Mike Yardley: Malibu's rebound after the fires

"January’s horrific wildfires in Los Angeles County have understandably raised questions about whether it’s appropriate to visit destinations close to the fire grounds and the Pacific Coast Highway. But the clarion call from LA’s tourism leaders is to remind the world, ‘we are open and would love to see you”. Over a million of the city’s jobs rely on tourism. It’s also worth bearing in mind that, while devastating, the wildfires have impacted less than 2% of Los Angeles County. Late last year, I tripped the LA coastline, lapping up the scenic beach scene in Malibu, nicknamed “Bu” by the locals and stretching across 40km of coastline. Eastern Malibu, particularly the stretch directly below Pacific Palisades, felt the force of the wildfires, with hundreds of beachfront homes reduced to ashes (Central and Western Malibu weren’t affected)."

Read Mike's full article here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Mike Yardley's had travel correspondent. He's with us this morning. Hey, Mike,
I'm doing the Coast to Coast check again.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Dreams are free.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I love Coast to Coast day. I love Coast to
Coast weekend because it is a bit of a weekend,
depending on if you're doing the two day of the
team or the or the or the longest day. But yeah,
we used to sometimes go out to Sumner, you know,
as the as the computers were making their way in,
and because they don't close down all of the roads,
often you sort of passing Coast to Coast cyclists and
stuff as they make their way through the final speech

(00:47):
in the city. It's some year. It's a it's an
exciting weekend, to say the least. Hey, my big update
since this time last week is that we haven't had
a baby yet. Tell me that you've got an update.
Tell me that you have finally taken down your Christmas decorations.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Oh, I thought my update was I haven't had a baby.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
That's true, that's true. There's two of us in that department.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yes, Christmas is down. Jack, send us back in his box.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
I guess all right now, I'm glad to hear it.
I'm glad that it's finally finally been wrapped up. Anyway,
this morning we are focusing on California, and obviously this
year has got off to an absolute horror start with
those incredible fires around Los Angeles and Malibu. So you've
been to Malibu. How mangled was Malibu by the fires?

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yeah, it's really interesting, Jack, because it is hard to
get a full true sense of it by the television coverage, because.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
As you know, Malibu is actually a massive area. It
stretches for.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
Forty k that coastline, the stretch below Pacific Palisades, eastern
Malibu that was caught in the firing line. So about
a third of eastern Malibu's beach front times and businesses
were torched or incinerated, and sadly that included some really
legendary eateries like Moonshadows and a place like Real and

(02:04):
I ate it Real in last year and it's like
this old school seafood check on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
So yeah, that's now just a pile of ashes.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
But beyond eastern Malibu, the really good thing, Jack, And
what Malibu wants to like screen to the world is
we are open and we are welcoming back the world.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
So the vast bulk of Malibu is good to go.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Okay, So what about the Getty Villa?

Speaker 3 (02:30):
So lucky man, this was lucky.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
So as some of the television covered showed, it was
right on the edge of that fire zone and some
of the trees and foliage around the villa were singed,
but the villa itself narrowly escaped destruction for a couple
of reasons. They actually have a one billion dollar fire

(02:54):
prevention system built into the Getty Villa, so it's sort
of like firewalls on a gigantic scale and so forth.
They also, unlike other parts of California, have done very
vigorous brush clearance in recent years, so they reckon that's
what actually saved a lot of their site. The villa

(03:15):
is actually still closed because of the problems with the
Pacific Coast Highway with debris removal and getting a lot
of those gas lines repaired, so they are hoping to
reopen in about a month or so, but definitely go there.
It is such a stunning museum. The whole villa was
sort of built as a replica of Villa day Papai,

(03:36):
which was buried two thousand years ago in the Vesuvius eruption.
It's got about fifty thousand Greek, Roman and Etruscan antiquities
inside the museum. I spent all day there last year,
late last year, and it really is quite a tantalizing attraction.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Nice, okay, okay, that's really good to hear, really good
to hear it. Now, the Malibu Piir also emerged unscathed.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Ah, yes, So, I mean there were so many landmarks
along that Malibu coastline.

