Kian Elyashar Is Doing His Part

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Known around town as the “teen mayor of the Palisades,” Kian Elyashar has been coaching and refereeing at Palisades Recreation Center for several years—that is until January 7, when his life, and the lives of many friends, co-workers and neighbors, changed forever.

The Palisades fire inflicted severe damage to the rec center big gym, where Elyashar spent most of his time mentoring local children.

“When I saw on the news my place of work … in flames, I just couldn’t believe it,” the 18-year-old said. “I didn’t sleep that night. I hadn’t cried like that in four or five years. I watched this video of the Palisades village completely torn apart … wiped off the map.”

Though his house on Sunset near The Riviera Country Club survived, the smoke damage forced his family to be displaced. They are living in an apartment in Brentwood and were told it would be a year before they can return to their home.

“Luckily our house is OK, but the people behind us had their house burn down along with most our neighborhood,” Elyashar said. “I was sneaking around the Palisades with a couple of buddies when we saw that a house was smoking, so we hosed it down and got the fire department to come, and they were able to save it.”

Since then, he was transferred to Oakwood Recreation Center in Venice—along with many of the players he has come to know so well. He is trying his best to provide athletes, and their families, comfort and a sense of normalcy, knowing a lot of them are living with relatives or in hotels.

“At Pali Rec I was there five days a week but [at Oakwood] I’m only there on Saturdays, but I coach two basketball teams, boys and girls Juniors, and do reffing and scorekeeping,” said Elyashar, whose favorite pre-fire hangouts were Cafe Vida and Will Rogers State Beach. “It’s a sense of giving back because I played at the Pali Rec Center myself and I want to leave these kids with something. My dad Benny was my coach and we got to the finals every year but lost.”

Now Elyashar coaches his younger sister Hailey on the Aces, who have won four Rec League titles in a row (two in the Major Division, two in Junior).   

“It’s ironic how I never won as a player but as a coach we’ve got a dynasty going,” he said with a laugh. “My boys team won too, so actually it’s five in a row for me.”         

Elyashar, a student at Santa Monica College, played beach volleyball and basketball at Palisades Charter High School before graduating last spring. He is already a sophomore at SMC, having earned 30 college credits while still at Pali High, and plans to transfer to USC or UCLA next fall and major in real estate development.

In addition to his job as recreation assistant at the rec center, where he started in October 2023, he has been Paul Revere Charter Middle School’s junior varsity and varsity girls basketball coach for the last seven months.

“The fires [changed] our season and schedule in a major way,” he said. “We started out with 11 players but lost all five of our starters for various reasons—some lost their homes, another girl broke her finger, so by our last game in January, we were down to six players.”

Hailey, a sixth-grader, is on the team and played “up” in the Rec League.

Elyashar also coaches for Vice Elite, a Westside-based club program that used to practice at Calvary Christian School but since the fires has been on the outdoor courts at Revere and Memorial Park in Santa Monica. He heads the 12U team and will be coaching the new 11U and 14U girls squads beginning in March.