tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65545785983177391752024-03-13T09:25:30.435-07:00The Malibu PostSuzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.comBlogger112125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-54978518850300038842021-11-16T13:28:00.003-08:002021-11-16T17:00:11.220-08:00Life in Malibu II<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-plth8vB6l8I/YZQFdVN4vwI/AAAAAAAAMcE/cUnOJnphnyEuS5vxK2uCK-Qzk0ma4CD-gCLcBGAsYHQ/s1224/Life%2Bin%2BMalibu%2BII%2Bfront%2Bcover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1224" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-plth8vB6l8I/YZQFdVN4vwI/AAAAAAAAMcE/cUnOJnphnyEuS5vxK2uCK-Qzk0ma4CD-gCLcBGAsYHQ/w640-h640/Life%2Bin%2BMalibu%2BII%2Bfront%2Bcover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Life in Malibu II</h2><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/author/suzanneguldimann" target="_blank"><i>Life in Malibu II</i></a> is finally in print! Right now, it is available from Amazon, at the Adamson House Museum gift shop here in Malibu, or directly from the author—email me or use the connect form). The new book is 180 pages, and consists of 11 chapters on the history and natural history of Malibu and contains 206 original and archival photographs. It took three years to write. </p><p>Malibu is a place that has always been in flux. Holding on to anything for more than a decade, a year, a season, is a challenge. This is arguably one of the most storied coastal towns on Earth, but its history is ephemeral. This book and its predecessor are an effort to capture some of that history and natural history in a more permanent form than newsprint.</p><p>As a local journalist, I’ve investigated and written about Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains for more than fifteen years. As an amateur naturalist and historian, I’ve been blessed to spend a lifetime learning about life here. This is my second collection of essays and photographs on life in Malibu, and there are still so many stories to tell. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OVGV8PTZRzA/YZQMwWcAGlI/AAAAAAAAMcM/K2T7I_rmaz0hs4UKL5h04LWMUFqT9f7MQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2400/may%2Brindge%2Bcrossing%2Bbridge.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1107" data-original-width="2400" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OVGV8PTZRzA/YZQMwWcAGlI/AAAAAAAAMcM/K2T7I_rmaz0hs4UKL5h04LWMUFqT9f7MQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h185/may%2Brindge%2Bcrossing%2Bbridge.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Meet Malibu matriarch May Rindge and her legendary railroad. </td></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p>In this volume, we meet Malibu matriarch Rhoda May Knight Rindge and take a trip back in time on board her legendary railroad; spend an uncomfortable night with shipwreck survivors in 1909; and meet a rogue’s gallery of smugglers, outlaws and rum runners, along with the lawmen who pursued and subdued them. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OV010nKdf-g/YZQNlDMB4EI/AAAAAAAAMcc/nyctQb3d6kYlvbJXj3-NDSwMpB5SvtwzwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2558/LA_Herald_photos.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2558" data-original-width="1230" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OV010nKdf-g/YZQNlDMB4EI/AAAAAAAAMcc/nyctQb3d6kYlvbJXj3-NDSwMpB5SvtwzwCLcBGAsYHQ/w309-h640/LA_Herald_photos.jpg" width="309" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Spend a night shipwrecked in Malibu.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p>We’ll travel outside Malibu city limits for a hike on the Backbone Trail, and a short history of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area that I originally wrote for the Los Angeles Times. We’ll also meet some strange denizens of the deep ocean, and search for the elusive sunset green flash. However, scorching the edges of everything in this book is the Woolsey Fire, which changed life in Malibu forever in 2018.</p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-trAyRUS_d10/YZQNO-F-glI/AAAAAAAAMcU/0KTS7BHZ5LguNl3ncximO64X7lX3WK3pgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/backbone%2Btrail%2Bencinal.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-trAyRUS_d10/YZQNO-F-glI/AAAAAAAAMcU/0KTS7BHZ5LguNl3ncximO64X7lX3WK3pgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/backbone%2Btrail%2Bencinal.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />Take a hike on the Backbone Trail, and learn about the roots<br /> of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><p><br /></p><p>My first<i> Life in Malibu</i> book was due at the printers the week of the Woolsey Fire in 2018. I spent much of the nervous, anxious ten days of evacuation time revising the manuscript to include the fire and its immediate aftermath. I realized even then that the Malibu I grew up in and had written about in the book had changed, possibly forever. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fbxuS8W5cM4/YZQPTlqTsaI/AAAAAAAAMdA/Piv0PX71XWMsKRn3rQsMr1OTtnaQi5XjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/mace_staney_fighting_fire_with_hose_photo_BY_JOHN_MAZZA.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fbxuS8W5cM4/YZQPTlqTsaI/AAAAAAAAMdA/Piv0PX71XWMsKRn3rQsMr1OTtnaQi5XjwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/mace_staney_fighting_fire_with_hose_photo_BY_JOHN_MAZZA.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Woolsey Fire raged through the neighborhood I grew up in.</div><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9Ackt8GSpw/YZQOs7TgLqI/AAAAAAAAMcw/Yc5D1bCONpI4xxyXV37nJA9kYoJC5q9iQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/fire%2Bpoppies.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1710" data-original-width="2048" height="267" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O9Ackt8GSpw/YZQOs7TgLqI/AAAAAAAAMcw/Yc5D1bCONpI4xxyXV37nJA9kYoJC5q9iQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/fire%2Bpoppies.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />But in the aftermath of the fire came a once-in-a-lifetime <br />season of wildflowers.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>Three years later, we are still struggling to rebuild our community in the wake of a disaster that has been compounded by the coronavirus pandemic. This book starts with the fire, but it isn’t all tragedy. The aftermath included the spectacular and miraculous super bloom that followed the worst disaster most of us who live here have ever faced.</p><p>Many families who lost their homes in 2018 have moved on. Others are still in the middle of the painful, complex process of rebuilding. It’s a reminder that Malibu, like so many other places that are at the mercy of natural disasters, is impermanent and always in a state of change. The one constant is the natural beauty of the seashore and mountains, and even that constant is constantly changing. </p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tTcQe8YF7Qk/YZQbznIDt4I/AAAAAAAAMdI/NjuVRKJbXucBCtxcSnY8VUYHGZHiq7vTQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/apple.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1358" data-original-width="2048" height="265" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tTcQe8YF7Qk/YZQbznIDt4I/AAAAAAAAMdI/NjuVRKJbXucBCtxcSnY8VUYHGZHiq7vTQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h265/apple.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />I grew up in<span style="text-align: left;"> "old Malibu," this is me and my big brother </span><span style="text-align: left;"> Christopher on his horse Apple in the 1970s. It's hard to see some of the changes this community has faced in recent years, especially the sudden and irrevocable changes made by the Woolsey Fire, but there are many things here that are still special and worth protecting: the beach, the rugged beauty of the mountains, dark skies at night, abundant wildlife, and a way of life that revolves around the rhythms of surf, tide, and weather.<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><p>The Santa Monica Mountains were formed from sand deposited on the ocean floor by vanished rivers from ancestral mountains that have completely worn away. As sea levels rise, beaches, houses, roads will vanish back into the ocean. Even the ghosts are short-lived, fading as their names and stories are forgotten. </p><p>Our time here is short, but that is all the more reason to take a moment to breathe the air, enjoy the view of sea and mountain, sunset and night sky. </p><p>No matter how much I learn about this amazing and remarkable place, there is always so much more to find out, and more to share. Thank you for joining me on this adventure!</p><p><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">Suzanne Guldimann</div><div style="text-align: left;">Malibu, California</div><div style="text-align: left;">November 13, 2021</div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qi6AiM4s4K4/YZQc9JQLCTI/AAAAAAAAMdQ/My7CCT7G2KIDjmox5UkacZjuqMTu2tJhwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/lifeguard%2Bsunset.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2020" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qi6AiM4s4K4/YZQc9JQLCTI/AAAAAAAAMdQ/My7CCT7G2KIDjmox5UkacZjuqMTu2tJhwCLcBGAsYHQ/w632-h640/lifeguard%2Bsunset.JPG" width="632" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">What happened to the Malibu Post blog?</h4><p>Writing the book meant putting many things, including the Malibu Post blog, on hold. During the three years it took to write Life in Malibu II, Malibu has been struggling to recover from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, everyone everywhere has grappled with the challenges and changes brought by the coronavirus pandemic, and two of the newspapers I wrote for went out of business at the same time. </p><p>It didn't seem like it at the time, but that sudden job collapse proved to be a blessing in many ways. I had the opportunity to help create the <a href="http://www.topanganewtimes.com" target="_blank">Topanga New Times</a> in the spring of 2020, where I serve as editor for publisher Bonnie Morgan. It's a new, hybrid publication that is part newspaper, part magazine. The focus is on life in the WUI—Wildland Urban Interface, and the biweekly magazine is entirely handcrafted by passionate local residents. </p><p>Several of the chapters in this book had their start as TNT features. TNT is available in print or online. We have an email newsletter that includes links to our features and breaking news, and we never sell our readers personal information. Sign up at www.topanganewtimes.com.</p><p> You can also find the Malibu Post on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/malibupost/" target="_blank">@MalibuPost</a>, where I regularly post photos and original artwork. </p><p>I enjoyed writing <i>Life in Malibu II</i>, I hope you will enjoy reading it. Let me know. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b5c81DiaYBs/YZQd3_2XpwI/AAAAAAAAMdY/2U5BHpFOu3wcNWUe8puuesoc6DxUHfVmwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/life_in_malibu_cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2040" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b5c81DiaYBs/YZQd3_2XpwI/AAAAAAAAMdY/2U5BHpFOu3wcNWUe8puuesoc6DxUHfVmwCLcBGAsYHQ/w399-h400/life_in_malibu_cover.jpg" width="399" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/author/suzanneguldimann" target="_blank"><i>Life in Malibu I</i></a> is still available, too!</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p></div>Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-33350496727874790192020-02-24T10:00:00.001-08:002020-02-24T10:02:27.717-08:00Whale Watching <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">An adult gray whale surfaces near the beach in Malibu. All photos © 2020 </span><span style="font-size: small;">Suzanne Guldimanm</span></td></tr>
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They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;<br />
They pursued it with forks and hope;<br />
They threatened its life with a railway-share;<br />
They charmed it with smiles and soap.<br />
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—Lewis Carroll, <i>The Hunting of the Snark</i><br />
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Every winter, California gray whales take part in an epic migration from the Arctic to the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez in Baja, and back again. The first southbound whales are usually spotted passing Malibu in December; the first northbound whales usually begin to appear in February.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">One of the first northbound whales we've seen during the current 2020 season. It helps when someone else spots it first and is helpfully pointing!</span></td></tr>
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On the way south the whales are traveling fast and rarely linger; on the journey north, females with new calves stay close to shore. They often travel in small groups made up of adults, calves and young whales, and are often joined by dolphins.<br />
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March is usually the peak time to look for northbound gray whales off the coast of Malibu, but numbers of northbound whales have already been spotted, and the migration usually runs through the end of April.<br />
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Even though these animals are giants it can still be hard to see them, not unlike Lewis Carroll's long-sought but perpetually elusive snark. How do you see whales? The first rule: take time out to go to the beach and look for them, and don't give up if you don't see any the first time, or the second, or the third.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's a closer look at the same whale. That telltale spout is the easiest way to spot a whale, but there are other clues: ripples on the surface of the water, a Loch Ness monster-like glimpse of a tail fluke, flipper, or dorsal ridge, or the presence of other animals like dolphins or gulls, in the area. We'll take a closer look at all of these indicators in this post. </span></td></tr>
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There are plenty of good options for whale watch cruises out of Ventura, Marina Del Rey and San Pedro, but I like to watch for whales from the shore. Corral, Zuma, Leo Carrillo and the small pocket beaches along PCH between Malibu and Point Mugu beaches are all good spots for whale watching, but the best spot is usually Westward, where the whales come close to shore to feed and rest.<br />
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It's worth paying to park in the Westward Beach lot at this time of year. Bring a chair and an umbrella and picnic and make a day of it; or walk up to the top of the Point Dume Nature Preserve and watch for whales from one of the viewing platforms—there are two new platforms this year, although some trails in the nature preserve have been closed for trail work and the new beach staircase that is going in later this spring.<br />
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There are no guarantees in whale watching, whether on a boat or on the beach, You may see a dozen or none at all, but an hour or two spent watching for whales is never time wasted. In its own way, it's a form of meditation.<br />
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The first thing I look for is any kind of disturbance on the water: a gathering a birds, ripples on the surface of the water, all of these can be signs that whales and other marine mammals like dolphins and sea lions are present.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />The sudden presence of a large number of gulls means a good chance there are marine mammals around. In this case it was dolphins, attracted to the same bait fish the gulls were catching.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Gulls following a dolphin, hoping for a share of lunch.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This lone dolphin caught my eye at Westward Beach. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There was too much wake out there for just one dolphin. Something much larger was in water.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A massive gray whale surfaced a second later, one of the biggest I've ever seen.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's her calf, popping up to spout. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GUxcGxms8S4/XlMd_Io_fQI/AAAAAAAALEA/Lf_DWyQXfngm5Wslmk4R2P6k3uFupcZ0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1230213.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1156" data-original-width="1600" height="462" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GUxcGxms8S4/XlMd_Io_fQI/AAAAAAAALEA/Lf_DWyQXfngm5Wslmk4R2P6k3uFupcZ0QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1230213.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Most gray whale sightings are of a distant spout or puff of breath far out to sea or a Loch Ness Monster-like hump. My attention was drawn by the narrow line of darker water before I saw the whales spouting. And the bigger band of dark water in the distance?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPmXtsSf0fI/XlMdXyBpkxI/AAAAAAAALD4/YIxs3AICAJ473vK48MG0MSjHYK1Fifa3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1230185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nPmXtsSf0fI/XlMdXyBpkxI/AAAAAAAALD4/YIxs3AICAJ473vK48MG0MSjHYK1Fifa3QCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1230185.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">That dark line was the wake from a mega-pod of more than 100 common dolphins swimming past, almost out of range for my telephoto lens. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pB0O89jsCw/XlLBGHFe_zI/AAAAAAAALAk/mywkMrsH5pYMqp5J8nrdxSKXwlewqsIAACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1080578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_pB0O89jsCw/XlLBGHFe_zI/AAAAAAAALAk/mywkMrsH5pYMqp5J8nrdxSKXwlewqsIAACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1080578.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Often all you see is the puff of breath with no whale in sight. They can hold their breath for a long time and its easy to lose track of them before they surface to breathe again.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RVlxIJTBOoQ/XlIMwh0gPnI/AAAAAAAAK9k/aj6lDSVxBDQQF0ab_WBa23Rp07o1f3vvwCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250177%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1144" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RVlxIJTBOoQ/XlIMwh0gPnI/AAAAAAAAK9k/aj6lDSVxBDQQF0ab_WBa23Rp07o1f3vvwCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250177%2B2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">During the northbound migration in the spring the whales come closer to shore and linger in one place longer, mothers rest and nurse their calves, but even whales that don't have young may take a break and rest near the shore, offering whale watchers a closer look at the heart-shaped spout that is the classic sign of a gray whale. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Wfq_uD2aGo/XlIMua6IKgI/AAAAAAAAK9c/HYhPkDLzepYA2S89TLF8reWIseWK_zY7QCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250166.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Wfq_uD2aGo/XlIMua6IKgI/AAAAAAAAK9c/HYhPkDLzepYA2S89TLF8reWIseWK_zY7QCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250166.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If the whale is close enough to shore, you can sometimes you can hear it before you see it.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A ring like this is produced when the whale exhales and dives. Gray whales feed on the sea floor, scooping up mud that they filter through their baleen for the amphipods, krill, worms, and other invertebrates that are their main food source. Gray whales are more adaptable than some of their relatives, and have been known to snack on small fish and squid—prey that also attracts dolphins, sea lions and seabirds.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h54VuZW00LI/XlITaM9l9BI/AAAAAAAAK-0/zp0ruiBqKY0fb1LrKNYyDWxQA_a5li0RwCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-h54VuZW00LI/XlITaM9l9BI/AAAAAAAAK-0/zp0ruiBqKY0fb1LrKNYyDWxQA_a5li0RwCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250259.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There were two whales here a second ago. The ring of bubbles is obvious, but the smooth oval "footprint" next to it is also evidence of a whale. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbbB6qzyBfk/XlITdu9IigI/AAAAAAAAK-4/bBOdkOEoBYg1xzaZs1-oY1Qd6oapw5OGACEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250331%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HbbB6qzyBfk/XlITdu9IigI/AAAAAAAAK-4/bBOdkOEoBYg1xzaZs1-oY1Qd6oapw5OGACEwYBhgL/s640/P1250331%2B2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is what is happening under the water during a spout. By the time someone shouts, "Oh look, a whale!" The whale has exhaled, inhaled, and vanished with a flick of its powerful tail. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-slFbfZoSGNc/XlLzyPM1F1I/AAAAAAAALB0/nXP1Z1cVczY9YpATscAqhuQk-VgSwGLbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1250165.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-slFbfZoSGNc/XlLzyPM1F1I/AAAAAAAALB0/nXP1Z1cVczY9YpATscAqhuQk-VgSwGLbwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1250165.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here are the "footprints" left behind on the surface of the water.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dqhnTg-wfdk/XlL0laRF7NI/AAAAAAAALB8/_evRWGxMVoUwkgsGnO92ZYYFJk6ykQxwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1250049.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dqhnTg-wfdk/XlL0laRF7NI/AAAAAAAALB8/_evRWGxMVoUwkgsGnO92ZYYFJk6ykQxwwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1250049.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is a beach-level view of a whale footprint. </span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BiL5IXmkKrg/XlIM8GLcOYI/AAAAAAAAK9s/vCpAYiC78GM7lAV00RBLiULoOmWHAenpACEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250113%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BiL5IXmkKrg/XlIM8GLcOYI/AAAAAAAAK9s/vCpAYiC78GM7lAV00RBLiULoOmWHAenpACEwYBhgL/s640/P1250113%2B2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A second later, all you might see are some telltale bubbles. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn1y_6gC1qw/XlIbxpT078I/AAAAAAAAK_4/nQ9Ci951GSc8YOXqKcCB8csOnX6-knmzgCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250425%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zn1y_6gC1qw/XlIbxpT078I/AAAAAAAAK_4/nQ9Ci951GSc8YOXqKcCB8csOnX6-knmzgCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250425%2B2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A whale footprint is often really a tail-print.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mwgKSaXWBlU/XlIMA25OA8I/AAAAAAAAK8k/YrpMrahs84UUZiLKtMtUGxpswf2FMgmtgCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250246.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mwgKSaXWBlU/XlIMA25OA8I/AAAAAAAAK8k/YrpMrahs84UUZiLKtMtUGxpswf2FMgmtgCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250246.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The gray whale's flukes are huge—easily 12 feet across. It's no wonder the tail leaves a distinctive disturbance in the water.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wsykzqqapkk/XlITFIx1Q5I/AAAAAAAAK-k/ZO_HRixFrXspgi_EWG9NtXdlmHkIu8gdwCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250214.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wsykzqqapkk/XlITFIx1Q5I/AAAAAAAAK-k/ZO_HRixFrXspgi_EWG9NtXdlmHkIu8gdwCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250214.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The tip of one of the two fluke lobes is often all of the whale one actually sees, and it can be mistaken for a dolphin fin at first glance.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7--Skdp0RAw/XlMhlYk8FYI/AAAAAAAALEM/jJw_M1VwySIVKod3jUcoNN2Xlt1G_OSlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1250046.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="1600" height="520" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7--Skdp0RAw/XlMhlYk8FYI/AAAAAAAALEM/jJw_M1VwySIVKod3jUcoNN2Xlt1G_OSlwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1250046.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The gray whale's enormous flippers are sometimes visible when the whale is rolling over under the water.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bwI5jd57xtE/XlIMci8qhzI/AAAAAAAAK9A/reEtpHeyfDw5fhCsq7LiQaAr66maJaDpACEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bwI5jd57xtE/XlIMci8qhzI/AAAAAAAAK9A/reEtpHeyfDw5fhCsq7LiQaAr66maJaDpACEwYBhgL/s640/P1250068.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The whale's dorsal ridge suggests the back of the classical sea monster.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C7Usx45Fzfk/XlLgxFur4WI/AAAAAAAALBc/zcb4lchwL0osRWU1_zH1G3d139l8ZK2IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1020380.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C7Usx45Fzfk/XlLgxFur4WI/AAAAAAAALBc/zcb4lchwL0osRWU1_zH1G3d139l8ZK2IQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1020380.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This species doesn't have dorsal fins, but some gray whales have pronounced dorsal "knuckles" near the tail. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p4wYV5CcEAM/XlLBCv8yi9I/AAAAAAAALAw/N6og2EFaUFAGsxEKjWeKuCo_UlikEYF-gCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1040939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p4wYV5CcEAM/XlLBCv8yi9I/AAAAAAAALAw/N6og2EFaUFAGsxEKjWeKuCo_UlikEYF-gCEwYBhgL/s640/P1040939.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sometimes you get a glimpse of a whale's head, or rostrum, out of the water.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TOAG7XmaoH8/XlITaRsB33I/AAAAAAAAK-4/Yk5K6uHAgWkBB7eXXfz_lq12fHlApmwxQCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1250311%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TOAG7XmaoH8/XlITaRsB33I/AAAAAAAAK-4/Yk5K6uHAgWkBB7eXXfz_lq12fHlApmwxQCEwYBhgL/s640/P1250311%2B2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">You can just see the eye of this young whale as it surfaces to breathe.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's the barnacle-covered back of a gray whale's head, with the twin blowholes clearly visible. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This whale is "spyhopping," poking its head out of the water and looking around.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's a view from above, showing how little of the whale is actually visible when it spyhops. A mature gray whale can grow to be 45 feet long, but only a small part of the animal is ever visible to the human observer standing on the beach.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Very rarely you might see a gray whale breeching. I took this photo in 2014 from the side of the road at Corral Beach. Those white lines are the five-foot-long neck groves on the underside of the whale. That's a good 60,000 pounds of marine mammal flying through the air—an impressive sight!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Even when you know you've spotted whales it can be hard to figure out what one is looking at. There are at least three whales here: one head, two tails, and the footprint left by the tail of the first whale as it popped its head out of the water.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There are whales in water in this image—the same three in the pervious photo, but you would never know it at first glance. Whales are elusive: patience and luck are key to seeing them. Gray whales may be giants but they are also fragile. </span></td></tr>
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The Pacific population of gray whales has recovered after being hunted to edge of extinction in the 20th century, but they are still vulnerable to ship strikes, trash, fishing gear, ocean warming, and even over-enthusiastic whale watchers who sometimes get too close or harass them with boats and drones.<br />
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2019 was a dire year for gray whales. There were so many deaths that an <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/gray-whale" target="_blank">Unusual Mortality Event (UME) was declared.</a> It's important to give these amazing beings space. <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/gray-whale" target="_blank">NOAA recommends observing whales from at least 100 yards away, and never swimming or paddling out to get a closer look.</a> As much as we love to see them, we need to give them the room and peace they need to travel safely and undisturbed. </div>
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It is also important to continue to fight for protections for marine mammals. The gray whale has had a reprieve, but its future is far from certain, and its fate depends on us. </div>
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Suzanne Guldimann</div>
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23 February 2020<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Three guesses where the whales are. The sight of whales inspires wonder and joy in people of all ages and backgrounds. That we have the opportunity to witness this extraordinary migration is thanks to the people who fought and continue to fight to save the whales, and the coast they swim past. Whether one sees a whale or not, an hour or two spent on the beach in February or March watching for these ancient and amazing pilgrims is one of the blessings of the year on the California coast. </span></td></tr>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-42982983312649096472020-02-13T11:20:00.002-08:002020-02-13T11:22:01.580-08:00Go and Catch a Falling Star<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Padre's shooting star, Primula clevelandii: is a beautiful, ethereal and ephemeral native wildflower that blooms in winter and is one of the first harbingers of spring in Malibu and throughout the Santa Monica Mountains.<br />
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Go and catch a falling star,<br />
Get with child a mandrake root,<br />
Tell me where all past years are,<br />
Or who cleft the devil's foot,<br />
Teach me to hear mermaids singing,<br />
Or to keep off envy's stinging,<br />
And find<br />
What wind<br />
Serves to advance an honest mind.<br />
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—John Donne, "Song"<br />
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In a wet year, shooting stars flourish, covering whole hillsides with delicate pink stars. </td></tr>
