|
Spot: Malibu, CA [mal·a·boo]
34°1′50″N, 118°46′43″W
Places to stay
Around Malibu you can spend $400 a night at the newly remodeled Malibu Beach Inn, or you can sleep on the streets. One is very expensive, the other is illegal, but there are other options in between. Driving over to the Valley and staying in a hotel in Calabasas or Thousand Oaks will save you a lot of money.
The happy medium is camping. The Malibu Beach RV Park at Corral Beach which is a little steep in more ways than one, but has full amenities and a nice view. Tent sites are as low as $20 and car sites start at $50.
There are state campground at Malibu Creek State Park about halfway between the valley and the coast. North of Malibu, there is camping at Leo Carrillo and RV parking and camping at Thornhill Broome State Park which is a part of Point Mugu State Park.
If you aren’t camping and want to splurge, Malibu Beach Inn is a newly-remodeled three star hotel and very expensive, but nice. Some of the rooms have views directly into the lineup, but that view will cost you $400 a night
Casa Malibu Inn on the Beach and the Malibu Country Inn are one star hotels and around $144 a night: is walking distance to the surf. Malibu Country Inn is closer to Zuma and rates are $165 to $250.
The Malibu Motel is $119 to $219 a night, and about a half mile east of the pier.
Other options are:
The Malibu Riviera Motel at Point Dume is either quaint or has a Bates Motel vibe, depending on your point of view: 310-457-9503.
The Malibu Shores Motel doesn’t seem to have a website but is close to the pier and not too dear: 310-456-6559
The Malibu Surfer Motel sounds promising but also doesn’t have a website. It’s close to the surf, and La Salsa: 310-456-6169
Food
One advantage to having wealthy, sophisticated citizens in the hood is that there is always good food around. Ralph’s has a great salad bar and packaged sushi if you want to grind healthy, and John’s Garden in the Cross Creek center is also a good place to keep the glow going (and maybe see Turtle!!!!).
Bui Sushi is the Colony Plaza Shopping Center is one of the best sushi places on the planet, and the owner Nate is a surfer. He also owns Coogies right next door, which is where the elite meet to eat breakfast and do business.
For burgers and fries, the Malibu Inn is good and the peanuts are free.
La Salsa just down from the pier is probably the best chain fast food in California.
If you want to go fancy. Geoffrey’s has a great view, and the Beach Café at Paradise Cove is a great place to watch the sun set. So is the Sunset Restaurant, which looks west along Westward Beach, into the setting sun, strangely.
Parking
Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu doesn’t have parking meters because it’s a highway, and that’s nice. If the parking Gods are with you, They will give you a spot on the street, which is free.
BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL CROSSING PCH: It’s so damned dangerous to run across PCH with a surfboard, but everyone does it. Traffic goes by at 55 MPH+ and if you get one soccer mom in an SUV (or an idiot in a 500 HP SL55) on a cell phone who isn’t paying attention, your best air will be your last.
The parking lot at First Point is county and it costs $6+ a day – or $2 after 4:00 PM. There is a kiosk there all summer long that you can’t avoid, otherwise you can use the pay meter – or not, and take your chances. Tickets are a lot more than $6, if you want to chance ‘em.
The parking lot at Third Point was reconstructed during the winter of 2007/2008. This is a State parking lot, and the fee is probably going up after all that construction, to play for all that construction. Consider investing $90 - $125 in an annual parking pass.
Surf Shops
Zuma Jays, the Malibu Surf Shack and Beckers. That’s it, but that’s enough for whatever you might need.
Malibu Surf Shack is across from the Malibu Pier and has one of the best surf shop views in the world, and they do board rentals.
Zuma Jays also does board and kayak rentals. This shop has been around longest, and it’s a very traditional, 70s-ish surf shop: “All you need for surfing and the beach,” Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner said. “Surfboards, wax, wetsuits, rash guards trunks. We don’t even sell magazines or surf videos.”
You can get magazines and videos and just about everything else at Beckers, although they don’t do rentals.
Attractions
One of the beauties of Malibu is there isn’t much there. Malibu is a small town in the classic sense, so there isn’t really a lot going on. The Malibu Theater is newly remodeled and feels like the private screening room of a movie mogul. Chances are the person you are seeing on screen might be sitting next to you.
If you are a star gazer and want stand in line behind a celebrity ordering a latte, hang out at the Starstrucks at Cross Creek and you might get lucky. For music, the Malibu Inn at the base of the pier has bands most every night. But if you really want to go clubbing, Sunset Strip is less than an hour to the east.
Shopping is the #1 reason outsiders come to Malibu, and there are some fancy shops at Cross Creek if you want to burn some of the hard-earned, or give your significant other something to do while you battle the crowds.
|
