families came. They celebrated birthdays, they celebrated death, they celebrated weddings, births.
It was one gentleman send in a picture of himself as a baby with his father on the reel in deck, and then he sent in a picture of himself that his baby on the real in deck, and generations knew the restaurant and knew it well, and we were blessed to be a part of the community in a bigger
way than we even knew. In an odd way, the restaurant, you know, burning down as quickly and as visibly as it did, opened just these gates of people telling us what a profound impact the restaurant had had on their family and people called us crying, and we immediately started to go fund me for our kitchen crew because most of our crew has been with us over thirty years. Think about that, over thirty years. I mean they were
family and they actually were family. They were all interrelated from a small town in Wahaka who did a weaving for us that was hanging in the restaurant that said real in because you know, we funded the town, I guess they just so that was our main concern and when everything happened, we had to evacuate our home as well here in Tapanga, so we found ourselves in Airbnb and mar Vista, not really knowing what to do in The first call that came in was the BBC London
and that was within hours of the burning, and we started to gofund me and today we have raised over two hundred thousand dollars for our crew and every penny of it has gone into their pockets. And Wow, I'm really so touched and grateful. From all around the world. We've gotten donations from Istanbul, from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, Ireland, you know, one man sent in a thousand dollars from the UK and he said, it's my first stop when
I get to Los Angeles. I always make sure that I get to you guys, And so we had it was just I said to my husband, after thirty seven years, what a wonderful way to find out that something you've given so much of your time in your life too has had a good impact on the world. You know, you like to know that at this.
Age, at your own funeral kind of exactly exactly.
And we're in our seventy I just turned seventy and my husband's seventy six, and you know, people could say you're going to rebuild, and we wanted to come back, and we've had set in I er say, oh, we can come and make it look exactly as it was. Sure, yeah, but thirty seven years later. I mean a lot of the old surfboards he had in the raptors were from over one hundred years ago, like the first lifeguards in Santa Monica. I mean, he collects that kind of stuff. But now it's gone.
You can't.
I don't know that we'll be able to rebuild. We're still waiting to hear from the State parks what their plan is for Lower to Panga and for the Pch area. They don't even know. I think they're still staging. They were staging the EPA clean up by the end of April, they're supposed to be done with that. They were staging it at our site where the restaurant was. And then now the Army Corps of Engineer Years is going in and we don't really honestly know what's going to happen next.
So we were really truly so grateful to everyone who gave money for our crew, because a lot of these folks, with the current climate, even though they're legal, are terrified of going out and applying for jobs. Sure, and they've had this job for over thirty years. A couple of people have never worked.
Anywhere else in their lives, and we take care of our family.
They took care of us during COVID, and we took care of them. The PPC we got the loan and we gave that to them because we were okay.
You know, I'd like to give that out teddy to those people. Is it still is the GoFundMe still active?
Yes, it is.
They're still active, and you can I think there's a link on our website realin maildu dot com. So if people would like to donate to our crew, we're still dispersing funds to them. It's been going on since the data fire started, and these a lot of our guys that have not been able to find work. This is how we, you know, we've been able to keep them the rent paid in the food.
Real in Malibu dot com obviously R e e l in Malibu dot com. You can also go to go fundme and just search for real in Malibu Fire Recovery, but it's very easy to go to reel in Malibu dot com. Teddy Saraphine Leonard, owner of real in you know it there in Malibu. The website is Real r e E l in Malibu dot com. If you haven't been there, it's hard to think of you as a Southlander. There is a go funder go fundme page rather as well.
GoFundMe dot com look for real in Malibu Fire Recovery or you can find a link at the real in Malibu dot com website, and that is going entirely to those that work there, the crew, the family that Teddy was talking about. So Teddy you're wrestling, you and your husband wrestling with rebuilding. You talk about, you know, the things that were that hung on the walls, the things that have been collected over the many years that reel
In has been there. I would, you know, respectfully say that everything up on those walls was new at one time or went up you know, went up there.
Yes, some of them one hundred years ago, but yes.
But you know what I'm saying, It was new to you guys, or you gathered it and you put it on the wall. And I see it more personally, being kind of a philosophical guy, I see that place as a mirror of you guys, and the people that have worked there and the people that have frequented it, and and that it's really you guys. All those things were things that brought joy to your husband or to you that made you think, oh, it's put it up on the wall or somebody sending something in, and.
Oh, yeah, it's not.