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It's easy to catch a shooting star in Malibu in February, when Padre's shooting star, a beautiful and ephemeral native wildflower, blooms, but this flowering is short-lived. Look fast to catch a glimpse of this rare beauty. <br />
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You know how they always tell you to memorize the scientific names of plants because thay remain constant? That is not also so. Padre's shooting star was recently reclassified from Dodecatheon clevelandii to Primula clevelandii. The change to primula highlight's this flower's place in the primrose family. Like garden varieties of primrose, P. clevelandii grows from a rosette of leaves. Clevelandii is in honor of San Diego civic leader and avid amateur naturalist Daniel Cleveland.<br />
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Daniel Cleveland (1838-1929) founded banks, facilitated railroads, hospitals, schools, libraries—buying 2000 books to start a San Diego library, and co-founded the Natural History Society of San Diego. In return, he is remembered in a host of scientific names for California flora and fauna, including Primula clevelandii.</div>
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Spring of 2020 isn't going to be a super bloom—early rain dried out quickly, leaving poor conditions for most wildflowers, but the shooting stars got an early start and are experiencing a moderately strong year. I photographed this field of stars on the Conejo Valley side of the Santa Monica Mountains. This species likes the kind of north-facing hillside with rain seepage. Because it blooms early, it rarely faces competition from other plants.</div>
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Padre's shooting stars range from soft pink to cherry pink to almost white. This is the only member of the primula family in the Santa Monica Mountains, but that pen-nib-shaped flower is a reminder that the exotic-looking cyclamens one buys at the nursery for a bit of winter color in the house are also members of the primula family.</div>
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An almost white shooting star. The only one in a vast field of pink.</td></tr>
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You are more likely to spot this beautiful wildflower on the north side of the Santa Monica Mountains, especially in volcanic soils. This is a protected species, so please take only photographs and be careful not to step on the rosettes of leaves—this species is sensitive to soil compression and won't bloom again if it is trampled.</div>
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Shooting stars grow from a basal rosette of leaves. Like the garden variety of primrose, this plant is "spring deciduous," dying back after blooming and regrowing from its roots after the first winter rains.<br />
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The star-like flowers quickly turn into balloon-like seed capsules. When the seeds are mature, the capsule bursts open, shooting the seeds far and wide like a mini catapult.<br />
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The previous year's flower skeletons can provide a welcome clue of where to look for flowers the following year.</td></tr>
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This year's flowers blooming among the ghosts of last year's bloom.<br />
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So, go and catch a shooting star, but hurry, because like the celestial phenomenon this beautiful flower is named for, it is a fleeting beauty, and this year's flowering will be shorter than usual due to dry conditions and drying winds. </div>
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At the risk of jinxing myself by putting it in print, I'm hoping this post will be the first in a new series of natural history posts in 2020. If you enjoy the Malibu Post, blog please follow us on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/malibupost/" target="_blank">@malibupost</a>, check out <a href="http://www.messengermountainnews.com/" target="_blank">www.messengermountainnews.com,</a> where I write biweekly articles on nature, history and the environment, and look for a second volume of my book "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Malibu-Suzanne-Guldimann/dp/0966766490/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=life+in+malibu&qid=1581621434&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Life in Malibu</a>," arriving in time for the holidays.</div>
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Thanks for reading! Hope to see you here again soon,</div>
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Suzanne Guldimann</div>
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Malibu</div>
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February 12, 2020</div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-69948319672433416192019-11-10T16:13:00.004-08:002019-11-16T22:06:52.555-08:00Revisiting the Wasteland: One Year After Woolsey<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The morning of November 8, 2018, in our Malibu garden, with one frail monarch butterfly aloft against a backdrop of disaster. The Woolsey Fire had already swept down Kanan and was headed for Point Dume, Malibu Park and Malibu West, on its way to the sea.</span></div>
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<i>Time present and time past<br />Are both perhaps present in time future,<br />And time future contained in time past.<br />If all time is eternally present<br />All time is unredeemable.<br />What might have been is an abstraction<br />Remaining a perpetual possibility<br />Only in a world of speculation.<br />What might have been and what has been<br />Point to one end, which is always present.<br />Footfalls echo in the memory<br />Down the passage which we did not take<br />Towards the door we never opened<br />Into the rose-garden. My words echo<br />Thus, in your mind.<br /> But to what purpose<br />Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves<br />I do not know.<br /> Other echoes<br />Inhabit the garden. Shall we follow?<br />Quick, said the bird, find them, find them,<br />Round the corner. Through the first gate,<br />Into our first world, shall we follow<br />The deception of the thrush? Into our first world.<br />There they were, dignified, invisible,<br />Moving without pressure, over the dead leaves,<br />In the autumn heat, through the vibrant air,<br />And the bird called, in response to<br />The unheard music hidden in the shrubbery,<br />And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the roses<br />Had the look of flowers that are looked at.<br />There they were as our guests, accepted and accepting.<br />So we moved, and they, in a formal pattern,<br />Along the empty alley, into the box circle,<br />To look down into the drained pool.<br />Dry the pool, dry concrete, brown edged,<br />And the pool was filled with water out of sunlight,<br />And the lotos rose, quietly, quietly,<br />The surface glittered out of heart of light,<br />And they were behind us, reflected in the pool.<br />Then a cloud passed, and the pool was empty.<br />Go, said the bird, for the leaves were full of children,<br />Hidden excitedly, containing laughter.<br />Go, go, go, said the bird: humankind<br />Cannot bear very much reality.<br />Time past and time future<br />What might have been and what has been<br />Point to one end, which is always present.</i><br />
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—T.S. Eliot, "Burnt Norton", <i>Four Quartets</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A fire whirl or tornado racing over the ridge at Latigo Canyon, viewed from our garden on the morning of November 9, 2018. The white speck is a fixed-wing aircraft. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The words of T.S. Eliot's <i>Four Quartets</i> have run in my head many times this year. "The crying shadow in the funeral dance/The loud lament of the disconsolate chimera" from “Burnt Norton” have been the voices of the Woolsey Fire and its aftermath.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those of us who live within the burn zone or on its edges have toiled through our own Wasteland of dust and ashes this year. It’s a private hell that is hard to explain. Those of us who didn’t lose our homes coped without electricity, and with smoke damage, the isolation of losing our neighbors, and even a plague of rats, as well as with survivor’s guilt that our homes are still here, while our friends and neighbors just a few hundred feet away are not. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Those who did lose their homes have more than grief to cope with, they continue to face an agonizing and unending tangle of red tape that has meant not one single family has yet finished rebuilding. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A closeup of the fire at the end of our street, roaring towards Point Dume. This was minutes before it jumped the Pacific Coast Highway.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">My elderly mother did not want to leave on November 9, and I have no doubt that this intrepid octogenarian would have battled the blaze with a garden hose, but when it was clear the fire had jumped PCH and was headed our way it was time to leave. This photo, time-stamped 2:41 p.m., was our last backward look on our way out of the burn zone. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Here's what happened shortly after we left. John Mazza took this photo of Mace Stanley fighting the blaze in the gully between our streets, and about 300 yards from our house. These two neighbors were part of a small group of Point Dume residents who stayed to fight the fire and saved hundreds of homes. Without them, we and many other families would have had no homes to return to. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: center;">A dear friend who stayed behind made it through the fire line and checked on our home a few days after the fire, sending a photo to me so I could reassure my mom that the house was still standing. In the chaos during the first 48 hours we had been told by another neighbor that it had burned. When I was finally able to check on the house a few days later, I found a red rose blooming in garden, another echo of "Burnt Norton."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I returned to the burn zone for the first time on November 16 for a press conference at Paramount Ranch. While the officials spoke about the damage at the park and the restoration campaign that they were launching, a fire fighter was putting out hot spots under the one unburned part of the old Western town set. After the press event ended, I drove into Malibu for the first time since the fire. I've lived here all my life and have experienced the aftermath of many fires. Nothing prepared me for the devastation of the Woolsey Fire. The burn zone went on forever, every mountain peak, every valley, the horizon for as far as you could see was burned and bleak. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Press gather at an oddly surreal press conference at Paramount Ranch on November 16, 2018.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The destruction in the historic Western Town film set was nearly absolute, but it did not have the visceral horror I would feel later at seeing homes destroyed. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Fire crews were still working to put out hot spots while the press conference went on.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Power poles and other lumber treated with creosote continued to smolder for weeks, so did the roots of oak trees, burning under ground.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Kanan roadblock on the morning of November 16. My press credentials got me through without difficulty. I picked up a hitchhiker on the other side of the blockade. He was trying to reach his family home on Triunfo Canyon Road on foot. They wouldn't let him drive through the barricade, but they didn't stop him from walking. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The entire trip through the mountains looked like this.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This crew appeared to be looking at a hotspot.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The only people I encountered were Edison crews and a few fire fighters.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There were scenes like this one all along the route. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Burned trees and guardrail and, unfortunately, the burned house of neighbors on our street.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The welcome sight of a dear friend and neighbor. Dru Ann Jacobson was one of the volunteers who stayed behind and made sure that all those who did had supplies. This brave group of neighbors fed the volunteer fire fighters, checked on elderly neighbors, and kept the community together not only without official help but in direct conflict with authoritarian government officials who treated disaster survivors like the enemy, refusing to allow supplies or even medicine in.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was 10 days before we could go home. When we arrived, it was to a dark house. There would be no electricity for another five days, and no internet or landline phone for more than a month. I had the surreal experience of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-guldimann-santa-monica-mountains-national-recreation-area-woolsey-fire-20181202-story.html">writing a piece for the Los Angeles Times </a>without electricity or internet at home. I stood in the one spot in the garden where I had a direct line to the COW—cell on wheels—at Latigo Beach, with my cellphone and a list of dates and questions, while my friend on the other end of the line did my fact checking for me long distance. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The week before, we put out the special Woolsey Fire edition of the <a href="https://messengermountainnews.com/news/category/woolsey-chronicles/">Messenger Mountain News</a> working from three different evacuation locations.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We now know that Malibu received no mutual aid for more than 20 hours and that the few fire engines in the community during the fire were given instructions to respond to "life and safety" 911 calls, and not participate in fire fighting, not even when an entire neighborhood might have been saved if fire crews waiting feet away had taken action to prevent the fire from jumping PCH. The Pt. Dume Bombers, and other stay behind volunteers saved hundreds of houses in my neighborhood. The official after action report for the county suggests that the fire department instill some "common sense" in the future to enable fire captains to release crews to deal with situations like houses burning right next to the fire station. A<a href="https://laepf.org/woolsey-fire">n independent review of the fire released by the Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Foundation</a> has this to say: "Failure to communicate directly and honestly with the public concerning this change in mission was a major factor in the loss of public trust and a contributor to emotional distress. Clear, timely and frequent communications are essential during a crisis event."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We learned to live in a disaster zone as the weeks stretched into months, and with the realization that the fire was only the start of the disaster. This is lower Corral Canyon on November 16.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is where the fire stopped on the other side of my street. It was stopped thanks to the volunteers who stayed to fight. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RNgGtQ81UH4/XchvpWZTc7I/AAAAAAAAKlg/Uk7EPcD_rHcD9MycnNEDgXMXodsQ2kRxQCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1440289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RNgGtQ81UH4/XchvpWZTc7I/AAAAAAAAKlg/Uk7EPcD_rHcD9MycnNEDgXMXodsQ2kRxQCEwYBhgL/s640/P1440289.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Other areas were not as fortunate. This is the side of PCH near Leo Carrillo State Park. The fire and flood damage was so severe in this area that some roads remain closed a year later.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O3FXVEUALYM/XchvuRG27iI/AAAAAAAAKnk/3WyzyiRzd4UYz_iPLRzAriYCMHS8FFWVgCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1440316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-O3FXVEUALYM/XchvuRG27iI/AAAAAAAAKnk/3WyzyiRzd4UYz_iPLRzAriYCMHS8FFWVgCEwYBhgL/s640/P1440316.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The fire burned to the beach at Leo Carrillo, and on Point Dume and at Corral Beach. The fire followed the same pattern as the 1935 fire across Point Dume, but there were no houses there the last time it burned.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This burned out truck on our street corner appeared all over the media. I'm told it was driven while on fire away from a home and that it exploded. It became a popular photo op for "disaster tourists." I kept seeing people taking selfies on it. I think everyone was glad when it was finally towed away. The tragic burned out wreckage of people's houses were also popular destinations for internet narcissists. It was deeply disturbing to see these images cropping up on social media.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Roadwork was a priority, but it still took months to restore badly damaged mountain roads. Parts of Mulholland Highway remain closed, and work continues all over the burn area, where miles of guardrail is still being replaced.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B2ufBPx_3NA/Xchvy88lDMI/AAAAAAAAKj4/ctM0ton-yYESxphdyQBCj54KfePb7CRPACEwYBhgL/s1600/P1440370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B2ufBPx_3NA/Xchvy88lDMI/AAAAAAAAKj4/ctM0ton-yYESxphdyQBCj54KfePb7CRPACEwYBhgL/s640/P1440370.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The fire was barely out before storm season began. This crew was filling sandbags at Zuma Beach.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PFfdG8dxGl4/Xchv7mgvqLI/AAAAAAAAKkw/4e6vVp1qVY0VaWYZsqjdWJdf34FolitVgCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1440782.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PFfdG8dxGl4/Xchv7mgvqLI/AAAAAAAAKkw/4e6vVp1qVY0VaWYZsqjdWJdf34FolitVgCEwYBhgL/s640/P1440782.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Volunteers came out in force to fill sandbags at badly burned Seminole Springs, to keep the debris-choked lake from flooding the homes that didn't burn.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: left;"><br /></span><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z1GjXppf_QM/XciedMNEUnI/AAAAAAAAKr8/8SwVLybCLMAHvWDPsdnqviexveO8opZiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/181129_dead_deer_beach_debris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z1GjXppf_QM/XciedMNEUnI/AAAAAAAAKr8/8SwVLybCLMAHvWDPsdnqviexveO8opZiwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/181129_dead_deer_beach_debris.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: center;">A lot of that debris flowed down to the sea, depositing ash, silt, branches, telephone poles, fencing wire, and dead animals. It was ghastly, and remained a toxic mess for months. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0j2F8t1kLi8/XchwvHRJ1SI/AAAAAAAAKmg/V8NFHbqjjVY-FWE8H5dewwBmBFeSIK5EwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/P1520655.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0j2F8t1kLi8/XchwvHRJ1SI/AAAAAAAAKmg/V8NFHbqjjVY-FWE8H5dewwBmBFeSIK5EwCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/P1520655.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> This is a beautiful day in March, and the ocean is still brown with silt following a storm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We were still having dust storms in March, too. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">There was hope, too. Every year, someone decorates this roadside pine tree with Christmas ornaments. The tree was scorched in the fire, but in early December it was once again transformed into a Christmas tree, despite the destruction all around it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Almost half of the Santa Monica Mountains burned in the Woolsey Fire, nearly 90 percent of National Park Service lands were impacted. When Malibu Creek State Park reopened in December it was a gift for everyone who loves our mountains. A friend and I went on that first day and saw new shoots of green in a burned forest of oaks. It was one of the most transformative and inspiring experiences I have ever been blessed to have.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_62plnIyCLs/XchwNSoHYOI/AAAAAAAAKnk/-CXMifYpuf4K1rQUaWtOiueFAe_TWqSZwCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1460684.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_62plnIyCLs/XchwNSoHYOI/AAAAAAAAKnk/-CXMifYpuf4K1rQUaWtOiueFAe_TWqSZwCEwYBhgL/s640/P1460684.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Seeing the Malibu Creek mule deer herd alive and well was another moment of joy in the middle of disaster. Nature was recovering. We were going to get through this.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Recovery was slow, even with record rain. That white patch is a pile of bones burned almost to powder.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And then from the ashes flowers began to bloom.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And bloom.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Lupin bloomed on fire scarred hillsides.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">That's the hill with the burned power pole at Paramount Ranch in the earlier photo, viewed through a field of goldfield flowers.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Hundreds of rare Plummer's mariposa lilies appeared in the burn zone in May and lingered into July, luminous and beautiful.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Fire followers like these fire poppies appeared—flowers whose seeds can remain dormant in the soil for decades, germinating only after a wildfire.</span><br />
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This ancient Valley oak was entirely consumed by the fire, but the smaller tree in the background survived and is resprouting.</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tnfa0IYosec/XchwnFGxEZI/AAAAAAAAKoo/J_tB7huaBls8b6VondoAo0XWtPa-ts0bQCEwYBhgL/s1600/P1510094.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tnfa0IYosec/XchwnFGxEZI/AAAAAAAAKoo/J_tB7huaBls8b6VondoAo0XWtPa-ts0bQCEwYBhgL/s640/P1510094.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's the view from our garden, six months after the fire. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is lower Corral Canyon, the same angle as the first image, six months later.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's the former Western Town set at Paramount Ranch a year after the fire.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The church set at Paramount Ranch was one of two buildings that didn't burn. You would never know today that this was a scene of utter destruction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Zuma Canyon in December 2018.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Zuma Canyon in June of 2019, re-greened and blooming with fire-following phacelia flowers, giving hope to local residents. Nature at least is recovering. In time, the community will heal, but it will never be the same. The damage was too extensive. The scars run too deep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Upper Trancas Canyon lunar landscape. It's hard to image this level of destruction ever healing, but healing has begun.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UM0HsraufY/Xcif3bKrCgI/AAAAAAAAKsI/ji0-6464jYoOxGE32K03N6ZCTyPBpEjJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/190628_humboldt_lilies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7UM0HsraufY/Xcif3bKrCgI/AAAAAAAAKsI/ji0-6464jYoOxGE32K03N6ZCTyPBpEjJQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/190628_humboldt_lilies.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Humboldt lilies bloomed among the burned oak trees in Trancas Canyon in June.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I wasn’t here for the events marking the anniversary of the fire but I watched the photos and videos go up all over the internet: first the memorial for the lives tragically cut short at the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks on the eve of the fire, then the mountains and houses burning. It’s hard to watch, even now.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="1600" height="466" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xy9tWNL-VWM/XchtWku045I/AAAAAAAAKek/rFjWAbOETY80LX-0gailoIE4K4yOK3M9gCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/final_fire_footprint.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">This map of the Woolsey Fire is from the county's official after action report. It shows the direction and extent of the fire that burned from the Santa Susana Mountains to the sea in less than a day. It was the biggest wildfire in Los Angeles County history but it is unlikely to be the last. Malibu, with all of its beauty, will always be a place on the edge of disaster. Living here comes at a price, one that is hard to comprehend until it comes time to pay it.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A friend describes these feelings as crisis fatigue—the anniversary of the Woolsey Fire coming in the middle of a fire season that has already caused anxiety with heavy smoke, evacuation treats, and power outages. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This November, a year after Woolsey, I reflect again on Eliot’s words:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What we call the beginning is often the end</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And to make an end is to make a beginning</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The end is where to start from.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Even now, a year later, we aren’t at the end of this disaster, but we have at least made it to the end of the first year. And maybe that is an end where we all can start to make a beginning, a</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">s we journey together through a changed landscape. We are traveling now to a different future than the one that lay ahead of us before the fire, but that doesn’t mean that in time it won’t also be a good future, one in which there is hope, and joy, fewer nightmares, more dreams. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: small;">What might have been and what has been</span><br style="font-family: -webkit-standard;" /><span style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-size: small;">Point to one end, which is always present.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">—T.S. Eliot</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Santa Monica Mountains have weathered many wildfires. They continue to endure.</span></td></tr>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-34604468012108053952019-05-02T11:57:00.000-07:002019-05-04T08:57:27.657-07:00Six Months Later: Life in the Aftermath of the Woolsey Fire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Woolsey Fire swept through Malibu on November 9, 2018. This is Lower Corral Canyon on November 29, after the first post-fire rain. Although it looks as desolate as Mordor, the rainbow in the sky promises renewal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It has been half a year since the Woolsey Fire. Many people are still in shock, struggling with loss, or with the loss experienced by loved ones. We are all still trying to process the magnitude of the disaster.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">At the Malibu Post we were among the lucky ones who had a home to return to because our neighbors stayed and fought the fire, but it is still difficult. So many friends and neighbors lost their homes. So much was destroyed. Every day life was complicated by no electricity for weeks, no landline for months, road closures, flood warnings, dust and ashes every time the wind blew. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">As a journalist, I spent a lot of time in the middle of disaster zone reporting on the news. I spent even more time there in dreams each night, walking through that hellish landscape of incinerated trees and houses and ashy piles of bones (that's not an exaggeration, there were piles of bones all over the mountains after the fire). It was hard not to think about the fire all the time when everything was covered in ash, and even a short trip through the neighborhood was a drive through a war zone. Waking in the morning wasn't much better. The view out the window revealed a blacked panorama of scorched mountains.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Corral Canyon, January 2, 2019.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Malibu may never be the same, but after nearly six months it is getting better. Recovery will be a long process, one that has only just begun. Debris is being cleared. Residents who lost their homes struggle with the lengthy, complex, and often frustrating process of rebuilding, but at least the process has begun, however difficult and labyrinthine. Nature is also undergoing a rebuilding process, one aided by the restorative rain this winter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Some neighbors may never return—their losses are too great to be overcome. Others are cautiously optimistic, the horror of the fire tempered by thoughts filled with plans for the future again. And everywhere the rain has helped soften the appearance of the burn scar with new growth. Wildflowers, even the non-native and ubiquitous mustard, have cloaked the damage with color and beauty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Corral Canyon, March 24, 2019.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I took more than 10,000 photos of the fire and its aftermath. It's still hard for me to look at some of them, but we are only six months into the recovery from what has been Los Angeles County's worst fire disaster. We've come a long way in the time. We still have a long hard road ahead of us, but all around us the natural environment has begun to heal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This tiny sprout is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>Chlorogalum pomeridianum</i>, the soap plant or soap lily, spotted growing in upper Trancas Canyon on December 4. This was the first new growth I observed in the burn zone.