Topanga. Good. Big Rock. Bad! Duke’s. Good. Carbon. Bad. Civic Center. Very good! John Tyler. Bad. BeauRivage. Good. Geoffrey’s. Bad! (Cell phone reception.)
Beach Boy Liquors opened across the street from Surfrider Beach before the Beach Boys were popular, in 1962. The Raft restaurant opened near Topanga Canyon the next year. It is now Reel Inn. Aladdin Rubbish was established in 1965, as was the Carden School in Las Flores Canyon. The Nite N Day answering service typified technology of 1967. The Shell gas station and Malibu Travel opened in 1968 in their current spots, as business expanded on the land side of PCH.
1972 brought the opening of three popular restaurants: Moonshadows, Alice’s and Neptune’s Net at County Line. Also that year, Swenson’s Ice Cream opened in the spot now occupied by Ben & Jerry’s.
The days of finding any Malibu condo available for under $200,000 are almost past.
Malibu’s roots are most deep in the Serra Retreat and the Adamson House grounds, as both remain among the most peaceful places to relax and read a book in Malibu. Have you ever been to either?
What do John, Tony, Lily and Noah have in common? Answer below.
Happiness in Malibu is hitting the intersections at Webb Way and Cross Creek with a green light.
The La Costa Beach Club is 300 feet wide, exactly the length of a football field. It has been in use since 1947, site of hundreds of Malibu’s best barbecues through the years.
Heading home to Malibu, when you enter the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica, you are still facing more south than north.
Pacific Coast Highway is a major state highway. It has the capacity to handle perhaps five times the traffic that Malibu’s population currently bears. We could experience incredible growth and the highway would still flow smoothly, if it were for the exclusive use of Malibu residents.
Traffic problems on PCH are purely the result of invasion of Z and beach traffic, or natural disasters, neither of which can be controlled by the Malibu City Council. Still, the council punishes Malibu home and property owners under the false premise of saving PCH from further traffic.
In his book, “Think a Second Time,” Dennis Prager identifies the characteristics of an “extremist.” Seven of them are 1. Usually believes in a good value. 2. Thinks you can never have too much of a good value. 3. Does not acknowledge competing good values. 4. Ignores consequences. 5. Cannot compromise. 6. Has the advantage of “purity.” 7. Finds extremism more comfortable than moderation.
That summarizes the prevailing political idealism of 1990s Malibu! To the abandonment of common sense and reason, the ruling extremists in Malibu have exhibited all the above traits in forwarding an environmentalist agenda during election campaigns and city council decisions.
Now there is some blasphemy about malls coming to Malibu. It is the latest falsehood. Never has a mall been proposed for the Malibu! But the extremists are not interested in truth, only propaganda. Apparently the Jack Lemmon crowd, some of whom were under investigation for campaign law violations, have exhausted the PCH traffic paranoia?
All the while, as Malibu grows, it becomes a better place, and in the ultimate irony, the extremists still cry it must be preserved “just the way it is.”
According to official records, the oldest home in Malibu is at 5863 Bonsall, at the back of the canyon near the creek. Original construction date in public tax rolls is 1907, though the current house is quite contemporary. Second is a 1913 “year built” home at 21026 PCH on Las Flores Beach near Duke’s. A Mulholland home is next followed by several 1921 homes near PCH/Las Flores Canyon, along the beach and in the canyon.
Two dozen homes later, in 1927, two Corral Canyon constructs appear, as well as the first Malibu Colony and Malibu Road homes. Some Decker Canyon homes arise in 1928 as the Colony area begins to flourish. By the end of 1930, nearly 140 homes are recorded as built.
Half of the homes currently on Point Dume were first built before 1962, led by a small cottage that still exists on the Birdview bluff near the Headlands, according to the records. In the 1950s, 239 of the Point’s current 571 homes were originated (compared to only 29 homes built during the 1990s).
Arnold writes a mean column but he never reaches the level of this gut wrenching challenge: Can you say out loud the names of all of Malibu’s 1999 eateries during one breath?
Charthouse, Reel Inn, Something’s Fishy, Moonshadows, Duke’s, Georgio, Tutto Bene, Dominoes, Thai Dishes, Johnnie’s Pizzeria, China Den, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pierview, La Salsa, Allegria, Jack in the Box, Malibu Chicken, Malibu Inn, Guido’s, Starbucks Cross Creek, Marmalade, Xanadu, Pizza Hut, Ben & Jerry’s, Malibu Mutt, Howdy’s, John’s Garden, Coffee Bean, Tra Di Noi, Energia, Taverna Tony, Godmothers/Racquet Club, Subway, Granita, Noah’s Bagels, Malibu Yogurt, Coogies, Diedrich’s, Ralphs Deli, Malibu Seafood, Beaurivage, Geoffrey’s, Paradise Cove , Indigo, Gray Whale, Hideaway Cafe, Zuma Sushi, Coral Beach Cantina, Point Dume Chinese, Lily’s Cafe, Point Pizza, Paradise Smoothies, Spruzzo, Starbucks Trancas, Neptune’s Net.
The list is much more than a quiz answer or speaking exercise, of course. It is a trail for the 2020 “Along the PCH” columnist.
Hope they repave the highway again next year! That was a lot of fun!