Rick Wallace
Along the PCH
My perspective of Malibu in 2008? This is a very quiet time of transition in Malibu history. Very little is at issue, and very little looks different from several years past. Even our local election is devoid of any critical policy debates.
But a vastly new Malibu is fast approaching. Malibu will look and feel drastically different within the next five years. Already completed are a new theater, Cross Creek Road, Malibu Beach Inn, and Point Dume Plaza. Under major reconstruction are the Malibu Lagoon Park, Las Flores Park, Solstice Park, the Point Dume Pavilion market, and the lumberyard site. Before long, much more: Legacy Park, the Windsail/PierView sites, Whole Foods Market at Cross Creek, the Trancas Park, the new hotel across from Bluffs Park, beautified highway medians and eateries at both ends of the pier.
Malibu in 2012 will be awesome, better than ever!
Meanwhile, some Malibu trivia from the past. How many gas station sites from earlier times can you name? Besides the obvious eyesores of the Union 76 at Webb Way, the one at Topanga, and ones on each side of McDonalds, there have been gas stations in the past where Terra, Beau Rivage rest and the Malibu Inn restaurants sit, as well as alongside Legacy Park across from Chevron, at Trancas/Hows market, on Malibu Road and three miles up Latigo Canyon. Did I miss any?
Here’s to hoping that Malibu Presbyterian Church and all the fire victims can soon get back to as normal and as happy lives as possible. Last year sure was awful.
Little known Olympics trivia: The Summer Olympics have been in Malibu twice. The 1984 water polo competition took place at Pepperdine. A bicycling event in 1932 took place on the new highway in front of current-day Getty Villa.
The best thing about driving along PCH? The speedy, free flow from John Tyler Drive to Paradise Cove where there are no traffic lights. Not only are the vistas wonderful, but also there are no stops. In addition to the traffic back-ups, don’t you get tired of sitting at red lights on the highway? Between Las Flores and Pepperdine, there are nine places to catch a red light. Coming from Trancas to Paradise Cove, on encounters seven intersections-many of them always seem to be red. Most joyous is that stretch from Paradise Cove to John Tyler, and vice versa, that flows so uninterruptedly. (Well, until the Corral Canyon light soon gets installed and ruins it).
Early in the year, it is awesome to hear the wild parrots in the trees of Bonsall (Zuma) Canyon and Serra Retreat.
One of the widest beaches in Malibu is Nicholas Beach. This time of year, it is hardly used. You should treat yourself to a two-hour excursion to simply walk and enjoy the beach at Malibu’s west end. Surfers know it and love it. Also called Zeros, it has a huge parking area and lifeguard towers to give it an appearance of a popular place, (including a million dollar wheelchair ramp to the sand), about a mile east of Leo Carrillo Beach.
The hills will be extra beautiful this spring.