It's the spirit of that family you guys created there, and not the walls themselves anymore than a church, you know, is God. So it's like, I hope whatever you guys end up doing that those places are important. They they're important to see. They're important to know that they exist and that families are in there. And I'm not saying corporations are bad, but you.
Know, I know I think the small business, You're correct. I think the small business, the mom and pop shops are what makes a community unique. It was one of the things that made Malibu, it.
Makes Malibu so unique, is that there aren't.
Big corporations coming in. There are few now, but you have you know, people come in, they know our crew, they've been there thirty something years, and they say hello to them, and they you know people, we have celebrities that stand in line with surfers, that stand in line with executives. You know, it was all walks of life, and everybody was comfortable there and everyone was It feels like it's theirs, you know, like like they belong there
and it's their home. I did have one funny thing, well, a couple of funny things happened, and I think it was Bordon Ramsay came through, David Beckham Broun through and he mentioned the cooks, would you like me to come back and cook? They didn't know who he was. They like that, I'm liking you. No, we're not letting you back exactly exactly, and then you know, you know, and then similarly that time, you know, I said to our manager, we had cameras in the restaurant, obviously, and I happened
to be looking at them. I said, just guys reaching in the window and grabbing cups and things. You might want to keep an eye on him. He goes, you want me to keep an eye on David Beckham. I said, no, no, he can have all the cups. He wants to know that's mine, but.
You call me, I will punish him personally.
Yeah, it was.
It was really cute. It was really cute because you would have you know, there was a booth, a certain booth in the restaurant that from time to time Dylan would sit in and he would bring someone with them, and they were very nondescript, and they would the person would stand in line for them, and you'd stand in line. You'd order your food, and you'd go back to your place. You'd get your drinks and you go back to where
we're sitting and we'd call your name. And it was great because our system was so bad that if you could recognize your name, you knew you were a regular when the cook would say that your was ready, it's like your orders ready. And people knew, they just knew.
And it was so much a part of the community that I felt sorrier for our customers than I did for my husband and myself, because this is where we had people that during COVID too, came every local loyals came every week and they got their food, they said, in the parking lot. And there was someone sent us a video of a seagull trying to pack its way through the windshield to get the food off the dashboard of a car that was eating in the parking lot.
And you know, to give you an idea.
Our crew the first thing during COVID when we were paying them out of our savings because there was no PPPs or any of that yet, and they said, we want to give you our money, our salaries back. We don't want to take money from you. Guys. Well, this is happening, and I just broke down because I also sell real estate. You know, We're fine, and it's just that is the kind of heart these people that work for us half that's their soul. They when this happened,
the restaurant burned it down. They found out where we were at our you know Airbnb. We weren't at home, and they came there and they said, what can we do for you? Can we come to your house?
Can we take care of you somehow?
Right now we're talking with Teddy Seraphine Leonard. She's the owner of real In. You must know it there in Malibu, seeing it as you drive the coast, which we are blessed and incredibly lucky to have here in southern California. It's the only thing worth the Texas, let's be honest. And I wanted her to talk a little bit more about the reel In because this is and has been an important part of the food scene and the comfort
that food brings to southern California. Keep in mind, you can find out more at reel in Malibu r e e l in Malibu dot com. There's a link there for a GoFundMe page that goes directly to the workers that have been working there for a long time. You said some like thirty years.
Yes, and fair too.
The employees were there when my husband got the restaurant thirty seven years ago.
Wow, And so they've been there longer.
Than he has, and they're all sort of she's married to each other, and it's just it's kind of a unique story and that it is family.
So you were telling you one of the things that stood out that was very sweet to me, Teddy. You were talking about how, you know, the famous, the rich, we're standing next to surfers and you know, politicians and whatever, and food is the equalizer in that. I love that. You know, it's not a fancy place, but equalized everyone.
Oh, it really did. And it was funny because we would also get people that were going to you know, large galas and Malibu and they'd say, oh, we're stopping here to eat first, because they just you know, have these little finger things at the gatherings and we want a plate full of food, and our crew we would have to kind of say, guys, you don't want to keep throwing food away. They would overheat people's plates like
they were at their own home in Mohaka. You know, we tried everything this long now, like okay, two scoops of that and two scoops of that with this particular spoof. None of it worked. They just did it like it was their mother trying to fatten them up, and it was hilarious.
Yeah, we couldn't.