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It is hard to imagine anything alive in this scorched and blasted landscape, but just weeks after the fire, new life was stirring here, too. the vast network of chaparral roots that remained in the soil help stabilize the hillsides and quickly jumpstart the recovery of many key plants. In undisturbed mountain soil there is also a bank of seeds that may have been produced decades earlier following previous fire. These are the fire followers, annual wildflowers with seeds that can remain dormant in the soil for years, but that sprout after the first rains following a fire. These plants will recharge the seed bank and provide food and shelter for surviving wildlife, but they also generate nutrients for a critically important network of micro and macro fungi that is essential for the survival of the chaparral plant community. Without this invisible web, recovery would be impossible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Laurel sumac has deep, deep roots that help stabilize the mountainsides and provide a critical reserve of water and nutrients for this fire-adapted plant, enabling it to begin regrowth almost immediately after a wildfire. I spotted this first sprout at the location in the photo above on December 12, just a month after the fire.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Like the laurel sumac, wild cucumber—Marah macrocarpa, also called man root, has massive reserves of nutrients and water stored safely underground. It is one of the first plants to sprout after a fire, and its abundant white flowers are a blessing for native pollinators following a disaster like this one, where so many acres of habitat were incinerated.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the same lookout point above Zuma Canyon on May 1, 2019, re-greened and covered in phacelia grandiflora, one of the true fire-following wildflowers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Fire following wildflowers that have appeared in the months after the wildfire include:</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Larkspur—<span style="color: #103824; text-align: left;"><i>Delphinium parryi</i></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wind poppies—<span style="text-align: left;"><i>Papaver heterophyllum.</i></span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fire poppy </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(16, 56, 36); color: #103824; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">Papaver Californium </i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(shown here with the tiny, strong-scented white flowers of eucrypta, another fire follower)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Globe lily—<span style="caret-color: rgb(16, 56, 36); color: #103824;"><i>Calochortus albus.</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dtK1y1tdYjg/XMZH9KdvYWI/AAAAAAAAKH8/YqiGYTJLYq0yxmcJsHhzUYqpZKm6H5ASACLcBGAs/s1600/P1580201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dtK1y1tdYjg/XMZH9KdvYWI/AAAAAAAAKH8/YqiGYTJLYq0yxmcJsHhzUYqpZKm6H5ASACLcBGAs/s640/P1580201.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Phacelia grandiflora </i>(shown here with a photo-bombing native pollinator).</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sTVhSWFQEXs/XMZH9DEAH2I/AAAAAAAAKH4/oYzNOX8crIcBsc5KufnOnQqkJ2Y54-kKgCLcBGAs/s1600/parrys_phacelia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sTVhSWFQEXs/XMZH9DEAH2I/AAAAAAAAKH4/oYzNOX8crIcBsc5KufnOnQqkJ2Y54-kKgCLcBGAs/s640/parrys_phacelia.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Phacelia parryi.</i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2WRhZO-xEXo/XMZPIybkQ1I/AAAAAAAAKJY/Z_rXsFh7a18BAJ3BHcm1iv99gN_Pi91zACLcBGAs/s1600/reagan_meadows_sticky_phacelia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2WRhZO-xEXo/XMZPIybkQ1I/AAAAAAAAKJY/Z_rXsFh7a18BAJ3BHcm1iv99gN_Pi91zACLcBGAs/s640/reagan_meadows_sticky_phacelia.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sticky phacelia—<i>Phacelia v<span style="color: #103824; text-align: left;">iscida.</span></i></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MjD5nAdlX6I/XMZPWEVW9rI/AAAAAAAAKJg/Cdy6lm2CHbk_iEaUD7Iq90OkF1ws1HnsACLcBGAs/s1600/painted_lady_phacelia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="456" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MjD5nAdlX6I/XMZPWEVW9rI/AAAAAAAAKJg/Cdy6lm2CHbk_iEaUD7Iq90OkF1ws1HnsACLcBGAs/s640/painted_lady_phacelia.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #103824; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Caterpillar phacelia—<i>Phacelia cicutaria</i>, and one of the thoundreds and thousands of painted lady butterflies that have been another miracle of the cycle of fire, rain and regrowth this spring.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FtxYu-FubHQ/XMZH-fQZqjI/AAAAAAAAKIA/C8Js8wuHhko5UXJbWmZ328fsA8xoSr7lQCLcBGAs/s1600/poppy_field.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1440" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FtxYu-FubHQ/XMZH-fQZqjI/AAAAAAAAKIA/C8Js8wuHhko5UXJbWmZ328fsA8xoSr7lQCLcBGAs/s640/poppy_field.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fields of California poppies bloomed throughout the Santa Monica Mountains.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-csygnbFs_n8/XLO8bcElpdI/AAAAAAAAJ-M/zX07Ft91eNs62bYdafxCiywjnTkS4FoPgCLcBGAs/s1600/more_lupine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-csygnbFs_n8/XLO8bcElpdI/AAAAAAAAJ-M/zX07Ft91eNs62bYdafxCiywjnTkS4FoPgCLcBGAs/s640/more_lupine.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">...And entire hillsides of lupine, acres and acres of heavenly blue, growing out of the dust and ashes of the Woolsey Fire.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ro_wHgNm-i0/XMZH_IjfePI/AAAAAAAAKIE/8S5ZcOSjV7ILsoPulT-6pyAcYaQ4u-bVQCLcBGAs/s1600/smm_superbloom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ro_wHgNm-i0/XMZH_IjfePI/AAAAAAAAKIE/8S5ZcOSjV7ILsoPulT-6pyAcYaQ4u-bVQCLcBGAs/s640/smm_superbloom.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">The post-fire superbloom that has covered the burned hills in a rainbow of living color may be mostly over, but the seeds set by these flowers will recharge the native wildflower seed bank in the soil. And there will be more fire-related wildflowers still to come: perennials that are growing now and will bloom next year, like bush poppy—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Dendromecon rigida, </i></span></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Trichostema lanatum</span>—</i></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">wooly blue curls, and late bloomers like Coulter's snapdragon and white bleeding hearts. The transformation has lifted human spirits in aftermath of this disaster. The flowers will fade, but they have been a blessing, a daily reminder of how far we have come in so short a time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's a summary of the past six months from no farther away than our own home:</span><br />
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The view we see every morning out of our window includes a transmission tower on the ridge between Latigo and Corral canyons. Here's what that transmission tower looked like on the morning of November 9, 2019, and during the past six months:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y32J7hrMmjg/XLO6y3_f_yI/AAAAAAAAJ9A/eCkBHaNQLoQjTo_JAmRQ-OZhlsM42nCRACLcBGAs/s1600/smoke_tornado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1045" data-original-width="1600" height="418" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y32J7hrMmjg/XLO6y3_f_yI/AAAAAAAAJ9A/eCkBHaNQLoQjTo_JAmRQ-OZhlsM42nCRACLcBGAs/s640/smoke_tornado.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">November 9, 2019. Fire races up the mountain...</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JuipzehQsPM/XMs7sUrPdHI/AAAAAAAAKM8/i4YgojdW50AFOFvh8r_xolb6776W1VbUgCLcBGAs/s1600/fire_on_hill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="902" data-original-width="1440" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JuipzehQsPM/XMs7sUrPdHI/AAAAAAAAKM8/i4YgojdW50AFOFvh8r_xolb6776W1VbUgCLcBGAs/s640/fire_on_hill.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />...And down the other side.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BUYWYUjzu28/XMffx2vtZnI/AAAAAAAAKK4/7lYlc5-Pj54hquJjTlPPyhrICtJTEof1gCLcBGAs/s1600/181121_tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1600" height="446" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BUYWYUjzu28/XMffx2vtZnI/AAAAAAAAKK4/7lYlc5-Pj54hquJjTlPPyhrICtJTEof1gCLcBGAs/s640/181121_tower.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">November 21, 2018. Gray and ashy as the surface of the moon.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">December 12, after the first rains. </span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OfrHbIJfY_0/XLP8LwA81wI/AAAAAAAAKAM/2NmylgtaipggSjNZt1o8Jj5WKtelGgEOgCLcBGAs/s1600/P1480213.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></a></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghou3x9F0-0/XMaffy5MHvI/AAAAAAAAKKE/NwF3EtS-1Sox8DKaLajta6pgGuTrgqFlQCLcBGAs/s1600/P1500511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ghou3x9F0-0/XMaffy5MHvI/AAAAAAAAKKE/NwF3EtS-1Sox8DKaLajta6pgGuTrgqFlQCLcBGAs/s640/P1500511.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">February 20, 2019.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0nlE5QY796k/XL03Bi3Y5CI/AAAAAAAAKCI/3tMM-9DocsQP9eBV58S5SwehIJeNt5UbgCLcBGAs/s640/transmission_tower_in_april.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">March 20. Non-native mustard is growing where the soil has been disturbed, but on the slopes that are too steep for bulldozes and discing machines, native wildflowers like lupine thrive.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rIyDYTu86IU/XLP_HDnZBsI/AAAAAAAAKBA/_EyTDMfvpo0imovyigjZxL_ALWLsIPzLgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/P1550671.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rIyDYTu86IU/XLP_HDnZBsI/AAAAAAAAKBA/_EyTDMfvpo0imovyigjZxL_ALWLsIPzLgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/P1550671.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">April 29, 2019. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IOwL0KAPZbY/XMs5NJUyKjI/AAAAAAAAKMw/PYlhFjEhGxUvnWAqd-p9bAmceRVqXlgogCLcBGAs/s1600/170524_latigo_corral_tower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1058" data-original-width="1600" height="422" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IOwL0KAPZbY/XMs5NJUyKjI/AAAAAAAAKMw/PYlhFjEhGxUvnWAqd-p9bAmceRVqXlgogCLcBGAs/s640/170524_latigo_corral_tower.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The view may never again look exactly like it did before—this is May of 2017, a year and half before the Woolsey fire, but also a decade after the earlier Corral Fire. Things are getting better, each day moves us farther away from the nightmare. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rebuilding after a wildfire is difficult. Recovery is slow. Many people are still experiencing grief and loss, or frustration and anger, but we are getting through it, together, one day at a time. For me, the dreams are less frequent now. When I look out of my window I still see one last sad chimney, but I also see green hills turning dusty gold as the rainy season ends. The familiar view of our much loved Malibu mountains isn't a wasteland anymore. </span></div>
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<i style="caret-color: rgb(20, 23, 26); color: #14171a; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">"...What I knew was that the earth underneath was alive and that by tomorrow, certainly by the day after, it would be all green again."
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—Norman MacLean, </span><i style="caret-color: rgb(20, 23, 26); color: #14171a; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">A River Runs Through It, and Other Stories</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lower Corral Canyon on the last day of April, 2019, almost six months after the Woolsey Fire.</span></div>
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<br />Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-60948775111348025492018-12-06T20:34:00.000-08:002019-02-03T13:31:22.910-08:00Woolsey Fire Diary<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a0N4kGfWj_M/XAdDKejP1SI/AAAAAAAAJmg/gwEmib5XhwwOaeQtw_jJk4GA8j5SSnWUwCLcBGAs/s1600/fire_at_end_of_street_cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="1600" height="338" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a0N4kGfWj_M/XAdDKejP1SI/AAAAAAAAJmg/gwEmib5XhwwOaeQtw_jJk4GA8j5SSnWUwCLcBGAs/s640/fire_at_end_of_street_cropped.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The Woolsey Fire races down the mountain at the end of our road on its way across Pacific Coast Highway and through Point Dume to the beach at Westward. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I've been covering news stories about the Woolsey Fire for what feels like several lifetimes but is really less than a month, but I wanted to share some of my personal experience during this strange and tragic time, not as a journalist but as a resident and an eyewitness to a disaster that has changed the face of Malibu forever. Part of this account appeared in the November 16 <a href="http://www.messengermountainnews.com/" target="_blank">Messenger Mountain News</a> under the title "<a href="https://messengermountainnews.com/news/get-ready-malibu/">Get Ready, Malibu!</a>"). Part has been pieced together after my return home, as I learned more about the struggles faced by our neighbors who stayed behind and fought the fire to save all of our homes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The fire broke out on November 8 in Woolsey Canyon, at the old Santa Susana Field Laboratory on the edge of Simi Valley. I couldn’t sleep that night. I sat in front of the computer, watching as the Woolsey Fire spread towards the Santa Monica Mountains.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">Just after 1 a.m., fire watcher and photographer Bernie Deyo Tweeted: </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Sounds like #LACOFD is preparing to issue mandatory evacs south of the 101 Freeway all the way to Mulholland Drive, AA thinks it may jump the freeway soon.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Get ready, Malibu,” I responded. “If it jumps the freeway it will be headed our way, just like the 1978 Agoura-Malibu Fire, and the 1956 fire before it.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It did, but it was much worse this time. The fire arrived in Malibu after wreaking havoc in Simi Valley, Oak Park, West Hills, Thousand Oaks, and Agoura Hills. The fireline was 14 miles long when it jumped the 101 at multiple points near Liberty Canyon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It burned through multiple canyons simultaneously, driven at first by 60 mph Santa Ana winds, and then by the wind generated by the heat of fire itself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A friend called just after 7 a.m. to tell us there was a mandatory evacuation, but there was no way to leave: Pacific Coast Highway was jammed from Zuma Beach to Santa monica. Our official call from the city didn't come through until around 10 a.m. My octogenarian mother and I waited at home, car packed, dog at our feet, and cats stored in carriers, with the fire coming closer and closer. We left just after 2 p.m., when word reached us that more lanes on PCH were now open for southbound evacuees. They weren't, but at least northbound traffic was shut down, and there were fewer cars on the road. When we left, t</span>he fire was no longer advancing down Kanan Dume, it was raging through our neighborhood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Here's what it looked like as it raced toward Malibu as we waited to leave:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">9:10 a.m., on November 9, looking northeast towards Corral Canyon from our back garden on Point Dume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">9:36 a.m. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-size: small; text-align: start;">A few minutes later, the firestorm crested the mountain at Corral. It was burning through Latigo and Escondido canyons within minutes, not hours. Those little white specs are fixed-wing aircraft, preparing to dump water or the fire retardant Phos-Chek. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">10:03 a.m., looking up the street towards the mountain between Kanan and Zuma. The fire to the left of the fire break is headed towards Malibu Park. It seemed then that the fire would bypass Point Dume as it has in other wildfires. It didn't.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #14171a; font-size: small;">11:11 a.m. The fire line has spread further east and south, and is now heading straight for Point Dume.</span></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItU676zdvzQ/XAhfkoRh7dI/AAAAAAAAJoM/nmqLuji7448UPr1-LNqsr8oqkJ7QBjxkACEwYBhgL/s1600/P1430763.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ItU676zdvzQ/XAhfkoRh7dI/AAAAAAAAJoM/nmqLuji7448UPr1-LNqsr8oqkJ7QBjxkACEwYBhgL/s640/P1430763.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">11:24 a.m., looking north, towards the smoke cloud over Dume and Ramirez canyons from the backyard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Evacuating at 2:20 p.m. The fire is still advancing, but the smoke was so thick we could no longer see it. The wind died, the smoke made it seem like twilight, and we could hear the hum of the fire through the gloom like the sound of bees, punctuated with the dull thump of things blowing up in the distance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A screen capture from the live ABC 7 news broadcast, showing what the same area looked like after we left.</span><br />
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A massive whirlwind of fire swept to the coast. Malibu Park e<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2018/11/13/that-flaming-whirl-woolsey-fire-was-it-actually-firenado/?utm_term=.8c13d96db8f4" target="_blank">xperienced a true "firenado,</a>" a tornado of flame descending from the sky. It tore up trees and power poles as it ripped through the residential neighborhood. Malibu Park resident Kevin Hughes t<a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fic9zEQ4jgg">ook some terrifying video of the phenomenon</a> as it began to descend on Malibu Park, west of Point Dume.<br />
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Point Dume wasn't hit by a whirlwind, but it was engulfed in a wall of flame that swept across Pacific Coast Highway and through the canyons like a river.<br />
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My family has weathered many Malibu fires. I've never seen anything like this.<br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">One of my earliest memories is the 1970 Wright fire, my father holding me on his shoulders in front of the house, pointing to the glow on the horizon. He was the kind of person who refused to evacuate. I remember him on the roof, with the garden hose, watching fires approach in 1978 and 1982. Every time, he helped the neighbors, and my parents opened the house to evacuees from other parts of the community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In 1993, during the Old Topanga Fire, he had to evacuate the family’s gallery in the Malibu Country Mart, but wouldn’t leave our house. In 2007, during the Corral Fire, when his ill health wouldn’t let him fight back he still didn’t want to leave, and we weathered that storm. He always felt confident that Point Dume, where we lived since the 1960s, wouldn’t burn—it never had, he said. At least, not since the neighborhood was built in the 1940s. He passed away in 2017. I’m glad he didn’t see what happened on November 9, when the Woolsey Fire swept through the Point. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">It took four hours to reach my brother’s home in Seal Beach, and then an agonizing 12 more hours of not knowing what was happening. Finally we heard from a friend who stayed behind that our house and those of our immediate neighbors were safe.</span><br />
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When we finally returned home 10 days later, we heard about the neighbors who stayed behind and fought the fire, not once but multiple times. Embers carried by the wind kept spreading the fire to houses not burned in the first wave. Gas lines at burned out homes fountained flame. There was little water, no power, and no communication. Crews of residents and the Point Dume Bombers—volunteer firefighters with dirt bikes, a water truck, and grim determination, fought to save houses.</div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> There was no official news, only scatted reports on Twitter or Nextdoor, and videos shot by more intrepid neighbors who hired boats to take them back in, or who made it through on back roads. We watch news helicopter flyover videos over and over again, searching for friends’ homes or the places where their homes once stood. The wait and the lack of information was like a physical pain, only alleviated by confirmation that another person had come through safely. Then it was back to waiting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">When we finally returned home, the devastation was unbelievable. Charred hills in every direction, houses erased as if they had never existed. </span>Fully one half of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area was burned. An estimated 1600 structures were lost, most of them houses, at least 450 of them in Malibu and maybe as many as 680. We were blessed to have a home to return to. Just five houses were lost on our street, and two on the street across from us. The main reason more houses in our immediate neighborhood didn't burn was that small group of residents who stayed behind to fight the fire.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I took a screen cap of the fire map on November 10. The purple area shows the extent of the fire perimeter. It was impossible to tell if our home was in or out of the burn zone. The perimeter ran right through our road. This wasn't the kind of fire that sweeps through and is over. It kept popping back up and was spread by embers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Our neighborhood on fire. This photo taken by John Mazza shows a house on the neighboring street completely engulfed in flame. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">This is the ravine, or gully, behind all of our houses. John Mazza and his neighbor Mace Stanley took a stand against the leading edge of the fire as is advanced on our houses from behind. "The hoses kept melting," John told me. "We had to keep finding new ones." In the end, they stopped the fire through a combination of determination and luck. "The wind died," John told me. "If it hadn't, we wouldn't have been able to stop it." </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">John Mazza took this photo of Mace Stanley fighting the fire with a garden hose. The two men working together managed to knock down the flames just feet from the nearest house. They saved two streets of houses, and all of the habitat in the ravine by their actions. For three days they, and the other volunteers, including John's wife Robby, and a core group of neighbors, worked to stamp down the fire when it sprang up again, putting out embers, smoldering railroad ties, and palm trees that burned like fireworks. They did all of that without fire department support, or electricity, or reliable cell service. I don't know the names of all of the people who worked to save as many houses as they could in this neighborhood, and I probably never will, but their courage and determination made a difference, and this story is just one of many last stands made by residents all over the burn area. Not every house could be saved, but many people had a home to return to because of the people who stayed and fought.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">The last time Point Dume burned extensively was in 1935, before there were houses here. The Woolsey fire followed a similar course through the mountains to the sea, but was many times bigger, hotter, faster, and more destructive. These National Park Service maps show the burn areas of the fires in the first half of the 20th century. The 1935 fire, in dark orange on the bottom map, burned through Point Dume and Malibu Park, on a similar path as the much large Woolsey Fire.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The view from our garden after the fire and the first rains. Winter grass is already covering the fire scars, and you have to look carefully to spot the row of burned out houses on the ridgde, a brutal reminder of all that was lost.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">From my studio window I can see the burnt eucalyptus trees that are all that is left of an original 1950s Point Dume ranch-style house just a few hundred yards away across the gully—the one that was photographed burning, above) and beyond that, the chimneys of five burned out houses in a row on the ridge at Latigo Canyon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none; font-size: small;">Recovery seems insurmountable, but Malibu and its neighboring communities will rebound. Spring will bring fire-following wildflowers to the bleak hills, the wildlife, adapted to a fire ecology in ways humans are not, will return. I saw our great-horned owl last night, and our garden in full of winter songbirds, singing despite the disaster all around them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">NASA released this image of the Woolsey Fire seen from space. That unburned green patch between Latigo and Corral canyons? We can see it from our garden:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />This is the only major island of unburned vegetation in a swath of destruction that covers the entire Malibu portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, from Point Mugu State Park in the west, to Malibu Canyon in the east.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I kept writing throughout the disaster. I had to. Not only is writing my livelihood, it was a compulsion. I wrote multiple articles during the 10 days we stayed with my brother's family in Seal Beach, not knowing what was happening at home except for what we could glean from friends and neighbors "inside." I pulled apart the book that was due at the printers the week of the fire, and rewrote the chapter on natural disaster. I knew I couldn't go to press without including at least something on the worst wildfire in Malibu's history, not with so much loss, and so much devastation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I wrote articles in the dark, relying on batteries, when we were finally allowed to return home, because we didn't have power, and for days and I haunted the Messenger Mountain News' office in Topanga and the Malibu Library, while we waited for power, and finally internet service, to be restored. You can read an account of the challenges of putting together a newspaper while under evacuation <a href="https://messengermountainnews.com/news/woolsey-chronicles-3/">here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">A rainbow, age-old symbol of hope and renewal, arches over scorched and blacked Corral Canyon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">We still don't have landlines. You will find me standing in a tiny square of of cell reception in the garden in all weathers, shouting into the phone. I just finished an interview that way, in the rain. I've learned to take my notes in pencil so it doesn't run. It works, at least sometimes, and I have a house to go back into when the latest round of phone frustration is at an end. Many families do not, and some who do still cannot go home because their areas are unsafe. Others have to wait for smoke damage mitigation and other fire related repairs. There are still neighborhoods without power, and areas where going home again is painful because only a few houses survived in a field of absolute destruction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The path the fire took down Kanan Dume Road into Malibu. The entire corridor has burned, from the top of Ladyface Mountain in Agoura Hills, to the sea at Westward Beach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"> It will be up to the local media to continue to cover the aftermath of the disaster now that it has dropped out of the main news cycle. It's the thing we can do to help, at a time when it seems there isn't enough help in the world to heal the hurt and aid all of the friends and neighbors who lost their homes, not just in Malibu but throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Recovery has begun, but it will be a slow and long process.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Too many people lost everything but their lives, and everyone who has experienced the trauma of the disaster, regardless of whether they had a home still standing at the end of it, needs time to grieve and heal, to transform fear and anxiety back into the patterns of ordinary, everyday life. Little by little we move forward, one foot in front of the other, until the worst disaster in Malibu's history is history, and not live pain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Suzanne Guldimann</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">5 December 2018</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I had an opportunity to write an op ed on the Woolsey Fire and the history of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area for the Los Angeles Times immediately after the fire. It was a chance for me to share some of the challenges this remarkable national park that surrounds Malibu has faced in its 40-year history, and to put the wildfire in perspective as another challenge that the park and all of the people who live in and around it and who care about it will recover from in time. You can read it <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-guldimann-santa-monica-mountains-national-recreation-area-woolsey-fire-20181202-story.html">here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">And somehow, through all of the chaos, anxiety, and heartbreak of the fire and its aftermath, my book made it to the printers. Drawn in part from my writings on the Malibu Post, it is a collection of history and nature features illustrated throughout with archival images and my own photographs. The publication is bittersweet. I didn't know when I was writing it and choosing the photos that I would be chronicling life in a Malibu that no longer exists the way it did before November 9, 2018. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"> "Life in Malibu" is<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Malibu-Suzanne-Guldimann/dp/0966766490/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1544113835&sr=8-3&keywords=life+in+malibu"> available on Amazon</a>. </span><br />
