• After 65 years, the Malibu Riviera Motel, located near the corner of PCH and Kanan Dume Road and solely owned by the Wilcox family since it opened in 1949, was sold to an investment group.
• Five years ago, a young 24-year-old African-American woman, Mitrice Richardson, was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station in the early morning hours after being arrested. She subsequently disappeared until 11 months later when her body was found in Malibu Canyon. The question of her death is still unsolved and is the subject of a recent documentary film — “Lost Compassion.”
• The holiday season has brought out many Malibu gift shoppers and also many gift burglars who have been breaking into or — worse — just walking into houses and cars all over Malibu, particularly in the Point Dume area. Singer Lana Del Rey was one of the recent victims, although that suspected burglar was caught. Malibuites are notorious for not locking their homes and their cars, and word is apparently getting out
• After much redesign and changing around of the site, the California Coastal Commission finally unanimously approved the controversial building of five homes up beyond the Sweetwater Mesa area that has been become know as the Edge Project since U2 rocker David Evans, professionally know as The Edge, is a principal in the project.
• The blockbuster news of 2015 was that a Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles judge heard the Measure R litigation and held in a 23-page opinion that the measure was not legal and prohibited the city from enforcing it. That means that unless another court steps in, there are now no legal barriers to moving ahead on the Whole Foods in the Park project.
• Local favorite Dick Van Dyke hit the age of 90 and the world smiled as he was honored by the Disney organization at Disneyland on Sunday, Dec. 13.