Someone has dropped the ball again down at City Hall. I am referring to the Cross Creek Plaza remodel project that shows odd wooden storefronts that “create a style reminiscent of the Hamptons, a coastal getaway region of New York.” The Hamptons? Excuse me! Malibu is a historical part of the Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit (no east coast words here), a Spanish/Mexican Land Grant that was a working cattle ranch. Have we lost all sense of our historical roots? Santa Barbara would never allow this, but then again, they have a Mission and we only have Serra Retreat, the Adamson House (a historical jewel) and the old Courthouse.
I would like to know who has allowed some developer to come in here and obliterate the California “hacienda” style architecture and impose his east coast idea of what the Cross Creek Plaza should look like. This will further destroy the character of the Civic Center, which was all supposed to connect and blend together the Adamson House, the Colony Plaza, the Taverna Tony’s building, and the Rancho Malibu Hotel, which was redesigned from a square box into a beautiful “hacienda” with courtyards, fountains, balconies, towers and gardens.
And wood? Wood in a wildfire area at the mouth of a canyon that has burned at least twice in my lifetime? Oh, and a couple of years ago, during the last fire in Malibu Canyon, didn’t some burning palm frond “Frizbees” blow across PCH and almost burn down the Colony Plaza? And those structures are not wood. Who in their right mind would allow this?
Please stop this remodel from proceeding with this “East Coast” style. Make them “enhance” the hacienda style facade. I cannot believe what is being allowed to happen to our Civic Center. One egregious violation is enough; we don’t want two.
Jo Ruggles
Former chair, Planning Commission