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-3855368331050392932017-11-04T17:21:00.001-07:002017-11-04T17:24:51.753-07:00Shipwrecked in Malibu: The St. Croix Disaster<div style="font-family: times; line-height: normal;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />"Thrilling experience" seems a bit of an understatement after the headline proclaimed "Panic Reigns During Ship's Race for Shore Against Death in Flames for All!"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The steamship St. Croix sank off the coast of Point Dume </span>108 years ago this November. The incident is almost entirely forgotten now, but <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">the dramatic disaster was headline news in 1909. Readers all over the country were left breathless with colorful accounts of the trials and travails of the 44 crew members and 82 passengers of the ill-fated ship. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Everyone, from the captain to a six-month-old baby, was extensively profiled.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">"I lost the ship, but thank God I did not lose a life," Captain Fred Warner is reported as saying. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The baby, described as the “six months old heroine” of the wreck by the Los Angeles Tribune, offered no comment, but she, and a small white terrier named Sweet, who also survived the wreck, each had their own 15 minutes of front page fame, and the story remained a sensation for weeks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In the days following the first reports of the shipwreck, many newspapers surmised that the 240-foot wooden single-funnel steamer went down with “all hands.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />A detail of the artist's depiction of the St. Croix in flames from the <i>San Francisco Call</i>.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Liner afire at sea, none alive aboard...[steamer] City of Topeka reports steaming around burning vessel in fog and finding no signs of life,” <i>a New York Times</i> headline, dated November 20, 1909, states.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“The new Shelback-Hamilton Line steamer St. Croix was burned to the water's edge to-night off Point Duma [sic], fourteen miles north of Santa Monica,” <i>The Times</i> article continued. “The steamer City of Topeka, which arrived at Redondo last night, reported passing the St. Croix aflame from stem to stern.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>The Delaware Pilot</i> described it as “a holocaust at sea,” and reported that “One hundred people were burned to death, drowned or killed by the explosion of the boilers on the steamship St. Croix.”</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The passenger list for the last voyage of the St. Croix.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The November 20, 1909 <i>San Francisco Call</i> providing the first report of the survival of the crew and passengers, but reports of the incident varied significantly, with some accounts describing the captain beaching the burning ship and others describing a harrowing trip by lifeboat—nine boats with 15 people in each—through heavy surf to reach “Zuni” Cove. There's a theory that this was Paradise Cove, based on a description of tall cliffs, but the late Malibu historian Ronald Rindge believed that Zuni was Zuma, and that the specific location was near the outflow of Zuma Creek.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Los Angeles Herald's reporter and photographer arrived by automobile with sandwiches and coffee and were rewarded with the scoop on the story. The castaways reportedly burned fence posts and driftwood to stay warm on the first night. However, this photo was probably taken on the second day at the Las Flores entrance to the Malibu Rancho. It's hard to see, but that may be the gatekeeper's shack on the right. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Surviving the wreck was only the first part of the ordeal. A number of passengers and crew members were injured during the landing. One woman was caught between the hull of the ship and the lifeboat, crushing her legs. Moments later, she and her six-month-old child were reportedly nearly drowned when the lifeboat was swamped by heavy surf. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><i>The Call</i> reported that she and the baby, “with the 14 other occupants of the boat, were thrown into the water, but were rescued by her husband and two other men, who dived from the upper works of the burning vessel. Herbert, the six-year-old son of Charles Vellbaum, was saved at the same time by Edward Norris, a ship's quartermaster, aided by Mrs. Grace Thomas, who proved herself a heroine.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The survivors gathered on the beach and tended to injuries that included burns, contusions and broken bones. <i>The Call</i> reported that the first mate climbed the cliffs and walked all the way to the Malibu Ranch house at what is now the Serra Retreat in search of help. The rest of the crew and the passengers spent a wet and uncomfortable night on the beach. In some of the more colorful accounts a rancher with a race car, or alternately a “secret service agent,” was the first on the scene and sent for help.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The glow of the burning vessel did attract attention and eventually ranch hands arrived with wagons and mule teams. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">All of the passengers and most of the crew opted to travel out on foot or by mule wagon, but 15 crew members stayed behind at the landing site and they seem to have fared better than their shipmates. The Coast Guard cutter Perry arrived the next day and transported them, including one crew member who was “severely injured” and had to be carried on a stretcher, to San Pedro.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In contrast, the journey by mule team seems to have been more traumatic for some of the castaways than the shipwreck. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The only coastal route through Malibu in 1909 was along the beach. Passage depended entirely on the tides and weather—big surf or high tide could swamp travelers or leave them stranded. One of the St. Croix passengers recounted that the van drawn by the mule team overturned three times. "I guess I'll be all right," she reportedly said. "But I do wish that I could get home. I'm bruised all over."</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The intrepid Miss Josephine Taylor of Denver, Colorado, with her dog Sweets, who was rescued from the water by another passenger after being thrown from the deck of the burning ship.</span></span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Another account states: “The driver of this contrivance was picking his way along the beach in the darkness when his mules became frightened and swerved out toward the sea. The left forward wheel of the wagon struck a boulder; and the vehicle was violently shunted into the surf. The mules started to run and in an instant a big comber dashed over the wagon, drenching the occupants and rending terror to the hearts.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The castaways appear to have transported all the way to the Las Flores ranch gatehouse, where a bonfire—described in one account as having been made of railroad ties from the Malibu railroad—provided warmth while they waited for transportation back to Santa Monica and civilization. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The newspaper accounts state that the steamship company did little to assist the victims, but that the police and fire departments, sympathetic residents of Santa Monica, and the reporters who were among the first to arrive at the scene provided food, clothing, and, finally, transportation for the victims. For the passengers of the St. Croix, the 36-hour ordeal was was finally over. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The St. Croix is thought to have sunk in deep water in the vicinity of Dume Submarine Canyon, not far from Pinnacle Rocks. The wreck has never been found.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I often think about the St. Croix when November rolls around. I imagine struggling through the surf in petticoats and button boots with a small child in my arms, like the intrepid Grace Thomas. Enduring a cold, damp night on the beach, bruised and burnt and wet, and the long trek out on foot or bumping about on a mule wagon, damp and sandy wool clothes chafing battered and half drowned, along a stretch of coast rarely seen by anyone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I heard about the St. Croix growing up. It caught the imagination, and the local divers used to look for the wreckage off Point Dume. I didn't learn the details until I read Ronald Rindge's account in the book of maritime stories he coauthored with Judge John Merrick and published in 2000. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I was saddened to learn that Ron Rindge passed away in October. I am so grateful that he generously shared his knowledge of Malibu and its history and stories with all of us throughout his long life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Suzanne Guldimann</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A sailboat skims over the deep tranquil water off Point Dume where the St. Croix is thought to have gone down more than a hundred years ago. Photo © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-43939602844349335032017-08-26T16:32:00.000-07:002019-06-11T18:42:33.116-07:00Wish You Were Here: A Transient History of Malibu's Motels<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">AAA-approved and spectacularly pink—First Lady Mamie Eisenhower's favorite color—inside and out. For a weary motorist, arriving at the Malibu Riviera Motel in 1948, after a drive along the mostly uninhabited Malibu coast, it must have felt like being transported to the Technicolor land of Oz. After decades of neglect, this relic of the road trip-era is now the artfully hipster <a href="https://www.thenativehotel.com/">Native Motel</a>. The owners have embraced the original 1940s ambiance and restored everything to a period feel. Rooms reportedly cost around $200-$400 a night, soon with coffee and waffles served out of an Airstream every morning. But the old Riviera Motel is an exception, because most of Malibu's motel history is lost or changed beyond recognition. <a href="http://pepperdine.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15730coll18/id/793/rec/54">This postcard</a> is from the wonderful <a href="http://pepperdine.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15730coll18/id/993/rec/2">Eric Weinberg Collection of Matchbooks, Postcards and Ephemera at the Pepperdine University Library's Digital Archive.</a></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><br />Nostalgia for old motels, like most forms of nostalgia, is selective and dishonest. We like to imagine a pure world before the soulless hotel chains took over, a landscape of lovely neon, local charm, and individuality. No doubt this was the case, occasionally, in the 50s and early 60s, but it was only part of the story. —<a href="http://www.lileks.com/motels/">James Lileks</a><br /></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal;">No one cared much about the Great Malibu Motel Extinction of the 1980s and '90s. It was a gradual phenomenon, more like the end of the last ice age than the sudden change precipitated by an asteroid, but rising real estate prices were just as fatal to local guest services in their own small way as the arrival of the asteroid Chicxulub to the dinosaurs. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal;">Now, when almost all this particular endangered species, famous for its boomerang-patterned formica, heated pools, and signs proclaiming "AAA Approved!" is almost entirely gone, our elected officials in Sacramento suddenly care very much.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; text-align: start;"><br />The lavish two-story Casa Malibu Motel, built by the Harris family in 1947—the golden year for motels in Malibu, was popular with the Hollywood crowd in the 1950s, when it was at the peak of motel perfection, as well as being a family vacation destination. Today, it's the $1000-$2000-a-night Nobu Ryokan, and still presumably big with the Hollywood set, but no longer accessible to ordinary mortals (those of us without a spare $2K can enjoy a virtual visit </span><a href="http://laist.com/2017/04/21/nobu_ryokan_malibu.php#photo-1" style="text-align: start;">here</a><span style="color: black; text-align: start;">).</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">Just in time for the opening of the preposterously pricy $2000-a-night Malibu Nobu Ryokan hotel, a new California assembly bill seeks to turn the clock back to the era of the road trip,</span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal;"> </span>encouraging motel redevelopment projects and <span style="color: black;">opening up the possibility of using public lands for new hotels, campgrounds, and hostels in the Coastal Zone that would be available to all, not just the boutique set.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal;">Not everyone is enthused about the plan, at least not here in Malibu. That's because the bill as written seems to have several large loopholes that activists fear could generate an unintended building boom in parklands that were saved for conservation, not development. They are also concerned that recreational development in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, including Malibu, no matter how desirable it may appear, would put large numbers of potentially clueless visitors right in the middle of an area with some of the highest fire danger on the continent. Others question the feasibility of bringing back cheap motels. The era of Kerouac has come and gone, they say. The world has changed.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="color: black;">Motels and campgrounds were an outgrowth of early car culture. In a weird way, so were many of our Western National Parks, where the routes through the parks were built to showcase the best vistas to visitors with cars, not to protect resources or offer easy access to hikers. Here's an ad for Red Crown gasoline from 1923, encouraging car owners to embrace "the privileges of the great outdoors," with a scene from a dream camping vacation—frolicking on the sand, a tent on the beach, cooking over a camp stove, the faithful automobile, whitewalls gleaming, waiting to carry the vacationers to their next exciting destination.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal;">The original motel and campground boom all across the county is tied to the history of the automobile. When Mr Ford, aided and abetted by the Automobile Club of America, opened up that new horizon for travel, campgrounds and the new motels—a portmanteau word made out of motor + hotels—sprang up all over, including throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_9kI4vqc3R0/WZyX0ie80RI/AAAAAAAAIJk/m7CjY_ldbVoQQaKmZM6KKJPbgZCRSqypwCLcBGAs/s1600/Automobile_road_map_from_Los_Angeles_to_Topanga_Caon__return_1915.jpg" style="font-style: normal; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_9kI4vqc3R0/WZyX0ie80RI/AAAAAAAAIJk/m7CjY_ldbVoQQaKmZM6KKJPbgZCRSqypwCLcBGAs/s640/Automobile_road_map_from_Los_Angeles_to_Topanga_Caon__return_1915.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="color: black;">An Automobile Club map from 1915 encourages drivers to explore the Santa Monica Mountains. Topanga Canyon was a popular destination, and campgrounds and cabins cropped up throughout the canyon, recreation replacing agriculture as a cottage industry.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-style: normal;">Early 20th century beachgoers had a luxury that has almost vanished today. Entrepreneurial landowners cobbled together tent cabins in Santa Monica Canyon and at Topanga Beach for visitors. Beach shacks, bath houses, and tents popped up all along the coast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Here's <a href="http://pepperdine.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15730coll18/id/2355/rec/98">a 1920s postcard from the Eric Weinburg Collection</a> advertising the joys of auto camping at what looks like the beach by Temescal Canyon.</span></div>
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Even as early as the 1880s, when horsepower had a much more literal meaning, beach and canyon camping was a popular activity. A stagecoach catering to summer beachgoers transported intrepid travelers to the Las Flores Inn for the day, and private campgrounds offered a taste of California rancho life to vacationing Angelenos.</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">The Marquez family's campground in Santa Monica Canyon offered the best of beach and canyon recreation opportunities. This photo, dated 1885, is from the Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-style: normal;">The Topanga Ranch Motel, build in the 1930s, was one of the first local hostelries to cater to the motorcar crowd. It grew out of the tents at Cooper's Camp, shown in the postcard, below.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That row of cabins along the road eventually grew into the Topanga Ranch Motel. </span></td></tr>
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However, ramshackle huts and canvas tents lined the beach from Santa Monica to the Palisades long before there was a Pacific Coast Highway. In fact, there were hotels, cabins, cottages and bath houses all over the coast, followed in the late 1930s by motels, but one long stretch of the coast was of out of reach for vacationers: the old Malibu Rancho. It wasn't until the 1940s that the motel craze reached the coastal enclave.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"><br />The Topanga Ranch Motel, shown here in the 1930s, when it was owned by William Randolph Hearst, is a classic example of the early bungalow-style motel. When State Parks acquired the site in 2001, many preservationists cherished the hope that the motel would be restored using the Coastal Commission's program to assess "in lieu" funding to mitigate for the loss of public benefit at other development projects, but the old motel is still shuttered, quietly decaying. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />Here is a Google Street View look at the long-shuttered Topanga Ranch Motel.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-abnmOKNZ-zw/WaDkG2naTkI/AAAAAAAAIKg/p_7NDmezT2U6ImjeXAY2a_oA58ad7GyzgCLcBGAs/s1600/Carls_Motel_later_the_Sun_Spot_Motel_on_Pacific_Coast_Highway_one_of_the_oldest_motels_in_California.jpg" style="font-style: normal; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-abnmOKNZ-zw/WaDkG2naTkI/AAAAAAAAIKg/p_7NDmezT2U6ImjeXAY2a_oA58ad7GyzgCLcBGAs/s640/Carls_Motel_later_the_Sun_Spot_Motel_on_Pacific_Coast_Highway_one_of_the_oldest_motels_in_California.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">According to </span><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1987-08-16/news/we-1643_1_los-angeles-conservancy" style="font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal;">the Los Angeles Times</a><span style="color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">, Carl's Sea Air Motel—later known as the Sunspot—was one of the first modern motels not just in the Malibu area but in California. This image, from the Santa Monica Public Library Archives</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-style: normal;">Carl's Motel—better known as the Sunspot, just east of West Channel Road, was one of the first motels in the area. This 12-room motel exemplified the motor hotel ideal. Completed in 1938, it was designed by well-known Los Angeles architects Alexander Schutt and A. Quincy Jones. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small; font-style: normal;">Despite its decline and ignoble end as a dismal disco dive and house of ill repute in the 1970s, this motel, designed to offer food, accommodation, and gas, was a landmark. In his application to the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission to get the building listed as a historic landmark, preservationist Bradley Weidmaier described the motel as "a brilliantly orchestrated complex." Unfortunately, this motel's architectural significance wasn't enough to save it.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's nothing left of the old Carl's Motel/Sunspot nightclub complex today. It was torn down to facilitate a park that was never built. All that's on the site now is a massive landslide mitigation project. Image: Google Street View</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">After Pacific Coast Highway—Roosevelt Highway in those days—was built, and the Rindge family were forced to sell off large chunks of the Malibu Rancho to pay the expenses that piled up during the battle to keep the highway out, more hotels began to pop up, but only after WW II. Gas and tire rationing, curfews and blackout regulations, the military closure at Point Dume, and the general lack of manpower put all kinds of development plans in Mlaibu on hold for the war years.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">The Malibu Beach Motel still looks much the same but is currently an office building. Built in 1941, this was the first motel actually in Malibu. It served as something of a general store and gathering place during the difficult war years. This image is from a 1949 ad, once again <a href="http://pepperdine.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15730coll18/id/167/rec/305">in the collection of Mr Weinberg. </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Malibu Beach Motel, once famous for its Hollywood clientele, is now a sedate office building that houses a development company. Image: Google Street View.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-style: normal;">Malibu was a modest mecca for motel builders in the 1940s and '50s. Architect Richard Neutra designed the fabled Holiday House for retired director Dudley Murphy in 1947. The Wilcox family built the Malibu Riviera Motel with their own hands, the same year. The other Malibu motels over the next decade ranged from the modernist Malibu Sands to the spectacularly kitchy Tonga-Lei.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">The Holiday House, a mid-century modern beach paradise, was designed by architect Richard Neutra shortly after WW II for film director Dudley Murphy. The Surf Room is still a restaurant—Geoffrey's, but the motel rooms were converted into apartments in the 1980s. The image is an ad from around 1968.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">Malibu motel ads from 1949. My mom, who grew up back east, tells me that a patio was a big deal in the 1950s, especially for transplanted or relocated East Coasters and Midwesterners, to whom a sliding glass door to a patio that could be used year round was an almost unimaginable luxury. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: black;">The former "Sea Esta" Motel, now the Malibu M Motel. Image: Google Street View</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Malibu Beach Hotel in its original incarnation in the 1940s, as the Ocean View Motel. It's AAA Approved! Image:</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><a href="https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?f%5Bgenre_basic_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Cards&f%5Bsubject_facet_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Hotels&f%5Bsubject_geographic_ssim%5D%5B%5D=California&per_page=100" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boston Public Library</a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="color: black;">This motel is still there, too, </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">wonderful 1940s </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">curved corners and all, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;">but it's all apartments now. Image:</span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Google Street View photo.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />The Malibu Shores Motel was built in the early 1950s by Betty and Nathaniel Roberts. The October 2, 1953 Malibu Times describes it as "an exceptionally beautiful structure that is a decided architectural credit to the community." It certainly meets all of the criteria for a 1950s motel: turquoise paint, check. Peanut-brittle stone facade, check. Eye-catching motel sign, check. And is it AAA approved? Yes it is. A generation later, it was given a sedate, gray and white make-over and became the Surfrider. This building is currently being remodeled and is expected to open soon in its latest incarnation as the new Malibu Surfrider Motel.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: black;">The Tonga-Lei was originally a restaurant and motel. The motel, which had nine tiki-themed rooms that matched the restaurant's over-the-top decor, kept the name when the restaurant became Don the Beachcomber. It's all gone now. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-style: normal;">The Tonga Lei, which opened in 1961 on the site of another somewhat eccentric restaurant—the Drift Inn, was famous for its Polynesian-themed restaurant and bar, which featured tropical cocktails, flaming torches and genuine carved Tiki gods, but the small motel—it only had nine rooms—attached to the restaurant was also a temple of Tiki decor, resplendent with bamboo furniture. It was replaced in 1987 with a generic three-story, 47-room hotel, touted in <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1987-11-12/news/we-20416_1_malibu-pier">an L.A. Times article</a> as "the first new hotel in Malibu in 37 years." </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Alas, there's not a trace of Tiki kitch left at the Malibu Beach Inn, not even a bizarre tropical drink or two on the dinner menu for old time's sake, just three stories of luxurious but bland respectability. Image: Google Street View</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Malibu Sands Motel is a strip mall today. It was one of the last motels to be built in Malibu, and one of the largest. The original building was designed by noted mid-century modern architect Alfred T. Gilman in 1957. The Malibu Sands included "bachelor apartments," in addition to motel rooms. This postcard is also from <a href="http://pepperdine.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15730coll18/id/993/rec/2">the wonderful collection of Eric Weinberg at the Pepperdine University Library's Digital Archive.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Nothing as fine within 400 miles," boasts this ad from 1958.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal;">The Albatross Motel began life in the late 1940s as the Malibu Movie Colony Motel and burned down in 1963. It was never rebuilt. It has a colorful reputation that's difficult now to substantiate, and the site is reputed to be haunted—another claim that is difficult to prove. This location beautifully summarizes the trajectory of the American motel—from modern convenience to decay and from there to oblivion. Only five of the 12 motels in and around Malibu we discussed today are still in business as hotels. This is another postcard from the Eric Weinberg Collection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There were others. The Las Tunas Isle Motor Hotel, which advertised in the Malibu Times for a couple of years in the late 1940s before turning into an apartment house. The Malibu-adjacent Santa Inez Inn on Sunset Blvd., which served delightful Sunday brunches on the patio by the pool, The Malibu Country Inn, which is said to have build in that great year for Malibu roadside motels, 1947, and has certainly been at Zuma for as long as anyone in my family can remember under one name or another, but which appears never to have produced a collectable postcard or matchbook to help refresh the memory. And the quaint shops at the original Malibu Country Mart that were once motel rooms. Next time you're there for a sandwich at John's Garden take a second look: the popular playground was the pool in the center of the motel.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Not many people remember it now, but this quirky, Tiki-themed apartment near Topanga Beach was build as the Las Tunas Isle Motor Inn by the Zimmerman family in 1946. Image: Google Street View</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">During the peak motel boom there was a ridiculously high ratio of hotel rooms to residents and more than enough to accommodate visitors. Many motels also offered inexpensive accommodations for summer employees and struggling writers, but there were plans to build more and more and more. Eventually the people of the community, tired of the county's vision for an L.A. version of Miami Beach, began to push back. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Efforts to build an enormous motel complex across from Zuma Beach—110 rooms, a theater, a restaurant and shops—were firmly and resolutely defeated by residents in 1971. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Malibu has plenty of motels," local architect Ed Niles told the Los Angeles Times in February 1971. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fear that Malibu was going to be transformed into the county's vision of a resort community full of marinas and wall-to-wall hotels wasn't just hyperbole, it was one of the rallying cries of the second big push for incorporation, as this 1980 L.A. Times headline reveals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, with millions of visitors annually, there are concerns that there are not enough accommodations. However, what the proponents of AB 250, the assembly bill that inspired this road trip to the past, are seeking is affordable accommodations, and that era seems unlikely to return. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For decades the piece of land opposite what is now Pepperdine University was zoned for a hotel. It's now supposed to become a cemetery on the argument that a graveyard is somehow visitor serving. The Coastal Commission let the City of Malibu rezone the property next to Malibu Bluffs Park from a hotel to an exclusive, gated subdivision, in exchange for a $4 million in lieu fee. The problem with that is, $4 million doesn't go very far, and that property is now permanently off limits to the public the commission is supposed to be advocating for. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Low-cost, visitor serving amenities like hotels are supposed to be a priority for the commission, but they haven't always been successful protecting and retaining existing resources of this type, let alone encouraging new ones. In fairness, no matter how much we may want and need affordable overnight accommodations at the beach, no matter how many hotels and hostels and campgrounds the assembly bill might facilitate within the constraints of environmentally sensitive habitat, there is probably no way to ever meet the need in Malibu without destroying what makes the community special.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tents on the beach at Santa Monica Canyon in the late 19th century. Image: Santa Monica Library</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">According to the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Lifeguard Division, beach attendance throughout Los Angeles County has climbed from 27 million in 1967, to nearly 73 million in 2014, with an all-time high of 76 million in 2012. A huge number of those beachgoers are headed to Malibu. In 2013, <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_a2e1d6fc-2737-11e3-b0be-0019bb2963f4.html">we had an estimated 7.4 million summer visitors</a>. To put that into perspective, <a href="http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/34381765/2016-was-another-record-year-for-hawaii-tourism">the total number of visitors to the state of Hawaii in 2016 was 8.9 million</a>. When one small coastal town with a population of 13,000 and less than 6000 full time residents attracts that many visitors a year it's no wonder hotels can charge $400, $1000, $2000 a night. What incentive is there to offer rooms for $100?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Fortunately for those of us who like to camp and can't afford a boutique experience, there are still plenty of campgrounds. You can still camp on the beach at Thornhill Broome State Beach, or in a rustic canyon steps from the beach at Leo Carrillo State Park and Sycamore Canyon, just like the earliest visitors to the area. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A brochure for the long-vanished Moel y Gan Resort in Topanga, the "Ideal Mountain Resort of Southern California." Image: <a href="http://digital-library.csun.edu/cdm/ref/collection/SFVH/id/3770">CSUN</a> Digital Library.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The privately-owned Malibu RV Park and Campground offers sites from $70-$200 a night an easy walk from Corral Beach and Solstice and Corral Canyon Parks, while area residents, channeling the entrepreneurial instincts of an earlier generation, offer backyard "glamping," a portmanteau word even more awkward than "motel." They also offer holidays in yurts, cabins, and Air Streams, at locations all over the Santa Monica Mountains and coast. Like camping facilities in and around national parks all over the country, these facilities fill up fast during peak season and are often mostly empty in the winter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">None of those things, even the state park campgrounds, is as affordable as it would have been in the 1950s, neither is the car and the gas required to get one there. Time passes, and is passing, and is past, the poet says. The era of the cheap, clean, convenient motor hotel is over and probably isn't coming back. And like James Lileks noted, nostalgia for old motels, like most forms of nostalgia, is selective. Expecting that era to return in a time of $2000-a-night boutique hotels and $45 million beach houses is wonderfully optimistic, whether it is also realistic remains to be seen.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">You can read the text of AB 250 <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB250">here</a>, and also follow its progress through the committee and appropriations process. It's important to note that it apples to the entire Coastal Zone, not just to Malibu.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />This is what has always drawn visitors to Malibu, the roadside motels and overpriced boutique hotels are just a means to this end. This view, whether we stay for an hour, a week, or a lifetime, belongs to all of us, Let's hope it will always be protected, cherished, and open to everyone. Wish you were here. </span></td></tr>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-37170886217627033792017-08-13T17:38:00.000-07:002017-08-14T19:30:21.854-07:00Malibu Bluffs Ark<div class="p1" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px; line-height: 27px; margin-bottom: 24px;">
