Malibu, California

Malibu is a city located in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 12,575.

The city of Malibu is a 27-mile (43.5 km) strip of Pacific coastline; a beachfront community famous for its warm, sandy beaches, and for being the home of countless movie stars and others associated with the Southern California entertainment industries. Most Malibu residents live within a few hundred yards of Pacific Coast Highway (California State Route 1), which traverses the city; the city is also bounded (more or less) by Topanga Canyon to the east, the Santa Monica Mountains to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south, and Ventura County to the west. Its beaches include Surfrider Beach, Zuma Beach, Malibu State Beach and Topanga State Beach; its neighboring parks include Malibu Creek State Park and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

A popular Malibu license plate frames reads, "Malibu: A Way of Life". 90265 is the ZIP code for Malibu. Most of 90265 lies outside the incorporated area of the city, the U.S. Postal Service considers all addresses in that ZIP code to be Malibu addresses. Some real estate agents designate these adjoining areas "Malibu Post Office," though most simply designate anything in 90265 as Malibu.

Malibu was a part of the territory of the Chumash Nation of Native Americans. They named it "Humaliwo" or "the surf sounds loudly." The city's current name derives from this, as the "Hu" syllable isn't stressed.

Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo is believed to have moored at Malibu Lagoon, at the mouth of Malibu Creek, to obtain fresh water in 1542. The Spanish presence returned with the California mission system, and the area was part of a 13,000 acre (120 km²) land grant in 1802. That ranch passed intact to Frederick Hastings Rindge in 1891. He and his widow, Rhoda May Rindge, guarded their privacy zealously by hiring guards to evict all trespassers and fighting a lengthy court battle to prevent the building of a Southern Pacific railroad line. Few roads even entered the area before 1929, when the state won another court case and built what is now known as the Pacific Coast Highway. By then May Rindge was forced to subdivide her property and begin selling and leasing lots. The Rindge house, known as the Adamson House, is now part of Malibu Creek State Park and is situated between Malibu Lagoon and Surfrider Beach, beside the Malibu Pier that was originally built for the family yacht. The Malibu Colony was one of the first areas settled, and is on the opposite shore of the lagoon.

In 1926, in an effort to avoid selling land to stave off insolvency, Rhoda May Rindge created a small ceramic tile factory. At its height, the Malibu Potteries employed over 100 workers, and produced decorative tiles which furnish many Los Angeles-area public buildings and Beverly Hills residences. The factory, located one-half mile east of the pier, was ravaged by a fire in 1931. Although the factory partially reopened in 1932, it could not recover from the effects of the Great Depression and a steep downturn in Southern California construction projects. A distinct hybrid of Moorish and Arts and crafts designs, Malibu tile is considered highly collectible. Fine examples of the tiles may be seen at the Adamson House and Serra Retreat, a fifty-room mansion that was started in the 1920s as the main Rindge home on a hill overlooking the lagoon. The unfinished building was sold to the Franciscan Order in 1942 and is operated as a retreat facility. It burned in the 1970 fire and was rebuilt using many of the original tiles.

In 1991 Malibu, long an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County, achieved cityhood in order to allow for exercise of local control. Prior to incorporation the local residents had fought proposed developments including an offshore freeway, a nuclear power plant, and several sewerline plans. Actor Martin Sheen was named honorary mayor in 1989.[2]

Malibu has been used as a location for countless films and television programs. It is the home of Charlie Harper, his brother and nephew of the popular television series Two and a Half Men. It was home to Gidget, and surfing movies of the 1960s. Important scenes in the Planet of the Apes series were filmed at Point Dume. For an entire summer during the filming, the scale replica of the Statue of Liberty from the famous closing scene lay buried at the Southern end of Pirate's Cove. The hero's trailer in The Rockford Files was parked by the Paradise Cove Pier. Love American Style and the Mod Squad are among many TV series and commercials filmed in Paradise Cove. In the 1990s and 2000s it was the setting for MTV Beach House, Malibu's Most Wanted, and Nickelodeon's Zoey 101. In the Coen Brothers 1998 motion picture The Big Lebowski, the fictional chief of police describes it thus: "We've got a nice, quiet beach community here, and I aim to keep it nice and quiet."

The television series So Little Time (2001) portrayed two Malibu teens (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) who attend the fictional school West Malibu High.

Fictional teen star Hannah Montana\Miley Cyrus lives is Malibu.

Rock band Incubus recorded a single entitled, "Morning View" which is named after the street Morning View Drive in Malibu, where the band lived temporarily and recorded their album.

In 2006, Bravo television aired Million Dollar Listing, a real-estate related show based on million dollar listings in Malibu, as well as Hollywood, including real-life Malibu agents such as Chris Cortazzo, Scotty Brown, Madison Hildebrand, and Lydia Simon.

Many products have been named for Malibu or its neighborhoods, none of which are made in the city or environs: Chevrolet Malibu, Malibu Barbie, Piper Malibu, Malibu Grand Prix, and Malibu Rum.

Courtney Love wrote a song entitled Malibu, which was a single included in Hole's third album Celebrity Skin. A video featuring burning palm trees was made for the song.

A 1978 film starring Suzanne Somers was entitled Zuma Beach.

Also, Cat Stevens had his famous near-death experience there in 1976, when he nearly drowned while he was swimming. The accident led him to embrace Islam in 1977 and change his name to Yusuf Islam.

On January 8, 2007 at approximately 5:00 p.m. a fire started in the vicinity of Bluffs Park, south of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The fire hit near the Colony area, burning down four houses on Malibu Road, including the oceanfront home of Step By Step star Suzanne Somers.

Media Malibu's local news television station, TV-26 broadcasts to over 15,000 viewers in the surounding area. Broadcasted from Pepperdine University, TV-26 is a complete source of local Malibu news featuring community stories, weather and surfing conditions and updates on Malibu events.