Arnold G. York
Summertime and the living is easy …
Summertime is really my favorite season in Malibu. The weather is lovely, the children are out of school and we’re all going to the beach again.
I know there are some of you who dread the summer-the traffic, the weekend crowds and the waits at the restaurants-but it seems a small price to pay for living in paradise. The truth is, it’s only about 10 to 12 weekends a year that it’s packed and the rest of the year Malibu is very livable.
But what I have noticed is Malibu is changing: some for the better, some for the worse and some I’m not so sure about yet.
This past Fourth of July’s long Wednesday to Sunday weekend, my son, Tony, his lady Andrea and her 6-year-old daughter were in town and we ended up, as most everyone does, in the center of Malibu, at the Malibu Country Mart. It was filled with children on the swings, playing in the sand and hanging on the bars, which was exactly where I was 30 years ago when my boys were small. And suddenly, it was as if nothing had changed. When you hang out at the sand lot you begin to realize what a small town this is, and how unique it is; safe, enclosed, where it’s almost impossible to go out and not run into people you know. In a way it’s reminiscent of a boyhood in a small Midwestern town, which, of course, I never experienced, coming from Brooklyn, but I saw it in a movie once and I liked it, as apparently many of you do.
The fireworks went off as usual at 9 p.m. on the Fourth, although I must admit there was considerable anxiety this year since there were only two fireworks permits issued by the city and everyone had invited guests to see them. I heard some grousing and although most of us hadn’t paid anything for a fireworks show, that didn’t seem to stop anyone from complaining. Nevertheless, the Malibu Colony and some people on the Point came through, and we all had our fireworks. So, to both those groups, I want to say, we all appreciated what you did and, on behalf of a grateful Malibu public, I want to applaud your public spiritedness.
What I have noticed lately is that the children are back. It’s been years since I’ve seen so many young, and some not-so-young, parents toting around small children, which is very life affirming. It appears to me the demographics of parenthood have changed a mite, enough so that I never ask anyone if the little tyke they’re with is their grandchild anymore. What has changed for the better is that fathers, whatever their age, are much more involved in child rearing than my generation was, and certainly more than my father’s generation, which tended to leave the child raising to their wives.
There are a few things that have definitely become worse in Malibu. Parking in the Civic Center is becoming a nightmare, and it’s only a matter of time before we’re going to need some parking structures. Hopefully they won’t be big ugly things. The traffic has gotten worse and Pacific Coast Highway is more dangerous than ever. Those electronic radar speed signs definitely help to slow us down, but I must admit I do have a problem with the CHP officers with their radar guns who wait at the entrance to the Colony Plaza Shopping Center and catch everyone coming down the hill from the Bluffs Park area. It’s not that it’s not effective. It just seems so unsporting. It’s like going deer hunting with a machine gun … which someone is probably going to suggest soon. I have never seen so many deer before. Apparently, we have removed all their natural predators, except for that one mountain lion at Pepperdine University, and who apparently didn’t understand the new rules. The deer have become so casual about people and autos that you just have to assume they have the right of way, even if they’re not in a crosswalk.
There are other ways the town is changing, and changing quickly, and I don’t think many of us can tell where it’s going. Just within the last year or two, the Malibu lumberyard changed hands, along with BeauRivage Restaurant, the Malibu Racquet Club and almost all the shopping centers- Point Dume, Trancas, Colony Plaza, and the Soboroff center. The former sites of the PierView and Windsail restaurants look like they’re going to open with new establishments relatively soon, the Ruby’s Restaurant chain is taking over the old Alice’s on the Malibu Pier and also the little café at the end of the pier. What used to be called the Adamson Hotel project on PCH and Malibu Canyon is moving along. The La Paz Center, near the skateboard park, is underway and everywhere rents are increasing, and quickly. A great deal of mom and pop businesses are going to be squeezed out if we don’t take some steps to protect them and we don’t act soon.
It’s an exciting time and also a bit of a scary time to be living in Malibu today. I’m an optimist. I think we can handle our problems, figure out how to cushion the changes and still preserve what we all love here.