RSS Feeds
Search Open Houses 
|
Search New Construction
|
|
| REAL ESTATE RESOURCES |
|
|
|
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEIGHBORHOOD PAGES
Click on the cities and neighborhoods below for descriptions of life in these Los Angeles areas.
Malibu is at once the secluded refuge of Hollywood's elite as well as a close-knit community of wealthy environment-conscious residents.
Located at the western edge of Los Angeles County, Malibu encompasses 27 miles of dramatic coastline between Topanga Canyon and the Ventura County line. The inland terrain, bordered to the north and west by the Santa Monica Mountains, is hilly and covered with dense brush, giving the area its rugged rural feel. Much of the mountainous landscape is either unsuitable for building or is protected wilderness area, so that most of the city's 12,000 residents live either in the beach areas near Pacific Coast Highway or far up into the canyons that border Calabasas.
The area's first residents were Chumash Indians who named the stretch of beach at the mouth of Malibu Creek "Humaliwo," which roughly translates to "the surf sounds loudly." The name "Malibu" derives from this word, as the "hu" sound is silent. The first Spanish settler was Jose Bartoleme Tapia, who built a ranch and adobe in Malibu Canyon in 1802. Eventually, the rancho was sold to Frederick Hastings Rindge, a cultured and wealthy New Englander who reportedly bought the 13,000-acre parcel for $133,300 in 1891.
Rindge, seeking an ideal country home for his family, ranched the land and guarded it fiercely from outside forces, including the Southern Pacific Railroad and the state of California, which sought to build a railroad and a highway, respectively, through the area. Although California eventually won out and built the Pacific Coast Highway along the coast, the legal battle was costly for May Rindge, Frederick's widow, and she was forced to build rental cottages along the beach to generate income in the late 1920s.
To establish the area's desirability and reinforce its exclusivity, Rindge, dubbed "Queen of the Malibu" by detractors, first leased the cottages to movie stars including Clara Bow, Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper and Gloria Swanson, and it became known as the Malibu Beach Motion Picture Colony. "The Colony" as it's still known today, remains an exclusive gated beachfront community.
Many of the homes in Malibu are second residences; however, there is a hearty population of year-rounders, many of whom can either work from home or commute in off hours. Because commuters rely largely on PCH, they can experience long delays -- up to four hours -- when there are accidents.
Nevertheless, property values in all areas of "the 'Bu" are among the highest in Los Angeles County. The median price for a single home in Malibu went from $782,500 in 2002 to $2,530,000 in March of 2007, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
At the top end, homes in the Colony are a mixture of cottage, Cape Cod and Spanish styles and sell in a wide range, from $6 million to $18.5 million. Other beachfront communities, such as Broad Beach and Carbon Beach, are also among the most expensive, with starting prices at $2.3 million and $6 million, respectively.
In Carbon Mesa, an area near La Costa Beach, most homeowners have large lots with beautiful views as well as access to the La Costa Beach Club. Homes in this area sell in the $8-million to $12-million range.
Those who don't have $8 million to spend will likely have to travel up into the canyons. In Rambla Pacifico, an area off of Los Flores Canyon, and the Big Rock Canyon area, older homes are typically about 1,700 square feet and sell in the $1.3-million range, while newer homes in the 3,000-square-foot-and-above range start closer to $1.6 million.
Although homeowners in this area say they relish the remoteness of their location and the proximity to nature, they have to be willing to drive longer distances to the beach and to shopping areas and accept that wildfires and mudslides can threaten their homes.