That was one thing. And just they everything was fresh, Everything was made on site every day. The fish was delivered fresh every single day, the same fish vendors that were delivering the Maestro's and Thenovu and the other restaurants the same fish, not the same price when we solved it. But we didn't have table claws or waiters or any of that. But we had really good fresh fish. And they made up the chipotle sauce, they made up the salsa, they made up all the spices for the caju and
they did that. We were laughing, and I so I'd love to get the recipes. We talked about doing a cookbook and putting the recipes and raise more money.
For the crew.
And you know, they would grab handfuls of spices and you can't really quantify that.
So I was trying to find them.
If we do a cookbook, we need to have actual measurements on what you put in. And that's not how I mean. It was all very It was very much like I said, a mom and pop place. People knew us, they knew our crew, our crew knew them, and everybody felt like they owned it. You know. That was one thing my husband loved. It's a culture he set up.
This belongs to the community, and you know, people would walk in and decide with their group, oh, we're going to move these tables over here and move those chairs over there, and you know, they would do whatever they wanted to do. They'd bring their dogs out on the patio on the weekends and it was just it was lovely to have that kind of culture in that kind of gathering place for the community. And I hope even if we don't do it, I hope someone else does.
But our crew has all come back to us and said, look, we're going to you know, I said, I want you guys to get jobs because we don't know how long this is going to take, and I don't know how much more I can raise the GoFundMe.
And we've got a way to.
See because our income obviously stopped when the restaurant down.
And that they work for some of them.
A couple of them. We have them coming up and doing yard work for us, just to keep people yeah yeah, and paying and being able to pay them. All of our crew was legal. Over the years, we had helped them get their green cards and their citizenship, but still they're concerned with what's happening, and I'm concerned for people with what's happening right now.
Yeah, we're hearing a lot of that obviously, and that's been something that has been throughout the food industry for a long time. And as I said earlier on the show, if there's people you don't want here because they're bad, then there should be people that you do want here because they're good, and you know, and being able to decide and have a system is the best way, in the reasonable way. Just one more moment here, Heaven forbid.
But you guys deserve your time too. You put in a lot of love, so you deserve your time too and are allowed for that. And hopefully someone takes that legacy with your guidance. What do you want people to remember or think? What do you I know we right now go to really in Malibu dot com click the link for the GoFundMe to help pay for the workers. It's not going to you and your husband, it's going
to your workers. But what do you want them to think about when they think about that neon sign of the you know, the fish jumping and something that we've seen in Malibu forever what do you want them to remember and think about.
The spirit of Malibu, the community of Malibu, and to Panga and the palisades that if you go to I hopefully still on our Instagram or our website. Many many people came forward with so many stories that I'd say the first two days, three actually two weeks after it burned down, I found myself I could only read two a day because I would just start crying. I was so moved by what other people felt they had lost.
I mean, I know what my husband and I lost, but it was more impactful to us that all these other the community lost. It was a community loss.
And yeah, so if.
We get to rebuild, We're hoping our son, Jack, my step son, my husband's son, Jack is in the food industry. We're trying to convince him to come down and maybe, you know, take the lead on this because he does manage restaurants in Seattle. But not sure, not sure. I mean, I don't know what's happening. And I feel very badly for the restaurants in Malibu. And if people your listeners get a chance somehow they get to Malibou, or that they take the one on one to Malibu canyon and
go over. There are wonderful restaurants that really need your patronage right now that are going through such a hard time. Their businesses are down by like eighty percent from last year, and ours burned down in a weird way. We were blessed because we had insurance and you know, otherwise we would be going through our savings like we did during COVID. And I think that's something that if people go to the beach, it's lovely. You know, maybe not in the water, but look at it.
Look at it, take pictures, don't stip in it.
Yeah, you know, I'm not. The reports are great, but you know there's some lovely places like oh see that. Just these restaurants really they need us right now. It'd be nice to see people go out and patronize them.
Well, it is my job to ring that bell every Saturday, and I'll continue to do it. My friend, I appreciate you that you came on and took the time. I know you've got a lot going on. Please keep us posted on any changes, and my producer and I will make sure that everybody knows what's happening. And if I can say, one last tip is to your step son. Every time it's raining there and it's sunny here, Colin, Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful right now. Oh it's raining.
Oh my god, honey, that's so horrible. It is. It's eighty five here right now. Well, oh, why are you coming through your windows? Oh my god, that sounds horrible.
And then that's hilarious. It's true. Well, he grew up here, so he knows what the weather's like here.
Yeah, I don't remind him, you're right.
Well, thank you so much for that, and thanks for having me.
Teddy A. Seraphine Leonard, owner of reel in and again. You can find everything out at real in Malibu dot com reel in Malibu dot com