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: center;">No, the title of this post is not a typo. Ever since t</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">he City of Malibu swapped Charmlee Wilderness Park to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in exchange for Bluffs Park Open Space in 2014, controversy has raged around the park's future. The five-year swap between the city and the SMMC was intended to allow both parties to examine how the swapped properties could be used. At Bluffs, the city's goal was to use the time to explore building sports facilities in the open space park. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The key word is explore. The swap didn't come with any guarantees that development would be feasible.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> wish list for Bluffs Park at a workshop at Malibu City Hall, © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The City of Malibu hired a consultant to develop a plan that included a wish list of recreation facilities. However, as Malibu city staff began meeting with California Coastal Commission staff to discuss the plan, they were made aware of the extent of the constraints on the site. The city's plans for the park went from this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To this:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Critics of the athletic facility expansion argue that even the revised project has too great an impact on environmental resources and does not adequately meet the city's environmentally sensitive habitat area setback requirements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Proponents of the plan are upset by the prospect of downscaling or relocate some of the desired facilities elsewhere. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a recent editorial, the publisher of the Malibu Times argued that every potential site in Malibu has issues:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"Every site they choose has its problems: construction problems, size problems, noise problems, neighbor problems, access problems, parking problems and so on, and there will always be a reason not to do it."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's certainly true, but not every site is also mapped Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area, home to as many as eight California special concern species, and a foraging area for a species of raptor with special protections. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Not every site was originally purchased with taxpayer-funded bond money to be open space as part of the Coastal Commission's first priority acquisitions list under the Coastal Act. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And while we're at it, not many sites have as many</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> geological issues, including active landslides and the section of the Malibu Coast Earthquake Fault that prevented this parcel from being developed in the first place. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Geology isn't our focus with this post, but it's worth spending a moment reflecting on it. The bluffs that give this park its name are still eroding due to active landslide zones. Here's the view from the top:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bluffs Park erosion, © 2107 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's the view from Malibu Road, where a landslide has been reactivated by the past winter's rains. There are six landslide faults along Malibu Road in Bluffs Park.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Malibu Road landslide, winter 2017. © S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The yellow dotted lines on the geology map, below, indicate the landslide zones in Bluffs Park, the arrows show the direction of the slide. That big black dotted line running through the middle of the park is the Malibu Coast Fault, an offshoot of the San Andreas Fault, and one of the reasons the Santa Monica Mountains—and Malibu—run east-west, instead of north-south.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The geology that prevented this site from being developed first as a General Motors facility that would have been similar in scope to the Hughes lab up the hill, and then as a housing tract like the one next to Pepperdine, is part of what makes this small pocket of open space unusual. The deep ravines and sloping coastal terraces, volcanic intrusions and alluvial soils are critical habitat for species that can't survive elsewhere, and that is the main point of this post. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">At a recent Malibu Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, the majority of the commissioners weren't aware of one of the main issues with the park plan: not the geology, but the presence of special concern species in the area proposed for development. If they weren't aware of this, then most Malibu residents probably aren't, either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Four California Special Concern Species were identified at Bluffs Park in 2010 during a biology survey for the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy's camping plan environmental impact report:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. Catalina Mariposa Lily. This etherial flower landed on the California Species of Special Concern list because of habitat loss. It grows from a bulb deep in the earth and can remain dormant for long periods when conditions aren't right. In a good year, hundreds bloom in Bluffs Park.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Bluffs Park Mariposa Lilies © 2017 S. Guldimann</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /><br />2. Blainville Coast Horned Lizard. In more than a decade as as environmental journalist and photographer I've built a fairly substantial library of plant and animal photos. The horned lizard isn't in that collection, because I haven't seen one in years, despite the fact that this small lizard was still fairly common when I was a child. It is plummeting towards extinction throughout its range at a frightening rate due to loss of habitat and the introduction of a highly aggressive and invasive ant species that drives out the native ants that are this lizard's only source of food.<br /></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Image: USGS</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. Yellow-breasted Chat. You are more likely to <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-breasted_Chat/id">hear the chat</a> than see it, despite its bright yellow breast. This is a shy scrub dweller that likes the safety of the willows and laurel sumacs in Bluff Park's riparian area. It is on the special concern list primarily due to habitat loss.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Image: wikipedia</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. California Yellow Warbler. The tiny yellow warbler depends on the same kind of riparian woodland the chat requires, and like the chat its numbers have plummeted in California due to (surprise!) habitat loss.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There are the two additional California special concern plant species documented on site by the California Native Plant Society in the past year, according to a report they submitted to the city:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. Dudleya Cymosa, spp ovatifolia. There are several dudleya species at Bluffs. This one may be the smallest, but it is also the rarest. Also known as Santa Monica Mountains dudleya, it grows only in the coast ranges from Ventura to Orange County, with the highest concentrations right here in and around the Malibu area. This dudleya is on the rare plant list because of its limited distribution and, yes, loss of habitat.</span></div>
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6<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Plummer's Baccharis. This rare plant is also limited to the south coast ranges, although it occurs on some of the Channel Islands. Like the dudleya, it is on the special concern list due to its limited distribution and habitat loss. Plants like this can only grow in highly specific conditions, putting them at increased risk not only from habitat loss but also climate change.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="mw-mmv-author" style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: start;">Image: <a href="http://researchlearningcenter.org/bloom/species/Baccharis_plummerae_plummerae.htm">Anthony Valois, NPS</a></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The presence of these six specially listed species at Malibu Bluffs Park Open Space is fully documented by qualified experts. Their presence in the park is scientific fact. </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Reliable witnesses have added the Coastal whiptail lizard and the loggerhead shrike to the park's menagerie of protected species, giving us a total of eight California Special Concern Species in Bluffs Park.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The shy and retiring coastal whiptail lizard is rarely seen except in spring during mating season. This beautiful and amazing lizard was missed by the SMMC's EIR, but has reportedly been spotted at the park by a recent observer. Habitat loss has pushed this once-common species almost entirely out of the Malibu coastal zone. When the last remaining viable habitat is developed or fragmented it will have nowhere to go. The only voice it has is our voice. Photo @ 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I photographed this loggerhead shrike not at Bluffs, but at the city's recently acquired Trancas Fields Park—the other potential site for ballfields. The birds were spotted this winter at both parks. Like the other special concern species, this fierce little bird, which preys on snakes and lizards nearly its own size, is increasingly at risk from habitat loss. It's not adaptable. When it is pushed out of the only kind of habitat it can survive in, it can't move on. It simply dies out. Photo © 2017 S. Guldimann</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">T</span><span style="text-align: justify;">he survey conducted by biologist Kathleen Dayton on April 26–28, 2010, for the Conservancy's EIR, also noted that another</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> listed species of plant, Coulter’s saltbrush, had previously been observed at the site, and that another rare bird, the coastal California gnatcatcher, “cannot be ruled out,” although neither species was observed during her survey. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">There's another species with special protections who is regularly seen foraging in the fields at Bluffs Park Open Space: the white-tailed kite. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Every year, white-tailed kites winter at Bluffs Park, using the now-dead eucalyptus trees as a lookout and foraging in the open space park's fields for their prey. Photo © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">At its August 10 meeting at King Gillette Ranch, right here in the Santa Monica Mountains, the California Coastal Commission unanimously supported special protections for white-tailed kite foraging areas in an amendment to Santa Barbara County's Local Costal Program. South Coast Director Steve Hudson described the birds as rare and special, and made a point of stating that their foraging areas require protection from development.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Bluffs Park is home to an amazing number of threatened, protected, and rare species in a small area and there may still be more that have not been identified—species that have returned or recovered following the 2007 fire, but there's</span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;"> another major environmental obstacle for development in the park. Here's a photo of city officials standing in the middle of it right after the swap took place:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Official City of Malibu Bluffs Park Tour, 2014, Image © S. Guldimann</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The group shown above, which included former City Manager Jim Thorsen and two Malibu City Council members, was standing in the center of fields of native needle grass, talking about plans for ballfields, oblivious to the rare habitat under their feet. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">In a 2003 memorandum to Coastal Commission Staff on ESHA in the Santa Monica Mountains, ecologist John Dixon stated: “Native perennial grasslands are now exceedingly rare. In California, native grasslands once covered nearly 20 percent of the land area, but today are reduced to less than 0.1 percent. The California Natural Diversity Database lists purple needle grass habitat as a community needing priority monitoring and restoration.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Native needle grass may not look impressive, but its presence at Bluffs is important.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Purple Needlegrass, Image © 2017 S. Guldimann</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">According to the California Coastal Commission document, “grasslands with 10 percent or more cover by needle grass [are] significant. The memo recommends that this habitat be protected as "remnants of original California prairie," and concludes that "patches of this sensitive habitat occur throughout the Santa Monica Mountains.”</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Purple Needlegrass at Bluffs Park © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Needlegrass was lush and abundant at Bluffs Park this spring. This whole meadow of it is right where a parking lot is proposed, and there appears to be a much higher concentration of it than just 10 percent. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Recent surveys conducted by the California Native Plant Society indicate that the Malibu Bluffs Park wildfire burn area, which was damaged in 2007 and contained extensive areas of native grassland as well as coastal sage scrub, is making a strong recovery. Species that weren't observed during the 2010 SMMC EIR study due to the fire, are reportedly making a comeback. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We spend a lot of time talking about ESHA in Malibu, but there are some strange misconceptions about it. A former local politician who really ought to have known better recently argued that disturbed ESHA is no longer ESHA, and that the part of the park damaged during the 2007 fire ought to be fair game for development. That's not how it works. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The <a href="https://www.coastal.ca.gov/ventura/malibu-lup-final.pdf">City of Malibu's Coastal Land Use Plan</a> defines ESHA as:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Areas in which plant or animal life or their habitats are either rare or
especially valuable because of their special nature or role in an ecosystem
and which could be easily disturbed or degraded by human activities and
developments are Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHAs) and
are generally shown on the LUP ESHA Map. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">The LUP also states:</span> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial,bold"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">3.4 </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Any area not designated on the LUP ESHA Map that meets the ESHA
criteria is ESHA and shall be accorded all the protection provided for
ESHA in the LCP. The following areas shall be considered ESHA, unless
there is compelling site-specific evidence to the contrary:
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Any habitat area that is rare or especially valuable from a local,
regional, or statewide basis.
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Areas that contribute to the viability of plant or animal species
designated as rare, threatened, or endangered under State or Federal
law.
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Areas that contribute to the viability of species designated as Fully
Protected or Species of Special Concern under State law or
regulations.
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Areas that contribute to the viability of plant species for which there is
compelling evidence of rarity, for example, those designated 1b (Rare
or endangered in California and elsewhere) or 2 (rare, threatened or
endangered in California but more common elsewhere) by the
California Native Plant Society.
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And also:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial,bold"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">3.6 </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12.000000pt;">Any area mapped as ESHA shall not be deprived of protection as ESHA,
as required by the policies and provisions of the LCP, on the basis that
habitat has been illegally removed, degraded, or species that are rare or
especially valuable because of their nature or role in an ecosystem have
been eliminated. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Almost the entire Bluffs Park, including the area where new ballfields and parking lots are proposed, is designated ESHA on the city's official map. It's the green area under the word "coast" in the map, above. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The presence of all of this ESHA at Bluffs Park and the threatened species that depend on it for existence raise some interesting ethical questions. It's a kind of microcosm of the political perspective that takes the position that human desires deserve to take precedence over environmental concerns, that the reward now will be greater than the price we may pay later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here in California we are constantly reminded of what is at stake. It's right there on our state flag:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The last documented native California grizzly bear was killed in August of 1922, less than a hundred years ago. Today, this species lives on only as a symbol of what was lost, but hopefully also as a reminder of what we still stand to lose. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">My dad worked hard to save the Point Dume headlands from becoming first a hotel, and then a California State Parks beach parking lot. He was part of the effort to put both Point Dume and the Bluffs on the Coastal Commission's first priority acquisitions list. No one today would think a parking lot was a good use for what is now the Point Dume Nature Preserve. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oKUArpW6mLg/WXurJ_8xEOI/AAAAAAAAIB4/PEi_K1jCGUILqo00Oo3VOv7KVu9I_AjzgCLcBGAs/s1600/dumelookingeast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oKUArpW6mLg/WXurJ_8xEOI/AAAAAAAAIB4/PEi_K1jCGUILqo00Oo3VOv7KVu9I_AjzgCLcBGAs/s640/dumelookingeast.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the 1970s, the county thought it would be a good idea to bulldoze what is now the Point Dume Preserve and turn it into a large paved parking lot. It didn't happen because activists with clearer vision prevailed. @ 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Adamson House was also scheduled to become a beach parking lot. The fight to save it was led by Judge John Merrick. It's a landmark, a museum, a priceless cultural resource today, but it also almost ended up being a parking lot, not because State Parks is evil—it's not—but because a decision was made somewhere on paper, without actually looking at and understanding what was at stake. That forgotten and ignominious planner was right, we do need more beach parking, but not at the expense of something that can't be replaced once lost.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ckKPbrd228c/WS2qfW5YONI/AAAAAAAAH4k/Y_-6DVF-VOAILQ70if3u7OjmjWmVZhdmQCLcB/s1600/adamsonhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ckKPbrd228c/WS2qfW5YONI/AAAAAAAAH4k/Y_-6DVF-VOAILQ70if3u7OjmjWmVZhdmQCLcB/s640/adamsonhouse.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Adamson House, once destined to be torn down for a parking lot. © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We've created a world where nature is increasing forced into islands of parkland, arks as much as parks that contain the remnants of a vanishing world. However, as natural resources continue to diminish, we seem to be increasingly looking towards the places we set aside with different goals in mind. The new fight to save the national monuments and parks from oil exploration and mining is the big example, but even a tiny park like Malibu Bluffs Park can highlight this dichotomy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Malibu's mission statement, General Plan, and Local Coastal Plan all place an emphasis on protecting environmentally sensitive habitat area. It's a key element of the Coastal Act. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Either something is ESHA or it isn't. If it is, it needs to be protected from all development, not just from development we don't want. Otherwise, what's the point? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">This isn't just an argument over maps with red and purple lines, it's about the environmental impacts of replacing this:</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kVI7RfBKSEM/WSybVr0kEUI/AAAAAAAAH1Y/Sgd2JtR1yssoVVyhMUvWdJS941xpnxTvgCLcB/s1600/green_bluffs2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kVI7RfBKSEM/WSybVr0kEUI/AAAAAAAAH1Y/Sgd2JtR1yssoVVyhMUvWdJS941xpnxTvgCLcB/s640/green_bluffs2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bluffs Park Meadow © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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With this:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LZ3HqyxdAvA/WSyzsLDzCKI/AAAAAAAAH2Q/LyxbAAe9iLYCM6ynY3Zih9tesra-kalpQCLcB/s1600/bluffs_backstops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LZ3HqyxdAvA/WSyzsLDzCKI/AAAAAAAAH2Q/LyxbAAe9iLYCM6ynY3Zih9tesra-kalpQCLcB/s640/bluffs_backstops.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bluffs Park Ballfields © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Whether or not that change is compatible in any realistic way with the continued survival of the special concern species that have been documented on the site remains to be seen, but it's unrealistic to claim that there will be no impact. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Coastal Commission staff have already made it clear that there are substantial issues. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Ultimately, ESHA will be the</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> deciding factor in the debate over Bluffs. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bi0XdObH_5w/WS0nLWOByjI/AAAAAAAAH3w/OruFT4dUPlgVBTnsuv1Fatak7llsClhWgCLcB/s1600/bluffs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1085" data-original-width="1600" height="438" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bi0XdObH_5w/WS0nLWOByjI/AAAAAAAAH3w/OruFT4dUPlgVBTnsuv1Fatak7llsClhWgCLcB/s640/bluffs1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bluffs Park Path © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Malibu Bluffs Park Open Space is an island in a rapidly changing landscape, an ark that carries a fragile living cargo. Maybe the fate of a small lizard or a rare flower doesn't matter equally to everyone, but these animals and plants have special protections at the state level and that's because they are balanced on the edge of extinction. And this time it isn't some soulless corporation or profit-obsessed developer who is conspiring to help shove them over, it's us—the people of Malibu who have always worked together to combat pollution, protect resources and open space, and fight for environmental justice, except, I guess, when there's something we want badly enough to look the other way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What happens to Bluffs Park Open Space has serious consequences that go far beyond local wants or desires. We all need to rise above politics-as-usual and work together to find a viable solution that provides athletic facilities without sacrificing environmental resources. To do that fairly and thoroughly those resources—lizard, bird, flower and leaf of grass—have to be a major part of the discussion, otherwise all that talk about stewardship and environmental responsibility is just talk.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bluffs Park Open Space Park © 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-73858533020142977742017-05-20T10:54:00.000-07:002017-05-20T11:01:24.192-07:00In Memoriam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-joNqZ4ViP14/WR9qHt3MYuI/AAAAAAAAHug/F0YLvkKFpA8lf0Xw5FZ6QJDnNUErjOVjwCEw/s1600/dumepreservesign.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-joNqZ4ViP14/WR9qHt3MYuI/AAAAAAAAHug/F0YLvkKFpA8lf0Xw5FZ6QJDnNUErjOVjwCEw/s640/dumepreservesign.jpg" /></a></div>
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Point Dume Natural Preserve is just 33 acres, but this wind-blown point of land preserves one of the last undeveloped coastal bluffs in Los Angeles County, and it is unimaginably rich in wildflowers, wildlife and natural beauty. To the Chumash it was a sacred place. To the millions of visitors who walk its trails and photograph its dramatic cliffs and the people who live here it is an enduring landmark. It will always make me think of my father, who helped to preserve it for all of us. All photos @2017 Suzanne Guldimann.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rq3jpH4M0Ok/WR_dZvKmQYI/AAAAAAAAHwk/8jGjndMekCoxwyFu826flDT-BLZsLn8lgCLcB/s1600/alongthepath.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rq3jpH4M0Ok/WR_dZvKmQYI/AAAAAAAAHwk/8jGjndMekCoxwyFu826flDT-BLZsLn8lgCLcB/s640/alongthepath.jpg" /></a><br />
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I always find that once I've walked into the preserve, worries and stress recede.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9FYJ9injHI/WR9q4eWbr8I/AAAAAAAAHto/b1BI0ZlC_PslFaxgEcikgtAobIbej9ffQCLcB/s1600/dumesunsflowers.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9FYJ9injHI/WR9q4eWbr8I/AAAAAAAAHto/b1BI0ZlC_PslFaxgEcikgtAobIbej9ffQCLcB/s640/dumesunsflowers.jpg" /></a><br />
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To the east lies Big Dume Cove and the wide sweep of the Santa Monica Bay. <br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GJZbRWCzvUA/WR9zhIHUTCI/AAAAAAAAHvA/zVIl6h6oWpMDVO3ahiv3ZrWW4nQXmPYNQCLcB/s1600/mountain.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GJZbRWCzvUA/WR9zhIHUTCI/AAAAAAAAHvA/zVIl6h6oWpMDVO3ahiv3ZrWW4nQXmPYNQCLcB/s640/mountain.jpg" /></a><br />
