A popular beach accessway on Carbon Beach will be closed for the summer, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors.
Located east of the Malibu Pier and adjacent to Nobu Malibu, the Zonker Harris accessway’s gates were reported locked in late June.
“There was some high tide and it did some damage to the accessway,” said Carol Baker, Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbor chief of community and marketing services. “It’s about halfway down and it’s going to have to be reconstructed. We’re trying to rush that as quickly as possible, but it will not happen this summer. It won’t be able to happen that quickly.”
Gradual erosion had severely affected the bottom of the ramp and recent high tides knocked out a large portion of concrete leading to the sand, creating a hazardous environment for beachgoers.
“There’s no way that we could allow members of the public to use it when it’s in the state that it’s in now,” Baker said.
Debris from the broken accessway, located at 22670 Pacific Coast Highway, was scattered around the destroyed 200-foot-long ramp and along the shores of Carbon Beach, according to a Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors social media post.
“We expect it will take several months to prepare plans and obtain permit[s], followed by construction,” Baker said. “Often, we work with [the] Department of Public Works on that, so it may be a joint effort. We’re sort of in the position of overseeing it and making the requests.”
The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors maintains the beach accessways in Malibu, according to Baker, and depending on the damage, requirements for replacing the structure may change the agencies responsible for rebuilding.
For now, the California Coastal Commission believes the county will fix the damage before the end of summer.
“The county operates that accessway,” said Linda Locklin, California Coastal Commission coastal access manager. “The county has done this before with Zonker Harris and other accessways they operate. I think it was just in 2010 where they had to close it because it got damaged. They came in and closed it, fixed it up and reopened it.”
Estimates for repair expense are not yet known, and Locklin insists the access way will be closed for “several weeks.”
The accessway was built in 1975, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors, and named after a Doonesbury comic strip character, Zonker Harris, who had an affinity for tanning and laying in the sun.
In an article from the LA Herald Examiner in July 1980, the accessway was scrutinized by the Malibu Township Council for allowing coveted private beaches to be used by the public. Concerns for traffic control and pollution were among the many reasons the township council was against the coastal commission’s decision to post access route signs on nearly 1,000 beaches across California, including in Malibu.
The name for the accessway had been suggested by the coastal commission’s coastal access project manager, Don Neuwirth, “claiming that the Garry Trudeau character would attract additional exposure for the newly opened beach” and that “the increased beach access in Malibu is indeed a victory,” the Herald wrote.
