Beach Hotels In Malibu

Saying goodbye to Malibu

How do you say goodbye to a childhood home for the final time?

As part of a charmed life, I've spent just about a week each year at our family homestead in Malibu, Calif. That's the Malibu of the stars. Our place, nearly three acres on a bluff overlooking the ocean, with a hardwood staircase meandering down a cliff to a deep private beach, is between properties belonging to a former owner of the L.A. Dodgers and the guy who produced the "Ocean's Eleven" movies. Dick Clark and Laird Hamilton, the surfer, are just down the beach.

We're less glam. My grandparents, one a Toledo orphan who, with natural smarts and determination, became a plastic surgeon, and the other a Transylvanian-born psychiatrist whose family was obliterated in World War II, bought the land in 1946 for $41,000 after relocating to Los Angeles from Chicago.

Malibu is where I learned to dive waves, to swim atop my father's shoulders, to crack off bits of chalky cliff face and write my name, to walk, as if on hot coals, in the noonday sand, to hurdle over driftwood, and to poke at sea anemones in tidal pools.

But my grandmother died a decade ago, and my mother and her sister have decided, after the kind of family tension that ironically befalls those lucky enough to inherit a magical piece of property, to put the place up for sale.

It's worth a lot more, suffice it to say, than when my grandparents bought it. Andy Roddick, Sandra Bullock or T. Boone Pickens: If you're looking for a lovely, private coastal property that's only a 40-minute drive to LAX airport, give me a call.

Last summer was a last hurrah, and some of our close buddies went out to the property. We roasted fish on the bluff; spent long afternoons down on the beach, playing touch football and reading between ocean swims; and jogged on the wet sand, the surf bubbling about our feet like a freshly opened can of 7-Up.

But Malibu isn't going anywhere, and for those in the know, it makes a great day trip from Los Angeles, or, with direct flights from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, a lovely long-weekend getaway.

Geoffrey restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway ... - Pacific Beach Hotel

Pacific. A great view and a sense of serenity. It 'a little' weird to see the other houses on the right down, but we were fascinated by the sea (as always) and never noticed that on it, that the firstfinish. The service was excellent and Geoffrey. Our server was informative, polite, fast, friendly and not overwhelming. Starter bread was really good and we had several servings. Our meals included a few glasses of Chardonnay, lobster bisque, lobster bruschetta, garden salad and mussels. Although the salad was not on the menu we were satisfied with the range to give us one. Lobster bisque and the mussels were very good. Salad was solid, like the bruschetta. The food was a complimentbeautifully by the sunset and a quiet and comfortable .... Ice cream with chocolate topping was wonderfully concluded his signature.

Appetizers and main courses were mainly young people in the mid-twenties (prices). This is not much higher than most dinner destinations in Los Angeles. A perfect restaurant for a special occasion. We will definitely return and enjoy the food and the environment. Recommended, in fact ...

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