Laura Tate
Nice changes around town
With the weather so beautiful and warm, I decided to have lunch Monday at the new Malibu Pier Club bar, which had a quiet opening the beginning of this month. It’s located at the spot where Mo’s restaurant used to operate a few summers ago.
It’s nice to be able to relax while having lunch, and watch the ocean, surfers, the birds and beachgoers, and it’s nice to have another option where to do so.
Nice, clean wooden slat tables and chairs, some bar stool height, fill a section of the outdoor patio, and a new bar, with a ’50s type feel, with aqua colored tiles in the background, serves indoor customers. In addition to drinks, the place also serves a light menu. I had a seared ahi tuna sandwich on a sesame bun, with a green salad on the side, and a draft beer. The sandwich was good (although I’d prefer toasted sourdough bread), and so was the beer, although the selection is slight. But maybe they plan to expand the drink menu.
Another pleasant change in town is the Las Flores Park, located right across the street from our offices.
I used to take regular walks in the park on a rough pathway bordered by tall grasses and plants, past the abandoned house (which was torn down as part of renovation efforts) and go sit on a rock by the creek and take in a little sun. Then one time, as I was walking down the path, I nearly stepped on a long snake crossing it. I jumped and ran in the opposite direction as fast as I could. My trips to the parks didn’t stop, but my comfort level dropped. Now, the new widened, cleared pathways certainly make it a more visible (to me or the creatures?) and comfortable walk. There are more benches and tables now, making it a great place to have a quick (or long) lunch. Renovation efforts are not finished yet, but a nice play area with climbing rocks is being constructed, and workers are planting native plants and flowers, among other efforts.
Of course, many have already seen the Cross Creek Road changes, with the wonderful tile art, newly designed parking spaces, benches, plantings, etc., and soon, the Malibu Lagoon Restoration project will be complete (I wonder if parking will continue to be free there when it’s done).
Another project in the works, spearheaded by Malibu resident Jo Giese, is down to “crunch time,” as Giese notes.
The president of the Malibu Green Machine, the nonprofit organization she founded to beautify the highway medians of Malibu, said design/engineering plans will be submitted to Caltrans in May for final approval on the project.
The organization is now seeking $700,000 in funding to begin construction scheduled for September. “We need some very civic-minded Angels to step forward now,” Giese said.
If all goes as planned, a groundbreaking ceremony will take place Sept. 27 at the Malibu Pier.
Originally targeting highway medians, the project has increased in scope. The City of Malibu has given Malibu Green Machine permission to beautify a parcel of land next to the Chevron Station on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu Road by planting native flora. The Malibu Colony Homeowners Association is funding the improvement of the 8,000 square foot parcel.
“Our plant selections just received approval from the city biologist. Another hurdle jumped,” Giese said.
Donations to the Malibu Green Machine, which is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, can be made online at www.malibugreenmachine.org.
Details of what the Malibu Green Machine has planned can be read online at www.malibutimes.com/articles/2006/10/04/news/news3.txt
It would be great to end this column with all the nice and wonderful improvements to Malibu, but there is construction out there of which many Malibuites are tired, such as the hillside repair on the highway near Corral Canyon. People want to know when it will be finished. That’s the site where Mayor Pro Tem Andy Stern’s car, with him in it, was almost hit by falling boulders. The project to repair the hillside went way over budget, Stern said, because the problem was much worse than anticipated. Well, City Manager Jim Thorsen said at last night’s City Council meeting that it is estimated to be complete in the next two to three weeks. That is good news. More good news: A new Web site, www.pchpartners.org will list all major PCH projects in the future.