Though Carol Winter faced a series of ups and downs during her 32 years of residency in Lower Topanga Canyon, an area also known as Rodeo Grounds, she never gave up on staying because the community has been a true home to her.
Before moving to the north side of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Winter lived in a home on Topanga Beach from 1969 to 1979. When the beach was acquired by the state, she moved across PCH, where she lost her house in the floods a few years later and was forced to relocate once more. But she did not move far.
Winter has lived in the house she currently occupies in Lower Topanga since 1988. “I’ve lived in many places in the world but this is my home,” she said.
“What made me a part of this land is the people who live here,” she said. “This is a community that does not close their doors, where everyone is there for everybody else.”
Topanga is reminiscent of the 1960s’ peace-and-love days, and Winter remembers those times well.
When she first lived in the area, Winter was known as the Banana Bread Lady because she baked for a living and distributed her goods to the local stores.
“A simplistic and wonderful life without question,” said Winter, who is a teacher in Santa Monica.
Because of skyrocketing prices in the local real estate scene, Winter finds it hard to think about moving.
“Even though we live on a month-to-month lease, after so many years we never imagined that the eventuality of moving would come,” said Winter. “The only thing that they would do with my house is make parking.”
For now, Winter continues to hope that she can stay. “This is my home. If a fire came through I would build up again,” she said.
Viewing his stay in lower Topanga from a different perspective, but also believing that the community is the only one of its kind remaining in the Malibu vicinity, Ray Craig, owner of the Topanga Ranch Motel, is also unsure about what the future will bring.
“We really don’t know with all the talk,” said Craig. “They have never really contacted us. Although nobody has told us to leave, it’s imminent, I guess.”
As he spoke about the 80-year-old motel, which was originally built for the people who constructed the highway and currently houses 32 rooms, Craig expressed his concerns on behalf of the residents who rent rooms.
While the motel does serve people who just pass by and stay for a night or a week, the people who would be affected the most by the relocation of this business are the people who stay year-round. They could not afford to live anywhere else in the area and many are elderly. “I don’t think they understand that people are living here that have been here for many years,” he said.
Craig, who has owned the motel for 15 years, along with other business owners who rent from LAACO, Ltd., hopes to stay where he is with an extended lease.
Frank Angel, the attorney representing the Lower Topanga Community Association, is currently gathering information, according to Craig, “because the conservancy is working very clandestinely, telling us how bad we are and that they need to get rid of us.”
Commenting on the state having an interest in making the area a state park, Craig said, “Nobody is arguing that, but the process is bad. They certainly don’t let us know until they have to.”
As for the future, Craig said this is the only business he has and he is not sure what he would do if he had to move. “They talk about relocation, but they have not told us details.”
Moreover, businesses have different relocation needs. “In housing you can live in a lot of places, but businesses have to be in strategic places,” said Craig.
Also, Craig said the cost of comparable land in similar locations would be very prohibitive as is the eventuality of relocating everyone by the end of the year.
Additionally, they don’t have all the money needed yet, he said. The land was appraised at $43 million and the American Land Conservancy has $40 million that they received from the state; therefore, the total package is lacking $3 million and that does not include relocation costs, calculated Craig.
Moreover, Craig said he did not get the feeling from the conservancy that they care about people’s lives and problems.