Here comes the barge
Each year on the Fourth of July we invite a bunch of friends to the house, confident in the belief that someone, somewhere here in Malibu, is going to cough up a whole bunch of dough to pay for a tug, towing a barge filled with fireworks, to entertain our guests.
For more than a quarter of a century that we’ve lived here, we have rested serene in the belief that someone, typically someone in show biz, had a very good year and is going to be this year’s great public benefactor.
However, as we begin to scan the horizon for those tugs pulling barges, by 3 p.m. on the afternoon of the 4th I always start to get nervous.
Maybe Danny DeVito is away on location. Maybe this is the year the studios decided to cut back on spending. Maybe Malibu is no longer the venue of choice for the 4th and they’re all off in the Hamptons, Tahiti, or wherever is this year’s hot spot.
But then we see that smudge on the horizon, and as it gets closer and turns into a tug we know we’re going to be entertained for another year.
Well, we decided to do some investigative journalism this year, and we have it from some very reliable and highly placed but unnamed sources that there are going to be at least five barges in the Malibu area off Malibu Colony, Zumirez, Broad Beach, Encinal off PCH, and a fifth unnamed location.
For a moment I was going to complain that no one on La Costa Beach or Carbon Beach had seen fit to get a barge closer to my home, but I decided against it for fear that next year they’ll ask me to kick in.
So, to our unnamed benefactors, we all say a collective “Thank you,” and our best wishes that your pics do big box office or your TV show gets picked up, or whatever. May the show biz gods smile on you for your generosity.
A river runs through it
Karen and I just came back from a weekend in Reno and there is something to be learned and perhaps copied from our experience there.
No, I’m not suggesting that Malibu needs a small tasteful casino, although I will admit I’ve often wondered how it is that the Chumash seemed to have been left out of the great Casino Giveaway and other tribes have become the designees of government largess.
What I am suggesting is that Reno has a lovely river running through the center of town, and they’ve developed little pocket parks and walks alongside it.
People sit along the river and picnic. They walk their dogs by it. And the geese and ducks appear to coexist very comfortably with man.
We have our own body of water–Malibu Creek–that flows most of the year.
I’ve never understood why we don’t try to take advantage of this lovely site and use it. It doesn’t have to be anything big and elaborate, just something a little bit pleasant and usable, perhaps a walking path, perhaps some shaded picnic benches. We spend a lot of time plotting to get additional recreational land but very little energy in trying to use what we already have in the inventory.
Malibu Chamber of Commerce Arts Festival
At the end of this month, on July 28 and 29, the city is holding the annual Chamber of Commerce Arts Festival in the city hall parking lot.
Over the years the festival has become both a favorite of the public, festival artists and vendors. In fact, the Malibu festival is considered among the top 10 of arts festivals.
The chamber intentionally limits the size of the event and has a waiting list, often turning away scores of artists. An artist can’t just sign up for the festival. There is a screening process and a jury.
The Art Festival is the major Chamber of Commerce fundraiser of the year, and it needs your support, so mark that weekend on your calendar.
Almost all of the businesses in Malibu lend year-round support to many Malibu charities and they use the Art Festival as an opportunity to refill the chamber’s coffers. Go there and buy something. It’s an easy way to give community support and there are always some very interesting things to buy.