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On a clear winter day, you can see all the way to the snow mountains beyond Los Angeles.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8y4jBKET8YU/WR_Xh6-P0TI/AAAAAAAAHwE/Dycha-d3YjgJRoun4ZwEXNQq8gZ3v5g3wCLcB/s1600/DSCN0314.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8y4jBKET8YU/WR_Xh6-P0TI/AAAAAAAAHwE/Dycha-d3YjgJRoun4ZwEXNQq8gZ3v5g3wCLcB/s640/DSCN0314.jpg" /></a><br />
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If you are feeling adventurous, a staircase leads to Big Dume Cove, below. At low tide, you can walk for miles.<br />
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There are tide pools to explore.<br />
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Low tide is a window into an alien world that is strange and beautiful, always in a state of change.<br />
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If you visit early enough or late enough you may be more likely to meet an egret than you are to see another human being.<br />
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Just make certain you give yourself enough time to return before the tide comes in again.<br />
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Back on top of the bluff, a rickety boardwalk leads to a whale watching platform. <br />
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Looking south, the wild open ocean stretches away to the horizon, as far as the eye can see.<br />
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As you stand there, you might see sea lions playing in the water below you.<br />
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Or hear the sound of gray whales breathing.<br />
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If you stay there long enough, California brown pelicans may glide by at eye level. <br />
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And you might see dolphins, either on the horizon...<br />
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...Or in the water below you.<br />
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From the whale watch, a precarious path takes you round the outer edge of the Point. <br />
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Look down and you may see the Point Dume sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks. <br />
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Look ahead, and Zuma Beach, framed by the western Santa Monica Mountains, lies spread before you like a tapestry or a plein air painting—the colors almost too vivid to be real.<br />
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There's a path leading down to Westward Beach here, but today we're going to the furthest western point of the headlands, beyond ancient dunes, eroded by wind and rain.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here, where the world drops away and the ocean reaches to the sky, there is peace, and a sense of timelessness, no matter what changes the dynamic tides and the passing seasons bring. But for all of the sense of continuity, this landscape is always changing.</span></div>
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After the first winter rains the giant coreopsis turns the bluffs to gold.<br />
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Living gold that smells like honey and hums with the music of the bees.<br />
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Later, there will golden poppies and bush sunflowers and evening primrose.<br />
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Even when the living gold of spring wildflowers has gone to seed, there's the golden light of the setting sun, and the gold of sand and sun-warmed stone.<br />
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And all year round there is beauty, and serenity, and wonder.<br />
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My father worked tirelessly to help save the Point Dume Headlands. He organized meetings, gave talks, wrote letters, gathered signatures, and even traveled to Sacramento to meet with state officials. It took years, but this place was important to him. He wanted this special place, where flowers bloom and whales pass so close to shore you can hear them breathing, preserved not just as a park but as a nature reserve, for all of us, forever. Thank you, Dad, for everything. I love you, and I miss you.<br />
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John Guldimann, 1929-2017<br />
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<i>All who come into being as flesh pass on, <br />and have since God walked the earth;<br />and young blood mounts to their places.<br /><br />The busy fluttering souls<br />and bright transfigured spirits<br />who people the world below<br />and those who shine in the stars with Orion,<br />They built their mansions, they built their tombs,<br />and all men rest in the grave.<br /><br />So set your home well in the sacred land<br />that your good name last because of it;<br />Care for your work in the realm under God<br />that your seat in the West be splendid.<br />The waters flow north, the wind blows south,<br />and each man goes to his hour.<br /><br />So seize the day! hold holiday!<br />Be unwearied, unceasing, alive,<br />you and your own true love;<br />Let not your heart be troubled<br />during your sojourn on earth,<br />but seize the day as it passes!<br /><br /><br />—Anonymous, 1160 B.C., Translated from the Egyptian by John L. Foster</i><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W_9TeMgb9LQ/WQuaEtOpAeI/AAAAAAAAHpI/j6wkT5gGF64Ni_CLlpGEUr_Y1bkR7AViQCLcB/s1600/dume_rainbow.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W_9TeMgb9LQ/WQuaEtOpAeI/AAAAAAAAHpI/j6wkT5gGF64Ni_CLlpGEUr_Y1bkR7AViQCLcB/s640/dume_rainbow.jpg" /></a>Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-72083164784187378622017-01-20T21:29:00.000-08:002017-01-20T21:30:12.467-08:00Malibu's Cabinet of Curiosities<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This fabulous cabinet of curiosities was painted by Domenico Remps in the 1690s and resides in Florence. Here at the Malibu Post we have our own virtual cabinet of curiosities. Let's open it and take a look inside, shall we? Image: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cabinet_of_Curiosities_1690s_Domenico_Remps.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.”</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #181818;">― </span><a class="authorOrTitle" href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1654.Terry_Pratchett" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none;">Terry Pratchett</a><span style="color: #181818;">, </span><span id="quote_book_link_34511" style="color: #181818;"><a class="authorOrTitle" href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2073281" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none;"><i>Monstrous Regiment</i></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Post truth" may be the buzzword for 2017, but "fake news" has a long history. And Malibu, a forbidden paradise in the early years of the 20th century, was a prime source for tall tales and improbable stories.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mermaids, lost civilizations, giants, wild men, and pirate treasure? Avast ye matey, we've have them all in Malibu, or at least rumors of them. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgncJgSbbck">Cue the march</a> from <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark, </i> grab your hat, treasure map, and compass, and don't forget to pack some string—useful for tying up loose ends and suspending disbelief.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">A 1908 Los Angeles Times article described Malibu as a "narrow stretch of tempting caves and coves, once the rendezvous of pirates, smugglers, outlaws and bandits, has proven a boon to treasure hunters after yarns of the Baron Munchausen type."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">At the start of the 20th century Arch Rock marked the unofficial entrance to Malibu, a mysterious place where anything might be possible, including the ancient warning that here there be monsters. Image: <a href="http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/FullRecord?databaseID=968&record=18&controlNumber=32598">Los Angeles Public Library</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yarns may have been all that anyone brought back, but the article presents a splendid assortment of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">One can imagine that nameless Times editor, now long dead, gathering up a year's worth of oddities during a slow news week in October of 1908 and putting them all together to make a catalogue of marvels—a sort of journalistic stone soup intended to fill an empty column. He couldn't know that a hundred years later that article would be brightening a rainy day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">I'm so glad they let us know it was "Exciting." Apparently they'd run out of exclamation points. The unnamed editor who assembled this masterpiece certainly made a heroic effort to tie all the threads of the article together. I especially like "Where Giants Died, Pirates Also Dallied." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The first marvel to catch the eye in the Times' feature was a "burning mountain" discovered near the mouth of a Malibu canyon that "keep itself in the public eye throughout a run of nine days...smelling of sulphur," the article states. Intrepid investigators reported "bearing away as souvenirs rocks that were so hot they could not be carried in the hand."</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">We have plenty of volcanic rocks in and around Malibu, including this local landmark, but they are all extinct and can't account for the mysterious burning mountain story. The most widespread volcanic rocks are officially known as Conejo Volcanics and date to the Miocene, some 16-13 million years ago. There is, however, at least one active hot spring. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Seminole Springs, once the heart of a thriving spa resort, now located at the edge of a tiny lake in the middle of a mobile home park, still gushes hot water and emits a faint but unmistakable whiff of sulphur. Photo: @ S. Guldimann 2017</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was also a report of a mermaid, or as the Times oh so wittily described her, "mer-miss." The story is less interesting for its mythical miss, allegedly spotted by the captain of the abalone launch Spindrift, than it is for its description of her roost, a "floating island" visible only at low tide some miles of off Point Dume.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">You are more likely to find sea lions than mermaids perched on Pinnacle Rocks off Point Dume, but it's probably the best candidate for a mysterious "floating island only visible at low tide." Photo @ 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The rocks off Point Dume are a big enough hazard to navigation that for many decades the Coast Guard maintained a buoy bell to warned boats away. It was replaced a couple of years ago with a GPS warning system. I still miss the mournful clanging of the bell. Photo @2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Sasquatch's So Cal cousin makes an appearance in 1908 as well. The creature described by railroad worker Bertrand Basey as "a wild man" that "went on all fours," although when frightened from the camp store tent "at the blush of dawn," it stood upon its hind legs, "gave a mournful wail, and was lost in the underbrush."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mr Basey told The Times he could have shot the creature, but "the face, covered with long, shaggy hair, was so like that of a man, that he lowered the weapon."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The report concludes that "tracks discovered on the beach that morning thought to have been made by the wild man, were not unlike those of a human being, with the addition of sharp claws."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">It seems reasonable that the wild man may have been one the Santa Monica Mountain's last bears. Grizzlies and brown bears both lived in the range. In his book <i>Happy Days in Southern California</i>, Frederick Hastings Rindge, the owner of the Malibu Rancho in the late 19th century, recounted hearing the story of homesteader Andrew Sublett, "who had his arm broken by a grizzly bear in Malibu Canyon in 1854.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The California grizzly was hunted to extinction in the 1920s and was probably already locally extinct in 1908, but there were stories of brown bear sightings in the Malibu area as late as the 1920s.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bigfoot may not have put in an appearance in decades, but the Santa Monica Mountains are home to a lone brown bear for the first time in almost 100 years. Photo: NPS</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For the first time in decades, the Malibu area is once again home to a brown bear. National Park Service remote cameras have captured images of it and there are anecdotal sightings in the Malibou Lake area, but if wild men still haunt the hills they have a knack for avoiding observation, although there have been reported sightings of Bigfoot's California cousins in the San Gabriel Mountains as recently as 2002, <a href="http://www.bfro.net/gdb/show_county_reports.asp?state=ca&county=Los+Angeles">according to the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Giants were—pardon the dismal pun—big stuff in the early 20th century, and the same railroad grading crew that encountered the "wild man" shared descriptions of "bones and skulls of immense size" unearthed by a railroad grading crew near Point Mugu. The alleged find echoes a story that made national headlines earlier that year that claimed that three Santa Monica men, camping on the beach in or near Malibu, found 14 giant skeletons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Strange news from the July 8, 1908, San Francisco Call. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The July 8 edition of the <i>San Francisco Call</i> states that "the smallest skeleton indicates a stature of seven feet, while several of the Indians must have been at least eight feet tall," and concludes that "many relics of an extinct race have been found in the area, but no skeletons of such size have ever been unearthed."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">By the time the story reached the Washington Times on July 13, the skeletons had grown to nine feet, at which point the story faded from the news.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Reports of people finding giant bones continued to circulate through the 1920s, but the only giant visible in Malibu today is the old fiberglass Muffler man who was brought to Malibu to advertise a burger joint and repurposed into a somberro-wearing hombre for the long gone La Salsa restaurant that replaced the burger joint, and his days may also be numbered.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here at the Malibu Post our favorite story from that 1908 collection of curiosities is the tale of William Drake, who was reportedly prospecting for oil in Sequit Canyon when he struck canvas fabric at a depth of six feet, and not just any old strip of long buried sailcloth, but an enigmatic message left by pirates. Beneath a crudely scrawled skull and bones were printed the words."Death to all traitors."</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here's the illustration of the pirate message that accompanied the L.A. Times article. "Crudely scrawled," indeed. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The article reports that Mr Drake, confident that he had uncovered a hidden cache of pirate treasure, continued to dig. Eventually he and his unnamed companions struck water, bailing heroically as they dug, they uncovered "what had every appearance of an immense iron chest, "before the flow of water increased, "gushing into the prospect hole, burying the tools and giving the diggers scant time in which to escape with their lives."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Drake allegedly recounted this tale on a trip to Santa Monica to "secure a pump." He stated that he saw enough of the chest, rusted and muddy though it was, to conclude that, "it is one of the chests filled with gold that was buried by Thomas Cavendish and his crew of English pirates, who were accustomed in the dim and misty past to waylay the treasure galleons of the Spanish on their way from the Spice Islands with valuable cargoes of silk and gold."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Cavendish, an English explorer who was an admirer of Francis Drake, arrived in the Gulf of California in October of 1587 with two ships, the Content and the Desire. On November 4th they spotted the Santa Ana, a Spanish galleon loaded with treasure, and chased her. A battle ensued. The Santa Ana, outgunned by the English cannon fire, surrendered.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />English gentleman pirate Thomas Cavendish's infamous capture of the Spanish treasure ship Santa Ana is said to have occurred off Mazatlan, but it's not impossible that one of his ships could have ended up wrecked off the coast of Malibu. Improbable, but not impossible. Image: Wikipedia</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The captured galleon was much larger than the English ships. Cavendish loaded both ships with as much treasure as they could hold and sailed away, leaving the Santa Ana to sink. The Desire eventually made it back to England. The Content was never seen again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Drake was pinning his hopes on the chest containing the treasure of the Content, rumored for years to have been buried by marooned mariners in the Santa Monica Mountains, after the ship was wrecked in a great storm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That's the story Mr Drake reported before collecting his pump and vanishing off into obscurity. If he uncovered anything other than mud in his excavation history hasn't recorded it, but the Santa Ana's gold isn't the only treasure rumored to be hidden in Malibu's mountains.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The December 27, 1907 Cincinnati Enquirer gives a fanciful account of a labyrinth of caves "in a<span style="font-family: "merriweather" , serif; font-size: 16px;"> cove to the north of Point Dume, in the direction of the Ventura County line," where "landmarks have recently been unearthed which are thought to have been placed by the survivors of [a pirate] expedition as marking the location of treasure boxes."</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">There are a few sea caves in Malibu. Alas, none of them are large enough to house labyrinths of caves, not even the famous Leo Carrillo sea cave, above, which has often been used as a film location, despite the inconvenient fact that the cave fills with water at high tide. Photo @ 2017 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br />The caves described in the article came complete with "peculiar hieroglyphics" and mysterious artifacts. The article describes "peculiar rocks of a kind not native to the Malibu country" that "all seem to have been placed in a position which directs to one centering point," and concludes with bright optimism that "Efforts are now being made to translate the readings of the stones, and with this object in view excavations are to be made for some underground workings or for the cipher tablet that will give the key to the exact location of the treasure."<br /><br />And in case you, dear reader, are seized with the mad desire to become a real life Goonie and seek this mythical cave and its missing treasure yourself, the author of the article helpfully informs us that "The doubloons and rich plate are believed to be within a league of Point Dume, the frowning point of rocks that is observed in the form of a sea lion jutting into the sea about 25 miles westerly from Santa Monica."<br /><br /> You can read the entire 1907 article at the home of <a href="http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/buried-treasure-point-dume/">Haunted Ohio Books</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">State Parks has warred with resident supernatural beings over this ring of stones in Corral Canyon for years. Parks removes it; spirits replace it, but it's only a couple of decades old. These stones are probably intended as an invitation to meditation and contemplation, not as a guide to pirate treasure.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Not all the buried treasure in Malibu's storied history is a myth. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiburcio_V%C3%A1squez">Tiburcio Vásquez</a>, busy bandit that he was, is said to have buried gold and other contraband in Las Flores Canyon as well as in the Aqua Dulce rock formations that still bear his name, and it's distinctly possible that his loot still rests in some backcountry Malibu cave.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Legendary local Robin Hood Tiburcio Vásquez is said to have hidden some of his vast quantities of ill-gotten gold in Malibu. There's a good chance the the story might even be true. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Malibu still generates unusual headlines. There was the whole <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/19/malibu-underwater-alien-base_n_5493186.html">underwater UFO base brouhaha</a> several years ago, and there's a gentleman who has often been interviewed about his theory that t<a href="http://www.unicusmagazine.com/html/kalimu.htm">he Santa Monica Mountains hold the ruins of the legendary land of Lemuria</a>, but the Santa Monica Mountains are a lot smaller than they were at the start of the last century, and sightings of sasquatch have given way to sightings of celebrities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Balanced Rock, really does resemble an Easter Island Moa. The rock is not really balancing. Instead, it's an old volcanic core, firmly attached (for now at least) to the mountainside. The whole Sandstone Peak/Boney Ridge area, including this intriguing landmark, is not sandstone. Instead, it's part of the Conejo Volcanics Formation discussed above. The volcanic rock erodes at a slower rate than the sedimentary rock around it, leaving enigmatic formations all over the mountain range. Alas, geologists assure us that the fanciful shapes are the work of geologic processes and not evidence of lost civilizations. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The mermaids, wild men, giants, and lost civilizations that once made the front page have mostly been vanquished to the realm of legend, but the pirates and the bandits really were a part of local history, and there might actually be buried treasure somewhere here, still waiting to be uncovered. Stranger things have happened. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you, dear reader, know of a Malibu curiosity that ought to be added to our virtual cabinet please send us an email or leave a comment. You never know, there might<i> </i>be giants.</span><br />
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<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">They might be giants!</span></i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">They might be giants! </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">They might be fake,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> They might be lies</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> They might be big,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Big, fake, fake lies. </span></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />Tabloid footprints in your hair,</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Tabloid footprints everywhere.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We can't be silent</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">'Cause they might be giants </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And what are we going to do </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Unless they are?</span></i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>—</i>They Might Be Giants<i>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RHWeViFmA8">Flood</a>, </i>1990</span></span><br />
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-49981994000675575142016-12-13T20:21:00.000-08:002016-12-13T20:21:00.075-08:00Tending the Garden<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Saint Francis watches over the winter garden at the Malibu Post. All photos @ 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>“Neither need you tell me,” said Candide, “that we must take care of our garden.” </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>“You are in the right,” said Pangloss; “for when man was put into the garden of Eden, it was with an intent to dress it: and this proves that man was not born to be idle.” </i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>“Work then without disputing,” said Martin; “it is the only way to render life supportable.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>—</i>Voltaire<i>, Candide </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">While much of the country is gripped in the icy embrace of the polar vortex,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> t</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">he first rains of winter have already brought Malibu temporary relief from the blight of drought, and the first green flames of winter grass are kindling the barren earth. There is the tantalizing sense that Eden is somehow in reach here, no matter how long the exile from paradise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">A buckeye butterfly rests on a strawflower in a Point Dume garden. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">All</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> the bleak and dire news in the world can't diminish the hope that comes with the rain, and in our gardens we have a small but real opportunity for conservation and grassroots activism by providing safe earth-friendly habitat for wildlife, birds, butterflies, bees, and humans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Planting a butterfly garden now will ensure it is in bloom during peak butterfly season in the spring but will also help year-round pollinator species, including bees, make it through the winter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bees gather on a matillija poppy flower. Re-wilding gardens with native necter-producing flowers may be key to the survival of many species, including wild bees, honeybees, and the rapidly vanishing monarch butterfly, which depends entirely on milkweed for survival. <a href="http://malibumonarchproject.com/">The Malibu Monarch Project</a> offers info on butterfly plants for the garden, so does the <a href="http://www.xerces.org/">Xerces Society</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Many birds overwinter in Malibu. Providing a safe harbor with water and shelter for these seasonal residents is an easy and rewarding way to help conserve wildlife.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Supplying clean, safe water for birds is one of the most rewarding ways to help backyard birds. We have dozens of visitors to our birdbath, including this wrentit. Most birds prefer a wide, shallow basin. <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/attract-birds-with-birdbaths/">Here are some suggestions from the Cornell Bird Lab website</a>. Some species are attracted to dripping water—easy to supply by poking a small hole in a bucket or even a plastic water bottle and suspending it over the bird bath. <a href="http://homeguides.sfgate.com/make-own-birdbath-dripper-80375.html">Here's some practical advice on how to do this from the San Francisco Gate</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A large birdbath may attack bigger birds, like this mourning dove. We've had hawks stop by for a bath—water flies in all directions. A friend with a beach house regularly has sea gulls stop by to bathe. "We had to get a sturdier base," she told The Post. "They used to knock the old one over." All birds appreciate fresh, clean water. Regular draining and scrubbing can help prevent the spread of parasites or illness. Rocks or gravel can be used to raise the level of a deeper vessel, or to provide a "shallow end" for wildlife in a garden water feature. A "lizard ladder" is helpful for preventing accidental wildlife drownings. A piece of bamboo or just a fallen branch from a tree placed at an angle in the water is all that is needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Early winter is the best time to plant wildflower seeds, bare root trees, cool weather veggies like lettuce, as well as many native garden plants. It's also the safest time to trim trees—a window of opportunity that is relatively small, since owls, hawks, and ever squirrels begin nesting in late winter.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Winter is the safest time to trim trees in Malibu, but nesting season begins early here. I photographed this cozy tree-top nest and its gray squirrel architect last February.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7jfV2PhhKk/WD0AHe_nqNI/AAAAAAAAGro/JbIuQHULkDEukTwEQ-9cIetFWDB5B89ngCLcB/s1600/red-tailed_hawk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y7jfV2PhhKk/WD0AHe_nqNI/AAAAAAAAGro/JbIuQHULkDEukTwEQ-9cIetFWDB5B89ngCLcB/s640/red-tailed_hawk.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here at the Malibu Post we encounter at least ten species of raptors throughout the year, including </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">white-tailed kites and on one memorable occasion a peregrine falcon. </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Red-tailed hawks like this one routinely nest in the neighborhood, so do red-shouldered hawks, American kestrels, barn owls, great horned owls, and western screech owls.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Barn owls are happy to set up shop in outbuildings or even attics, and great horned owls are opportunists who recycle the old nests of other raptors or crows in any tree, even sometimes palm trees, but western screech owls depend on native oaks for shelter. Property owners with room for oaks in their gardens have the opportunity to create habitat for a wide range of species.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Property owners who have room to plant oaks can help encourage oak-dependent native species like this acorn woodpecker.