In the catastrophic Palisades fire, one of the city’s iconic thoroughfares was severely damaged and large swaths of homes were reduced to smoldering rubble.

Pacific Coast Highway, which has been largely off limits since the Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7, finally reopened Monday.

Plumes of smoke are seen as a brush fire burns in Pacific Palisades as seen from Santa Monica. The Palisades Fire burns beyond a Sunset Boulevard street sign. Smoke rises from a burning vehicle.

Much of Pacific Coast Highway ... Streets” neighborhood of the Palisades, a mostly flat residential grid in a U-shaped pocket just north of Sunset Boulevard, was blackened rubble and dust.