You are probably way overdue for another hike to the Tropical Terrace in the back of Solstice Canyon, one of Malibu’s secret treasures. Okay, you are overdue for your first trip there.
From the central Solstice parking lot, not far off the lower Corral Canyon entrance, you can walk about one mile to the small waterfalls at the Terrace –one way. Park out on the highway at Corral Beach and it is four miles round trip. When you reach the Terrace you will wonder if you are at the end of the earth or still in Malibu. Kids think the former, adults are only slightly sure it is the latter.
Those familiar with the La Costa Beach Club ought to look across the street sometime when visiting or passing by along the PCH. You will see houses. It wasn’t always that way. In the early thirties, The Olas Grande Inn, a saloon/restaurant was on the land side of the highway (well, dirt road) that fronted the beach at that exact location and served as Malibu’s first beach “resort.” Later, it moved to the corner of Las Flores Canyon.
What was the first home built on your street? The following addresses are homes on some of Malibu’s busiest residential streets and represent the oldest known houses on those streets, based on public records, which list the original “year built”:
23566, 23570, 23684, 23730, 23736 Malibu Colony Dr. (all 1927),
- 3605, 3806, 3814, 3848 Malibu Country Dr. (all 1975),
- 27018, 27054, 27118, 27132 Malibu Cove Colony Dr. (all 1957),
- 6171 Merritt Drive (1946),
- 30373, 30427 Morning View Dr. (1948),
- 4310, 26559 Ocean View (1937),
- 20245 Piedra Chica Rd. (1949),
- 6655 Portshead Rd. (1948),
- 3942 Rambla Orienta (1929),
- 2677 Rambla Pacifico (1930),
- 21344, 21544 Rambla Vista (1932),
- 5941, 5970 Ramirez Canyon Rd. (1942),
- 20404, 20454 Roca Chica Dr. (1964),
- 31665 Sea Level Dr. (1936),
- 26963 Sea Vista Dr. (1948),
- 20544 Sea Board Rd. (1950),
- 2939 Seabreeze Dr. (1937),
- 2925 Searidge Dr. (1929),
- 28828, 28870 Selfridge Dr. (1950),
- 3270 Serra Rd. (1948),
- 3510 Sweetwater Mesa Rd. (1963),
- 6314, 6363 Sycamore Meadows Dr. (1957),
- 5635 Trancas Canyon Rd. (1936),
- 24624, 24727 Vantage Poin Terrace (1974),
- 6703 Wandermere Rd. (1954),
- 6522 Wildlife Rd. (1942),
- 27767 Winding Way (1949),
- 6642, 6656, 6843 Zumirez Dr. (all 1946).
For streets lettered A to M, refer to the Along The PCH commentary of November 4, 1999 that you may have saved, or go to The Malibu Times Web site at www.malibutimes.com., archives, type in Rick Wallace in the search engine, then click on the Nov. 4 1999 column of “Along the PCH.”
The best museum of Malibu historical photos is at the Paradise Cove Cafe. Save time after the fabulous clam chowder and other great food to look at a century of local beach photos.
The new Malibu city signs say we are at an altitude of 16 feet. Who decided that? Where, exactly, are we at 16 feet? It is obviously an arbitrary number. I say it should be changed — to 11.
In Malibu’s seven elections since 1990, 66 candidates have vied for 19 available spots. Joan House is the only one as leading vote getter twice. Larry Wan, Jeff Kramer, John Harlow, Harry Barovsky, Ken Kearsley and Sharon Barovsky are the only ones to never lose. House and Carolyn Van Horn are the only ones to win three times (with one loss each). Jeff Jennings has lost, won, lost again, and won again last year. Walt Keller is the only one to win, then lose, win it back and lose it a second time.
There are two new streets in Malibu: Beach View Estates and West Beach Lane. Neither are walking distance to the beach. They are located, respectively, in Trancas Highlands and off Cavalleri Road. Other new streets of recent years: Latigo Bay View in the new development up Latigo Canyon, Meadows Court across from Geoffrey’s, Via Venezia off Kanan Road, and Sea View Lane in Malibu Park.
I still curse every time I come to the ridiculous stop sign at Fernhill Drive /Sea Ranch Ray. It is sheer stupidity to keep a stop sign there. It shows how two nearby homeowners can manipulate the local government to create an inconvenience for everyone else. A stop sign to slow traffic in front of each of the other 4,000 homes in Malibu would make equal sense.
I will say again, as I have in the past — In my humble Realtor opinion, every $100 you spend in colorful flowers around your property, particularly in the front, will bring you $500 in increased property value. Secondly, there is no such thing as having too many flowers on your property. Yes, spend ten grand and you will get back fifty grand more when you sell.
The original location of Bank of America, previous to the current Colony location, originally occupied by Security Pacific National Bank, and previous to the building where Fred Sands Realtors has been based on Malibu Road, was at 22241 Pacific Coast Highway, next to the Busch real estate office.
Malibu needs a clearinghouse for the hundreds of local stories about the excessive bureaucratic hassles Malibu citizens experience in their permitting efforts. It seems every request demanded by city staff is changed later, often after considerable expense to the applicant. It remains a local shame that deserves more attention.
The Malibu Beach Sports Club was once among the most popular hangouts in Malibu, particularly during the sixties. It opened with a big celebration in 1955. It was located at the old Alice’s site and the foot of the pier.
1955 again: Malibu Park school was opened in 1955 to ease the crowding of Webster Elementary School.
Malibu used to be home to a festive display of rodeos and horse shows, now virtually nonexistant. Particularly, in the sixties, Crummer Field, below the condos along Civic Center Road, was a regular rodeo happening. Now it is a marsh and nursery grounds.
Arson started the devastating fire of October, 1978. Two hundred twenty three Malibu homes burned and one man died. The culprit was a 17-year-old Agoura High student playing with incendiary devices during lunch break at school.
Malibu’s first major fire disaster occured almost exactly 49 years earlier. The date was October 26, 1929. Most of the Malibu Colony burned to the ground when one house fire led to 11 house fires and many of Malibu’s first homes were destroyed. It was said that few residents were home that Friday night during the fire. Why? Most were in Palo Alto for the “Big Game” between Cal State and Stanford, the state’s premier annual sports event. The date may look familiar. On Monday, as fans were returning home to a Colony in ashes, the stock market crashed.
Malibu’ first newspaper was not The Malibu Times. It was the war-time Malibu Bugle, circa 1942, based in Malibu and serving the west Valley and Conejo areas also, competing with the Santa Monica Outlook.