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Gardeners who would like to grow oaks can try their luck sprouting acorns. Native live oaks are easy to start this way, but all types of native oaks, even valley oaks, are easy to start in pots, as are California black walnuts and bay laurel. Just don't leave them in their pots too long. All three species depend on a deep taproot and won't thrive if that root doesn't have room to grow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It's also a good time to try rooting cuttings or growing root divisions from local native plants. At the Malibu Post we've successfully rooted cuttings of mugwort, black and purple sage, buckwheat, ceanothus, penstemon, golden current, and toyon berry, and failed dismally at white sage; sagebrush; and Mexican elder.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />A black sage sprig ready for planting, with the bottom two rows of leaves carefully removed. Black sage is a great garden plant, with aromatic leaves and blue flowers that attract butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. It's also an interesting substitute for garden sage in the kitchen—a bit mintier and more pungent than the ordinary market variety. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The cutting is planted in ordinary potting mix and gets lots of water—it is important to make sure the soil never dries out.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Once the cutting has taken root it can be transplanted into the ground, where if all goes well, it will grow into a plant like this.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Hummingbird sage, with its pineapple-scented leaves and beautiful purple flowers, grows well from root cuttings. So do corm-based blue-eyed grass, California native irises, and even some of our native ferns, like polypody and bracken.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Plant some wildflower seeds in an unused corner of the garden right now, and you may have a living tapestry there in the spring. This mix included poppies and owl clover.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Coyote brush, California bush sunflower, and laurel sumac—three critically important coastal sage scrub plants—readily grow from seed. So do many of our most beautiful wildflowers, including poppies, lupin and clarkia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Many rare and hard to propagate native species can be found at the <a href="http://theodorepayne.org/">Theodore Payne Foundation</a> in Sun Valley or at Bob Sussman's <a href="http://www.matilijanursery.com/">Matilija Nursery</a> in Moorpark. It's worth a winter pilgrimage to both nurseries.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v0422K_ltSY/WFCbmHgV69I/AAAAAAAAGxM/0HNMguInbFM2omteOos8bNEWw86PwYSnwCLcB/s1600/sage_flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v0422K_ltSY/WFCbmHgV69I/AAAAAAAAGxM/0HNMguInbFM2omteOos8bNEWw86PwYSnwCLcB/s640/sage_flower.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Not all native plants are hard to find. This Cleveland sage has become a garden favorite and is readily available. This plant came from <a href="http://www.cosentinonursery.com/">Cosentino's Nursery</a> here in Malibu. Local nurseries an often offer expert advice on the best plants for the area. In the rush to replace lawns with drought tolerant options many Malibu residents have inadvetantly turned their gardens into deserts. Grass is not ideal from a drought perspective but the right kind of grass and the right watering schedule can greatly reduce the amount of water a lawn requires. And unlike artificial grass or gravel, grass sequesters carbon, and if it isn't treated with pesticides provides habitat for a surprising number of invertebrates as well as the birds that feed on them. There's also been an alarming rush towards ripping out mature landscaping and replacing it was succulents, many of which are surprisingly toxic. You can read more <a href="http://www.malibusurfsidenews.com/toxic-plants-watch-malibu">here</a>. Plants like pencil cactus, agave, and sego palm are popular because they are strikingly beautiful, but they can cause serious allergic reactions in humans and pets. A single sego palm seed can kill a large dog or a child. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One of the most important contributions to the environment we can all make is eliminating toxic pesticides from our homes and gardens. <a href="https://poisonfreemalibu.org/">Poison Free Malibu</a> is working tirelessly to eliminate the deadliest wildlife-killing rodenticides—unfortunately found all over Malibu in bait boxes, but we can all help by excluding rodents, instead of poisoning them and making sure accidental food sources like garbage cans and pet food are cleaned up and secure. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Eliminating herbicides like Roundup and toxic insecticides also helps every part of the local ecosystem, from soil organisms to bees and butterflies to humans and pets. Visit <a href="https://poisonfreemalibu.org/">Poison Free Malibu's website</a> for information and practical advice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Birds depend on insects—especially caterpillars—as high-protein food for their young. If humans are willing to put up with a few creepy crawlers they can help hundreds of backyard species thrive.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The pocket gopher is probably the number one reason Malibu homeowners resort to outdoor use of rodenticides. And because this small rodent is the bottom of the food chain, poisoning this wee beastie causes secondary poisoning to every species that depends on rodents for prey, including owls, hawks, bobcats, raccoons, weasels, badgers, coyotes, mountain lions and domestic cats and dogs.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />In a healthy ecosystem gophers are kept in check by all the species currently being poisoned by rodenticide overuse, like this benign gopher snake. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Topanga recently became <a href="http://www.nwf.org/garden-for-wildlife.aspx">a National Wildlife Federation certified Wildlife Friendly Community</a>. That's something Malibu could do, too. Leaving or creating "wild" areas, and p</span><span style="font-size: large;">roviding water and bird and butterfly friendly plants help create islands of habitat is even in the urban areas.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">At the Malibu Post we have resident rabbits like this one, which lives in a brushy corner of the backyard, in addition to gray squirrels, dusky-footed wood rats, gophers, voles, and field mice. Wild visitors include a veracious gopher-eating short-tailed weasel, a family of bobcats, the entire east Point Dume coyote clan, and assorted raccoons, skunks, gray foxes and possums. We love all of our creatures, even the skunks, but realize that not everyone enjoys having backyard wildlife. Secure fencing that extends a couple of feet under ground is the best way to discourage visitors. Most species can fit through astonishingly small gaps in or under fencing. It's a good idea to check the fence line regularly, and make sure trees, bushes, or vines aren't creating a wildlife highway. One place no one wants wildlife is in the house. Sealing openings like the gaps around pipes and making sure all vents are screened with hardware cloth can help. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Building or buying a bird box is a great way to help native birds We got this blue bird box last Christmas and were rewarded with not one but two successful batches of bluebirds during spring and summer. Location is extremely important for a bird box success story. This one was placed about six feet up the trunk of a liquidamber tree that offered the parent birds shelter and secure perching and vantage points as well as afternoon shade to keep the nestlings from overheating.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> If you're sure you live in a location where rodenticides aren't being used a raptor box can be a great addition to the garden.<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Learning to live with wildlife, even the species we aren't always comfortable with, like coyotes, is a huge piece of the local environmental equation. Coyotes primarily prey on rodents like ground squirrels, gophers and wood rats and help control them. Learn more about coyote proof fencing and other coexistence techniques at coyoteproject.org. <a href="http://www.mountainlion.org/">The Mountain Lion Foundation </a>offers advice on dealing with Malibu's biggest urban predator.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">You don't need a garden to tend to nature. All of the non- profits mentioned here depend on contributions. At <a href="https://poisonfreemalibu.org/">Poison Free Malibu</a> those donations help pay for ordinary but essential needs like printing and mailing. At <a href="http://www.projectcoyote.org/">Project Coyote </a>they help fund co-existance workshops and education outreach. Donations to the National Wildlife Federation can be earmarked to help save Malibu's mountain lions and build <a href="http://www.nwf.org/save-la-cougars.aspx">the Liberty Canyon Wildlife Overpass</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">All Malibu residents are stewards of our natural resources, and we are blessed to have a national park as our backyard and the ocean at our door. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Every canyon, every creek, every road leads to the sea. Malibu has a tradition of valuing those resources and our newly installed city council has vowed to protect them, but it's up to all of us to work together towards that goal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Malibu residents often have the mountains or the ocean as their backyard. It's an extra responsibility for all of us but also one the great joys of living here. This remarkable group of sea birds includes two California brown pelicans, an adult Western gull, a juvenile Western gull and two ring-billed gulled, and they aren't out in the middle of some lonely stretch of unspoiled seashore. Instead, they're right here:</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The fact that we still do have so much wildlife is a testament to our passionate conservation activists, who will continue to fight for the environment no matter what the odds.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There is still time to plant the seeds of tomorrow. For now, let's just enjoy the coming of the rain and the season of peace and joy and hope.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; letter-spacing: 0.9600000381469727px; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; letter-spacing: 0.9600000381469727px; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; letter-spacing: 0.9600000381469727px; text-align: left;"><i>In the garden of my heart, the flowers of peace bloom beautifully.</i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; letter-spacing: 0.9600000381469727px; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; letter-spacing: 0.9600000381469727px; text-align: left;">—</span></span></span><span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; letter-spacing: 0.6800000071525574px; text-align: left;">Thich Nhat Hanh,<i> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ZwaEzMtJw">The Great Bell Chant</a>, a Buddhist Prayer for the End of Suffering</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The third annual Malibu Post calendar is now available for 2017. The <span style="text-align: start;">calendars are 8.5 x 11 and feature 12 of our favorite Malibu Post photos from 2016 printed on heavy photo stock and spiral bound, for </span><span style="text-align: start;">$14.95 plus sales tax.</span><span style="text-align: start;"> </span><span style="text-align: start;">We will gladly accept cash or checks.</span><span style="text-align: start;"> Shipping is $4</span><span style="text-align: start;">. </span><span style="text-align: start;">Free delivery to your door in the 90265 area code.</span><span style="text-align: start;"> Orders can be placed using the contact form in the right column.</span></span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-15968874648216527032016-11-03T09:44:00.000-07:002016-11-03T09:46:45.259-07:00A Moment for Reflection<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Even in an ordinary year it's easy to get bogged down in exhausting negativity of election season. This year, a<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/10/13/people-are-so-stressed-by-this-election-that-the-american-psychological-association-has-coping-tips/">ccording to the Washington Post</a>, 52 percent of U.S. adults find the presidential election "a very or significant source of stress." Considering the circumstances, the only surprise is that the number isn't higher. In addition, Californians face a monstrous ballot with 17 initiatives, and Malibu residents get an extra dose of stress from a local city council election that has turned brutal in its final days. Here at The Malibu Post we had as much as we could take on all fronts, so we slipped away for an hour to an island of tranquility in a hectic world. </span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XNVCLmP_HPw/WBraihxHeiI/AAAAAAAAGmI/Gr3gX2onepI7-3bbi08FyXiLhU1ScLCxACLcB/s1600/beastly_interview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XNVCLmP_HPw/WBraihxHeiI/AAAAAAAAGmI/Gr3gX2onepI7-3bbi08FyXiLhU1ScLCxACLcB/s640/beastly_interview.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Not that it is exactly always sane. A famous musician doing an interview adds an element of the surreal, but I've also encountered wedding parties, movie crews, nudists, picnicking Goth girls, scuba divers, rock climbers, helicopters rescuing rock climbers, and once even a giraffe (it was there for a European TV commercial shoot, and not a hallucination brought on by sleep deprivation or sunstroke).</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--PXjxOUHQoo/WBraynOUB8I/AAAAAAAAGmU/E3B29Ykso0IgXLEpT_cMaWtdCPZlI3yqwCLcB/s1600/newgrowthcoreopsis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--PXjxOUHQoo/WBraynOUB8I/AAAAAAAAGmU/E3B29Ykso0IgXLEpT_cMaWtdCPZlI3yqwCLcB/s640/newgrowthcoreopsis.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Even with all the human activity there is still space for wild things at Point Dume Nature Reserve.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Right now, the</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> giant coreopsis is just beginning to sprout. Thanks to the first rain of the season, emerald green emerging from seemingly dead stalks overnight. Within a month or so the first golden flowers will appear. It reminds me of the magician's trick involving sticks bursting into bloom with silk flowers. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LhF39jE0VHw/WBrao3STmZI/AAAAAAAAGmo/72aT56GHWFkqRXe3M7nRPSZjA1WBng6_QCEw/s1600/P1020758.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LhF39jE0VHw/WBrao3STmZI/AAAAAAAAGmo/72aT56GHWFkqRXe3M7nRPSZjA1WBng6_QCEw/s640/P1020758.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The coyote brush is already in bloom. Its thistledown flowers seem to glow with their own light as they the catch the late sun.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7MFGpnGwvpE/WBra5US72hI/AAAAAAAAGmY/jj5yJA2_cKQhQm2CBz_Hu5Lt8pK9H1AqgCLcB/s1600/windy_dume_day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7MFGpnGwvpE/WBra5US72hI/AAAAAAAAGmY/jj5yJA2_cKQhQm2CBz_Hu5Lt8pK9H1AqgCLcB/s640/windy_dume_day.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The sandy path reveals the passage of many feet, but I meet no one.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NUR1cHREZkA/WBra9iPFzxI/AAAAAAAAGmc/1PLbWoGmvDkvT6t1J4zEtBRgLjYHBEwQgCLcB/s1600/sea_lion_rocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NUR1cHREZkA/WBra9iPFzxI/AAAAAAAAGmc/1PLbWoGmvDkvT6t1J4zEtBRgLjYHBEwQgCLcB/s640/sea_lion_rocks.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Sea lions laze in the sun o</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">n the rocks below the trail.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fXEkkl7gZUk/WBrbGEJS3RI/AAAAAAAAGmk/XW4bp6jBPCwoPP-34FcNVdt_gslV6gqXQCLcB/s1600/sealions_snoozing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fXEkkl7gZUk/WBrbGEJS3RI/AAAAAAAAGmk/XW4bp6jBPCwoPP-34FcNVdt_gslV6gqXQCLcB/s640/sealions_snoozing.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Their contentment is contagious.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CGOlUclZk44/WBrbNKFkJGI/AAAAAAAAGms/7O-e2RaMGtgKMRR7OwAQ9gRqStGWghRggCLcB/s1600/headlands_trail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CGOlUclZk44/WBrbNKFkJGI/AAAAAAAAGms/7O-e2RaMGtgKMRR7OwAQ9gRqStGWghRggCLcB/s640/headlands_trail.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />From here, the path winds around the edge of the Point.<br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3yLxzQFoooE/WBrbQ-6EUGI/AAAAAAAAGmw/yXRh--ZhIWY07aTpoaMFrAfmq6UXvRK3gCLcB/s1600/westward_rock_view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3yLxzQFoooE/WBrbQ-6EUGI/AAAAAAAAGmw/yXRh--ZhIWY07aTpoaMFrAfmq6UXvRK3gCLcB/s640/westward_rock_view.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Past Pirate's Cove...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HrwIzA4TT1o/WBrt8itAkkI/AAAAAAAAGnw/QYPyn3p9cDUxA6XETk5L8YA2ayeJMml6QCLcB/s1600/two_dolphins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="382" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HrwIzA4TT1o/WBrt8itAkkI/AAAAAAAAGnw/QYPyn3p9cDUxA6XETk5L8YA2ayeJMml6QCLcB/s640/two_dolphins.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Where dolphins swim in water as blue as Kashmir sapphires...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uU9FXfjD1kg/WBrnD9oW_FI/AAAAAAAAGnE/I1Hg9wxBX34nxa-RqfUKq10LJgPFwxCZgCLcB/s1600/dume_panorama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uU9FXfjD1kg/WBrnD9oW_FI/AAAAAAAAGnE/I1Hg9wxBX34nxa-RqfUKq10LJgPFwxCZgCLcB/s640/dume_panorama.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">And up to the top of the southernmost point in Malibu, where </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">the Chumash people once watched the sea and</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> the Pacific Ocean stretches all the way to Antartica.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JvVXqJoAj9s/WBroC-O7aEI/AAAAAAAAGnI/kn5ZoAdWlZIUrHRn07KAWlJxG3FfQBDNQCLcB/s1600/summer_evening_westward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JvVXqJoAj9s/WBroC-O7aEI/AAAAAAAAGnI/kn5ZoAdWlZIUrHRn07KAWlJxG3FfQBDNQCLcB/s640/summer_evening_westward.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Beachgoers gather on the shore as the sun begins to set.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eVFdXPtWMXY/WBroOzxAP9I/AAAAAAAAGnQ/6g-jR42OTNMAy62uiMrbYZBkDqqeUuNeQCLcB/s1600/westward_afternoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eVFdXPtWMXY/WBroOzxAP9I/AAAAAAAAGnQ/6g-jR42OTNMAy62uiMrbYZBkDqqeUuNeQCLcB/s640/westward_afternoon.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The wind makes patterns on the sand.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7cv5j4vmLyQ/WBroiBexMWI/AAAAAAAAGnU/-ZOBFFI70PcCXTXPfrGxA0ip44Yuq59FgCLcB/s1600/sunset_surf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7cv5j4vmLyQ/WBroiBexMWI/AAAAAAAAGnU/-ZOBFFI70PcCXTXPfrGxA0ip44Yuq59FgCLcB/s640/sunset_surf.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />A surfer catches a wave.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02r1V-2W5uw/WBro9q9LkwI/AAAAAAAAGng/SD3oajkLYzwIxWal2l-Toy8sSyYT_bMqACLcB/s1600/zuma_october_sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-02r1V-2W5uw/WBro9q9LkwI/AAAAAAAAGng/SD3oajkLYzwIxWal2l-Toy8sSyYT_bMqACLcB/s640/zuma_october_sunset.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />And the sun sets. The world didn't end today. It probably won't end November 8, no matter what the outcome of the elections. And here in Malibu it will still be another day in paradise. </span></td></tr>
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<br />Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-39964750579549818472016-10-29T10:43:00.001-07:002016-10-29T20:49:56.321-07:00A Walk in the Park<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4vQqLfv6mfg/WBPMWIJ3HdI/AAAAAAAAGiA/UK-pSxmZ3Cwpiamm27vKORGgv1_ylgu5gCLcB/s1600/skatepark_summer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4vQqLfv6mfg/WBPMWIJ3HdI/AAAAAAAAGiA/UK-pSxmZ3Cwpiamm27vKORGgv1_ylgu5gCLcB/s640/skatepark_summer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Bluffs Park Open Space is currently at the center of the 2016 Malibu City Council election debate, but not for the reasons one might think. All Photos © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">October in Malibu Bluffs Open Space Park offers vistas of dusty golden fields and wind-swept blue sea and sky. The meadowlarks arrived this week, from wherever they spend their summers. Cold air collects at the bottom of the ravines over night and lingers into the morning hours, offering early walkers a taste of winter and the concentrated fragrance of laurel sumac, sagebrush, and skunk musk—a sort of distillation of autumn in Malibu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The open space is a small park—just 83 acres. One rarely encounters more than a few other visitors. You might meet a wedding party taking photos, or neighbors walking their dogs. If you are there early enough or late enough you might see a family of coyotes hunting mice in the meadow, or the shy elusive bobcat that lives in the canyon. There are almost always raptors in the dead eucalyptus trees by the highway, and in a wet year the park is full of flowers, some of them common, some rare. So how did this small, quiet place end up being at the center of a maelstrom of </span><span style="font-size: large;">campaign accusations</span><span style="font-size: large;"> during the 2016 city council race? Let's take a look.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KQLPtKFuUK4/WBPUNuIEwsI/AAAAAAAAGiU/zOD8QhE9pBIg0ZNJcf4DeI_FGootxSXlgCLcB/s1600/many_mariposas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KQLPtKFuUK4/WBPUNuIEwsI/AAAAAAAAGiU/zOD8QhE9pBIg0ZNJcf4DeI_FGootxSXlgCLcB/s640/many_mariposas.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />A field of Catalina mariposas dance in the wind at Malibu Bluffs Park Open Space. This flower, which can lie dormant for years until conditions are right and then burst into bloom resembling the butterfly it is named for, is a California species of special concern.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Although Malibu Bluffs Park is a small area, it was a top priority on the Coastal Commission's first acquisitions list in 1976, together with the Point Dume Headlands. Nearly 100 acres on the bluff were purchased by the state in 1979 with the first bond money available for coastal conservation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The city was able to buy 10 of those acres from the state as a permanent home for our community's ball fields, after the local Little League was forced to move out of Malibu Lagoon. Through a complex deal that money was used to purchase King Gillette Ranch in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains, the ball fields got to stay on the bluff, Malibu was able to build the Michael Landon Community Center, and the remaining 83 acres of open space were transferred from State Parks to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to manage, which it did by mostly leaving the property alone, until the plan for placing campsites on the site emerged, kicking off a massive battle.</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZcX5blGt2A/WBPILVHE9HI/AAAAAAAAGhw/r78Gs1xHEcAbpFCo6LBSiasdoLrgxXlrgCLcB/s1600/bluffs_backstops.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VZcX5blGt2A/WBPILVHE9HI/AAAAAAAAGhw/r78Gs1xHEcAbpFCo6LBSiasdoLrgxXlrgCLcB/s640/bluffs_backstops.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The California Coastal Commission was extremely reluctant to allow the existing ballfields to be placed in their current location, it seems unlikely that they are going to let them be doubled and placed here, no matter what they city wants:</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wqMytNoQLw8/WBPIORNOtyI/AAAAAAAAGh0/7TfFI2MqcDA_-lzj7St9NpK4lKvHTlkBACLcB/s1600/bluffs_to_sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wqMytNoQLw8/WBPIORNOtyI/AAAAAAAAGh0/7TfFI2MqcDA_-lzj7St9NpK4lKvHTlkBACLcB/s640/bluffs_to_sea.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the aftermath of that battle, and with a different city council at the helm in Malibu, the City of Malibu traded its 590-acre Charmlee Wilderness Park to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for Bluffs Open Space. The swap is still not complete. Both parties agreed to a five-year exchange to determine if the properties could be developed in the way desired.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For Charmlee, that means overnight camping facilities to accomodate hikers traveling the Coastal Slope Trail and also campsites for disabled parkgoers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">At Malibu Bluff Parks Open Space, the City of Malibu is seeking four baseball fields, an aquatic center, a skatepark, a dog park, an amphitheater, basketball courts, a tot lot, lawn areas, a community/visitor center and all of the necessary infrastructure to make that a reality, including ancillary structures like pool pumps, restrooms, batting cages, storage sheds, parking areas, driveways and at least one new entrance from Pacific Coast Highway.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q03HKXeq1rY/WBETiTRswhI/AAAAAAAAGgw/SyyfaMmuKfUqx0RTSSVmoOVd33Jf22z7QCLcB/s1600/bluffs_plan_map.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q03HKXeq1rY/WBETiTRswhI/AAAAAAAAGgw/SyyfaMmuKfUqx0RTSSVmoOVd33Jf22z7QCLcB/s640/bluffs_plan_map.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is the city's proposed plan for Bluffs Park Open Space. The orange dotted line indicates the ESHA—Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area—boundary. Almost all of the proposed development goes right up to that line. If the Coastal Commission required the project to meet the ESHA buffer requirement mandated by the City of Malibu's Local Coastal Program, some of the facilities planned will have to be scaled back. <a href="http://qcode.us/codes/malibu-coastal/view.php?topic=local_implementation_plan-4-4_3">Here's a link</a> to the city's ESHA designations. And here's what the city's laws say about ESHA buffer for coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitat:</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> "</span><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">New development shall provide a buffer of sufficient width to ensure that no required fuel modification area will extend into the ESHA and that no structures will be within 100 feet of the outer edge of the plants that comprise the [ESHA] plant community." </span></span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kbbrUUHUvnU/WBTYcpkfEZI/AAAAAAAAGks/VxiVf0PpJMYGMHbS-Lfq6HBwBf6Yg9quwCLcB/s1600/bluffs_plan_map_esha_buffer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kbbrUUHUvnU/WBTYcpkfEZI/AAAAAAAAGks/VxiVf0PpJMYGMHbS-Lfq6HBwBf6Yg9quwCLcB/s640/bluffs_plan_map_esha_buffer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">Here's the same map with red used to mark a rough approximation of the areas the city would be limited to build in if they are required to meet the 100 feet of ESHA buffer requirement. Both entrances to the 83-acre park are either fully in ESHA or in the buffer zone. So is most of the central parking lot and the entire skatepark. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A master plan has been developed that reconfigures the city's existing 10-acre Bluffs Park and incorporates a nearly two-acre parcel that will be donated by the developer of the adjacent five-house subdivision, as well as mapping out the amenities the city is seeking to construct in the open space portion of the park. </span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytRCKN-sobw/WBP0bSi0yHI/AAAAAAAAGi8/dDHPt9w8LZAhRXnggcX5ymdNqs9OHYZTQCLcB/s1600/riparIan_habitat_driveway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ytRCKN-sobw/WBP0bSi0yHI/AAAAAAAAGi8/dDHPt9w8LZAhRXnggcX5ymdNqs9OHYZTQCLcB/s640/riparIan_habitat_driveway.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The riparian habitat on the edge of the current Bluffs Park parking lot is problematic. It would become the driveway for the central mesa's athletic complex in the city's plan, but is 100 percent ESHA, which means it can't be developed under the city's own Local Coastal Program. It seems unlikely that the Parks and Recreation Commission is going to get everything on its wish list without a struggle. Even if the Coastal Commission approves the plan as is, the Sierra Club has already gone on record opposing the city's plan. Their argument is that the park was purchased by the people of the state of California with bond money earmarked expressly for open space and that a municipal recreation complex does not meet that definition. Appeals and lawsuits appear inevitable.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The plan includes relocating and replacing the Michael Landon Center with a new, larger visitor/community center, moving the two existing baseball diamonds to the central section of the open space park and adding a Pony League field and a softball field, and rearranging the current field area to accommodate three soccer or mixed use fields.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">You can see that the city's plan follows the outlines of the Conservancy's camping proposal areas fairly closely, but with one major difference. Campsites don't require the same ESHA and fire setbacks that other types of development do. Further complicating the issue are those little blue, yellow and green squares, which represent the location of special concern species that require extra protections. The blue dots represent the mariposa lilies that are a special concern species and the tot lot and lawn area proposed by the city are practically on top of them. The tot lot is also on top of a Chumash cultural resource. Somebody didn't bother to look at the records before plunking down amenities. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The problem with this plan is that when the Conservancy wanted to place campsites at Bluffs Park, the city went through great lengths to argue that the whole park was Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area, where nothing can be built. The city attorney has stated that the park is ESHA on the record to the Coastal Commission and the city's official overlay map showing ESHA supports that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is the official ESHA overlay map for the section of Malibu from Corral Canyon to the Malibu Pier. Bluffs Park is the green blob under the word "Coast." The only parts that aren't mapped as ESHA are the current ballfields and the portion of the western mesa where the aquatic facility is proposed. