After nearly three decades of serving Calabasas, Marmalade Cafe at The Commons is closing its doors for good on Sunday, August 2, 2026, marking the end of an era for one of the city’s best-known neighborhood gathering spots.
The restaurant opened in 1998, when real estate developer Rick Caruso created the upscale retail destination that helped make Marmalade a favorite for weekend brunches, business meetings and family dinners.
Caruso was the catalyst for the café’s location in the Commons, and restaurant management says it was also their death knell.
In a message to customers, Marmalade Cafe says the ongoing redevelopment of The Commons—with its construction, parking disruptions and changing plans—has resulted in a “devastating decline in business.”
Rick Caruso’s company has spent the past year reshaping portions of the center. A former multiplex movie theater has been demolished to make way for apartments and new retail as part of a broader redevelopment aimed at transforming the nearly 30-year-old destination into a mixed-use community.
Caruso, a billionaire businessman who ran for Los Angeles mayor in 2022 and considered a run for California governor in 2026, campaigned on a pro-business platform and said he supports small businesses. Marmalade Cafe management, however, says that was not their experience. According to the restaurant, it sought rent relief from Caruso to offset losses caused by the prolonged construction, but Caruso declined. “With construction expected to continue for an extended period, we simply cannot sustain the financial losses any longer.”
For many Calabasas residents, Marmalade wasn’t just another restaurant—it was where birthdays were celebrated, deals were made and neighbors caught up over coffee. While Marmalade Cafe locations in Westlake Village, Malibu, El Segundo and Sherman Oaks will remain open, the Calabasas location’s closure brings to an end a chapter that began alongside The Commons itself, while highlighting how one of California’s most successful businessmen can start — and end — a business.