Speaker 3 (04:07):
But the Peer really is the great glory.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
It's one hundred and twenty years old, that peer, and
I love those Cape cod style twin towers at the
end of it. It is fully reopen. You've got carbon
beach on one side, surf rider beach on the other.
I just think it is Malibu in one moment to
take a stroll along that Peer, and I'll tell you what, Jack,
when I was down there, I couldn't decide who was

(04:29):
having the most fun, the surfers or the dolphins.

Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, because they were both.

Speaker 4 (04:35):
Just frolicking in the waves big time. Then there's the
fishing chatting to the locals. They were busy reeling in halibut,
corbina and mackerel. And if you do want to have
a try at the old fishing scene there there is
a really cool rod rental shop at the end of
the pier, the bait and tackle shop next to the cafe.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Nice. Okay, what would you recommend for food? What are
the good eats to Malibu?

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Well, on that peer that they actually have two really
good venues. So at the far end you've got the
Malibu Farm Cafe that's all farm fresh, fair, local, organic,
blah blah blah. You can go wrong with the cauliflower
pizza and the lobster rolls. And then at the Pear
entrance the Malibou Farm Restaurant, which is a fancier affair.
It's got this whitewashed dining room, ocean side patigo bar.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
That's the place to go.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
I reckon for freshly squeezed juice cocktails really good and
it's such a great perch to check out the surf
rider beach scene.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Okay, cool. What celebrity haunts would you recommend in Malibu?

Speaker 4 (05:33):
Well, I'm a bit of a tragic for this Jack,
So if spotting stars is also high on your to
do list, I reckon Nobu Malibu, just down from the Pear,
is a really good opportunity. This is a very trendy
Japanese restaurant co founded by Robert de Niro, so Clooney
DiCaprio Fever. They are regulars at Nobu. I had the

(05:56):
Rockshrimp Tempura with Ponzu sauce, which is that lovely tart
citrus based sauce.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Really good.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
The only diner I recognized at Nobu when I was
there Jimmy Fallon.

Speaker 3 (06:07):
But hey, it's like the drawer.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
You take that still, ah, I thought the Sealist Maybe
Jack se List.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Oh wow.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
By the way, Melibu Country Mart another good place to go,
particularly Cafe Habana, which is run by Cindy Crawford's husband.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
So they do like.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
Really good Cuban sandwiches. But best of all, it's such
a fun spot for cocktails. Cafe Habana nice.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay, So, if you're heading west from the pier along
the Pacific Coast Highway, what are the beaches that you recommend?

Speaker 4 (06:41):
Yeah, if you want to cruise the coast, there are
so many beaches, but two really other good standouts the
long white sand sweep of Zoomer Beach that is gorgeous.
And for something completely different, El Masador Beach, gigantic boulders,
picturesque rock arches. It's sort of like Utah has come
to California, all crashing onto golden shores. And that is

(07:03):
why El Matador is hot property for commercial bots, especially
at sunset when the hummingbirds are flitting about as well.
That really is a special beach.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah nice, okay, any other little tips.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
For a dollop of history, check out Adamson House also
reopened after the fires. It was built a century ago
by a pioneering family who lit the fuse on Malibu,
becoming such a coveted celebrity bolthole the Ringe family. This
house is wild. It's this big Spanish colonial revival mansion.
But it's nicknamed the taj Mahal of Tiles Jack because

(07:38):
the entire property inside and out is just festooned in
colorful decorative ceramic tiles. They've even got an eighteen meter
long imitation Persian carpet, all made in tiles, so it
is crazy. It really is something you should add to
your checklist.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah okay, I checked out the photos of it. It
does look kind of remarkable, very unique.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Busy, Yeah yeah, very very busy.

Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, thing necessarily Okay, very good. We'll put all of
those tips up on the News Talks B website. Thank you, Mike,
and have a wonderful Coast to coast weekend. Cheers man
look forward to catching up so Mike Yard, the travel correspondent.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
There for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen
live to News talks 'B from nine am Saturday, or
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