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Update: A reader pointed out that a</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> much stricter 200-foot ESHA buffer is required for mapped ESHA, according to</span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://qcode.us/codes/malibu-coastal/view.php?topic=local_implementation_plan-4-4_4&frames=on" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"> section 4.4.2 of the city's Local Implementation Zone</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Now that the city wants to build amenities on the park the argument is that there isn't that much ESHA after all. However, ESHA isn't the only concern. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Bluffs Park Open Space has plenty of interesting geologic features, including numerous landslide areas and a large section of the Malibu Coast Fault. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />That big black line is the Malibu Coast Fault. It's the reason GE, which owned the property in the 1960s, was never able to build a facility on the site, and why plans for an Alcoa tract development were scraped. The orange lines are landslides. The arrows show the direction of the slides. The notation Tm refers to the Monterey Formation that is poking up through the alluvial soil. The mark that looks like an upside-down teeter-totter in the middle of the circle around the Monterey Formation indicates the direction and angle of the upright bedding—80 degrees in this location. The presence of Tv—Conejo Volcanics, and Tr—Trancas Formation (mostly marine shales) intruding through the alluvial soils hints at a turbulent past caused by ancient floods and deformation from the earthquake fault. This image is from the SMMC's Environmental Impact Report for the site and shows the proposed campsites. The city has not yet completed its EIR.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-44j9G5lU57Y/WBPU2N9fYUI/AAAAAAAAGig/R3yT-dCaXNoSNa3ZztdJU6LxJI678fXpgCLcB/s1600/bluffs_erosion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-44j9G5lU57Y/WBPU2N9fYUI/AAAAAAAAGig/R3yT-dCaXNoSNa3ZztdJU6LxJI678fXpgCLcB/s640/bluffs_erosion.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Here are a couple of photos of the bluff-side landslide areas for a visual reference. No arrows or dotted lines needed.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ot1T8ifFoiY/WBRg0F8yM0I/AAAAAAAAGkY/PmPPn_V3uhEPiDBSLR_nNlwSpXy-d8ItgCLcB/s1600/bluffs_landslide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ot1T8ifFoiY/WBRg0F8yM0I/AAAAAAAAGkY/PmPPn_V3uhEPiDBSLR_nNlwSpXy-d8ItgCLcB/s640/bluffs_landslide.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now let's take a look at this quote from a <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/opinion/article_fed8a414-9713-11e6-b353-6fd20a02be91.html">letter to the editor that ran in a recent issue of the Malibu Times</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>"...If the slate is elected, they will constitute a majority vote of council and, as promised, will kill any community-supported plans for Bluffs Park for the next four years. By then, the swap with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy will have expired and the conservancy will once again have ownership and control of Bluffs Park.</i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>Most residents are unaware that in 2010, the Coastal Commission approved the conservancy’s plans to add 35 campsites to Bluffs Park. Therefore, by “stopping the swap” the “Band of Three,” commonly referred to as the slate, will have succeeded in eliminating much-needed sports fields and other recreational amenities for all Malibu and, instead, provided us with a regional campground in the heart of our beloved town. What a horrible thought."</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The slate refers to City Council candidates Skylar Peak, Rick Mullen and Jefferson Wagner. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The author of this letter appears to be unaware that the Coastal Commission, not the city council, will have the final say on what can built at Bluffs Park. He also appears unaware that the city, not the Conservancy, has the final say on whether the park can be used for campsites. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps he is also unaware that Rick Mullen played a major role in the incredibly difficult legal battle to ensure that the city retained the right to make that determination. You can read about it in Rick's own words <a href="https://www.facebook.com/teammalibu2016/posts/699192783571899:0">here</a>. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Bluffs Park has become an increasingly popular destination for wedding parties. This couple and their photographer probably didn't pick this park for its recreational facilities.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The letter quoted above is just one of several spurious attacks on these three candidates over Bluffs Park. None of these letters mention the property's constraints, or that even if the ballfields and the skatepark are off the table because of the environmental constraints, the city council could still decide that the prospect of athletic facilities on the western mesas is worth pursuing. It's even possible that the city might keep the park as a—what a novel concept—open space, and seek a flatter, less controversial, less geologically active and less environmentally sensitive area to build the other athletic facilities.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W1y-nnDXa8k/WBRUudBbhhI/AAAAAAAAGkI/ENELBKsaoP0UTl9vpUBUp6jnV93qGccnwCLcB/s1600/charmlee_meadow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W1y-nnDXa8k/WBRUudBbhhI/AAAAAAAAGkI/ENELBKsaoP0UTl9vpUBUp6jnV93qGccnwCLcB/s640/charmlee_meadow.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">You know what would happen if the swap were to fall apart? And no, the answer isn't "the end of the world" the way the letter writer and his friends seem to think. Instead, Malibu would take back Charmlee Wilderness Park, one of the most beautiful places in the Santa Monica Mountains, with 5</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">90 acres of ancient oak groves, spectacular ocean views, dramatic rock formations, and miles of trails. I can think of worse things. If the swap is made permanent, the Conservancy has plans to use Charmlee for a campground, but deed restrictions that run with the land ensure that the areas not used for camping will remain wilderness.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">There is nothing wrong with recreational facilities. Every community needs places were residents of all ages can participate in activities like organized sports and art and enrichment classes, but the location for those amenities needs to be appropriate. It's great the city has taken the time to collect community input on Bluffs, and that they are currently going through the same process at our newly acquired Trancas Fields Park, but the land and the resources on it must ultimately dictate the use. </span><span style="font-size: large;">At Bluffs, one could argue that we appear to have created a wish list full of wonderful things but forgot to start with the physical constraints of the site.</span></span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's like buying a fantastic piece of furniture at an estate sale and only realizing that it doesn't fit through th</span></span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: large;">e</span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> front door when you get</span></span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: large;"> it home. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">That's why an environmental impact report and the Coastal Commission approval process is so important. And it is also why electing the right city council to represent us is critical. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />There are currently two baseball fields and a multi-use/soccer field at Malibu Bluffs Park. The desire for more recreational facilities goes all the way back to the 1960s, when Malibu (it wasn't a city yet) was promised Little League fields next to the proposed nuclear power plant in Corral Canyon, and a swimming pool heated with the sea water that would be pumped in to cool the reactor, too (what could possibly have gone wrong?). </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The author of the letter is correct when he states that the "Band of Three" would ensure a council majority. From the perspective of conservationists and keepers of Malibu's history, this would be a good thing, because Peak, Mullen, and Wagner have not only vowed to uphold the Mission Statement, they all have a documented history of actually doing so that has been chronicled in the local media.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This beautiful vista includes many of the elements that make turning Bluffs Parks into a recreation center a problem: landslides, erosion, the protected mariposa lilies, precarious cliffs, and the earthquake fault. It also reveals another major problem. That green field in the left corner is the western mesa. It's completely isolated from the rest of the park by Marie Canyon. To build the proposed aquatic center there would require a new entrance off of Pacific Coast Highway at John Tyler Way. An entrance located right on the edge of ESHA, within the 100-foot ESHA buffer. There was a time when the Valley of Yosemite National Park had tennis courts and other recreational facilities. The culture has changed as the park service has realized the focus needs to be on nature. Perhaps its time Malibu grows up, too.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Regardless of who is elected in November, the Malibu City Council, not the Conservancy, has the final say on camping at Malibu Bluffs Park. Even if the swap doesn't come to pass and the city reclaims Charmlee and hands Bluffs back to the Conservancy, any camping facilities that the SMMC proposes for Bluffs Park would have to be approved by the city. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In both scenarios, the California Coastal Commission has a key role in determining what can be built, and because the proposed development falls under the designation of "public works project" it can be appealed to the Coastal Commission if residents or environmental organizations have concerns that they feel were not adequately addressed by the city. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">We've talked a lot about the Malibu Mission Statement this election cycle, but this is exactly the kind of situation that document is intended to address. Does the proposed development meet the goals of the Mission Statement? If it doesn't, can it be rethought, redesigned, scaled back? For too long, the city has relied on variances to make things fit, and it has fallen to residents and environmental organizations to appeal these patched together projects to the Coastal Commission. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">City officials discuss their plans for the park shortly after the swap was announced. They are standing in the middle of California perennial grassland habitat, on top of the hill created by the earthquake fault out of stone from the Monterey Formation. This group was comprised entirely of well-meaning city officials with an enthusiasm for sports. No one thought to include scientists in the discussion. Taking the environmental and geologic constraints of the park more seriously might have helped prevent headaches with the Coastal Commission and the environmental community later. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Camping may not belong on Bluffs Park, but it's time we stopped thinking of it as "horrible." </span>It's especially discouraging when appointed officials cling to this mindset. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A city-owned campground would be a good way to ensure low cost visitor serving amenities are available in Malibu on our terms, with no fires and a year-round live in camp host to keep an eye on things. In other coastal communities this has been a successful way to meet the needs of visitors and even </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">raise revenue</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">. Maybe we aren't there yet, but it would be nice if this was a conversation we could eventually have. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The statement about "<i style="text-align: start;">eliminating much-needed sports fields and other recreational amenities for all Malibu and, instead, provided us with a regional campground in the heart of our beloved town</i>" isn't based in fact. It's just election scare mongering. That's why its so important to listen to what the candidates say, and more importantly what they have actually done, not what's said about them.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Here's a reminder of what makes Bluffs Park such an incredibly special place for residents and visitors, and why the City of Malibu's Mission Statement proclaims Malibu </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181b32; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">"a unique land and marine environment and residential community whose citizens have historically evidenced a commitment to sacrifice urban and suburban conveniences in order to protect that environment and lifestyle, and to preserve unaltered natural resources and rural characteristics."</span></span></td></tr>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-90237157384104552782016-10-21T15:35:00.002-07:002016-10-22T21:55:53.748-07:00High Stakes<div style="line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Traffic and development continue to dominate the Malibu election discussion.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;">In <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/opinion/article_15016008-90d1-11e6-9b56-3755fabeba0e.html">a recent editorial</a>, Malibu Times editor Arnold York wrote: </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black;"><i>"One of the problems I always have with city council elections is that there are truly not many issues on the table. I don’t think there is anyone in Malibu that endorses rampant development nor can I ever remember anyone advocating it. Of course, what I might call normal expansion, you might call rampant development."</i></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One reason we haven't seen rampant development in the Civic Center area is because there have been too many constraints to overcome. Many local activists have expressed the concern that the city's new wastewater treatment plant will soon remove developers' biggest obstacle.</span><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is an official City of Malibu map of past and future development in the Malibu Civic Center area. M is for sale, O sold last year, the owners of S and L sued the city over Measure R, and Q is already approved to become a 110,000-square-foot shopping center. These properties represent a lot of potential change for a small area.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Another reason is that the impact of development is cumulative. Unless there's a massive project that brings large numbers of the community together in opposition, bit by bit development—often described as "piecemealing," can go unnoticed. A setback variance here, a height variance there, and before anyone realizes what's happened we find ourselves with the Great Wall of Malibu instead of a view of the coast. It's hard to know when it happened. One day the open space is there, the next it isn't.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Along large stretches of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu development is so dense<span style="color: #323333;"> one would never know the ocean is right on the other side of the road. The situation is somewhat better on the western end of town, but the proliferation of massive landscape plantings, like ficus hedges, block the view as efficiently as eastern Malibu's garage doors and massive houses.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It seems to be an unspoken law of the universe that once a city is established it seeks to grow. Cities have planning departments not conservation departments, and planners have much in common with hair stylists—always trying to give you a cutting edge (so to speak) haircut when all you want is the ends trimmed. However, hair grows back, the environment doesn’t. And the burden of environmental oversight in Malibu has remained the responsibility of the citizens, as the city officials wield their metaphorical scissors in what often seems a determined effort to give Malibu the planner's version of a mullet.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />If all one had to go on was the strip of Malibu that lines PCH one would not give these "27 miles of scenic beauty" a second glance.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">What does it say about eastern Malibu that beach access has been systematically reduced from this:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #323333;">This 1950 aerial photo of Malibu Road from the collection of the</span><span style="color: #323333;"> </span><a href="http://photos.lapl.org/carlweb/jsp/FullRecord?databaseID=968&record=6&controlNumber=4951875">Los Angeles Public Library</a><span style="color: #323333;"> </span><span style="color: #323333;">shows modest houses and long stretches of open shoreline.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">To this?</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Today, the same stretch of coast is wall-to-wall houses. Every time a permit is issued for a rebuild, the replacement house is bigger than the one it replaced, as developers attempt to push the limits of the city's building codes to the breaking point. Yes, property owners have rights, but the city has a responsibility, too, not just to ensure that plans meet code requirements but that they comply fully with local coastal planning requirements WITHOUT excessive variances.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">That wall of houses leaves little room for the actual beach. Visitors who navigate their way to east Malibu beach accessways get to enjoy a patch of perpetually damp sand under a row of majestically cantilevered decks. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oh look! A public beach accessway!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Alas, the illusion that the stairway leads to the splendors of nature is rapidly dispelled.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Y</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">ou do, however, get to enjoy a worm's eye view of the underneath of other people's houses. That monster in the distance was under construction when I took this photo. It replaced a modest house that did not intrude dramatically into the ocean.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #323333; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-kerning: none;">Malibu journalist Hans Laetz <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/opinion/article_ebcd8c24-5a23-11e4-9148-fb163ad880d7.html#user-comment-area">once described</a> Malibu’s current system of balances like this:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"> <i>“If the current system is working, it is only because a few dedicated folks are continuously playing CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] whack-a-mole down at City Hall.”</i></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Even on a perfect day when the water is clear and clean and the sun is golden, and the historic Malibu Pier looks like a picture postcard the vision is marred by Malibu's version of urban sprawl. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #323333;">Here's a closer look. Pacific Coast Highway turned into a wall of stucco one project at a time. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This is the same view in the 1940s. The long white building was the shed for the Ridge railroad.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Grassroots efforts have curtailed many major Malibu projects, ranging from the marina and the freeway, to the county's plans for a city of 200,000, but residents just don't have the resources to go up against every cash grab proposed by shortsighted development interests. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Property owners have the right to develop their property, but they aren't entitled to excessive variances that allow them to impinge on public views and key environmental resources, and that sense of entitlement is something that has been overly relied on for decades. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The main objection to the so-called "Whole Foods in the Park" shopping center development was the number of variances granted to the developer, including the infamous vertical landscaping in place of open space. As projects emerge for new Civic Center development will the variances for height and density granted earlier developers end up becoming expected entitlements? The Malibu Bay Company's "76,000-square-foot "Sycamore Village" is planned for the property on the corner of Stuart Ranch Road and Civic Center Way. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The 110,000 square-foot La Paz shopping center already has its permits. </span><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The 3.5-acre Knapp property <a href="https://www.openlistings.com/p/3700-la-paz-lane-lane-malibu-ca-90265">sold last year</a>. It can support 23,000 square feet of development and isn't subject to Measure R. The 6.5-acre Ioki property, next to city hall, is currently on the market and could be developed with up to 42,000 square feet. Change is coming. Will this part of the community ultimately end up looking like an extension of Malibu's Great Wall? </span></span> </td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Are we going to end up with more of this?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This monster was forced through right before cityhood in the late 1980s. It's a prime example of what Malibu shouldn't be, but that doesn't stop developers from dreaming up similar projects.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Where did this thing come from and why did anyone think it was a good idea? </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The county isn't to blame for this one—it cropped up recently. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">When I was small child my dad used to take me to to buy African violets here for Mother's Day. It was Bowman Nursery back then, a private house with a greenhouse behind it where hundreds of flowers grew in neat purple and pink profusion. It changed from a small empty house to a giant empty office building seemingly overnight. It's a double shame, since it is right next door to the Malibu Synagogue and Jewish Center, a beautiful building that is designed to blend into the landscape.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Or can we maintain the qualities described in the city's Mission Statement that make Malibu a "unique land and marine environment and residential community" ?</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Once one escapes from Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu really is 27 miles of scenic beauty, or at least maybe 19 miles of scenic beauty and seven or eight of obnoxious beach houses and commercial development. The two biggest challenges for Malibu moving forward will be to prevent "infilling," or changes to the city's zoning that permit higher density development and out of scale overdevelopment, and finding ways to retire commercial property and maintain open space.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Maybe the question we should be asking this year's city council candidates isn't what they stand for but what they have stood against.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">That's the last empty lot on PCH in eastern Malibu, the last glimpse of ocean and horizon. Is it destined to become another section of the Great Wall, or are there other alternatives for Malibu's future?</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It is difficult to focus on local issues when all of the attention is on a national election that resembles a cross between Monty Python and a post-apocalyptic horror film, but this November 8 Malibu residents will elect a</span><span style="font-size: large;"> city council that will weigh in on many key development issues. Let's make sure that the people we select are committed to the Malibu Mission Statement, so Malibu doesn't accidentally end up resembling a suburb of this place:</span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-78228887385037425812016-10-05T22:39:00.001-07:002016-10-14T08:57:16.028-07:00The Write Stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />It looks peaceful, but that is not an ordinary Malibu sunrise, it was the morning of the 2007 Corral Fire, and a reminder that Malibu can switch from paradise to inferno in a heartbeat. Malibu's elected officials may be called on to deal with fire, flood, earthquake or storm, in addition to every day issues. The Malibu City Council election isn't a popularity contest or a game show contest. The newly formed City of Malibu was nearly bankrupted in its infancy by the catastrophic 1993 Old Topanga Fire, which raced through Malibu leaving devastation in its wake. The Corral Fire was our most recent city disaster Many newer Malibu residents have never experienced the rougher side of life on this coast. Our elected officials always have to be prepared for the worst. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Malibu certainly must never become a locality for the get-rich-schemes of honkey-tonk promoters who have nothing more than a yawning interest in civic pride—or the scavenger who sees a chance to trade off the name for the sake of a few dollars.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>There is no better time than right now to face the fact that we must organize to achieve unity of purpose in all our civic endeavors. If we wait too long, we may well be too late.</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>—Malibu Times editorial, October 11, 1946</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If you had to go by the letters to the editor sections of the local newspapers you would never guess Malibu’s election season has shifted into high gear and that the battle for votes in the six person race for three seats on the Malibu City Council is raging in the aisles of the grocery stores and at the farmers market. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Former Malibu Surfside News editor Anne Soble often received so many election season letters that they would spill over from page 4 to fill every empty space, sometimes ending up jostling with the classifieds for space on the last page.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The war of words has been waged in every Malibu city council election. Why is it so quiet out there this time? With the exception of curmudgeonly grumbles from a couple of octogenarian town elders and a polite epistle praising the candidates for their decorum, the silence on campaign issues is deafening. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Malibu's night skies attract stargazers from all over Los Angeles, like this group of amateur astronomers at Malibu Bluffs Park, but light pollution is beginning to impact the view. A dark skies ordinance is one of several environmental campaign issues this year. Activists would also like to see Malibu tighten loopholes in its Local Coastal Program to better protect all natural resources. Which candidates are most likely to support this endeavor? Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps the rise of social media is to blame for the silence in the letters column, although even the online comment section of the one local paper with that feature is surprisingly empty. There are the usual anonymous developers sparing half-heartedly with a handful of local fire eaters, but that's about it. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Readers of the current Surfside News can perhaps be excused for not knowing who the newest editor is or how to reach her. The paper restructured recently and has brought in many new faces. But everyone knows where to find the Malibu Times’ editor, Arnold York.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">One of the candidates forums included a discussion of sea level rise that focused primarily on artificial reefs as a potential solution for sand loss, but what about other sea level issues like salt water intrusion, tidal surge, and wave damage? And how about issues like coastal armoring, view corridors and public access? Photo @ 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Before Malibu became a city the opinion sections were a key forum for local issues—sometimes the only opportunity for residents to have their concerns heard. And while politicians often waffle on about "progress," some of the earliest Malibu letters to the editor could be dusted off and recycled today. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“We all want Malibu to be the most beautiful community possible, yet how can it be with sudden death racing down our highway?” asked Nella Archer in a letter to the editor of the Malibu Times dated January 27, 1947.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Safety on Pacific Coast Highway has been a major concern dating back to the era when the road was Roosevelt Highway. Some of the earliest issue-based letters to the editor of the original Malibu Times, which began covering local news in 1946, pertain to highway safety. It's not surprising that it's a major campaign issue once again. Photo: Malibu Library</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“My eyes are opened now to needs which are greater than just hotels,” a letter written by developer Esther Sterkin states. “We must have a complete resort community where those who will, may, escape from cities, and raise their families close to nature. For these permanent, solid citizens we must have schools, churches, theatre, shops, recreation centers for our children (small and adolescent), and all the other necessities for a high-level community...Then, of course, the resort buildings and facilities, gorgeous landscaping, exclusive sumptuous hotels, modern beach cottages, and apartment houses, also housing divisions for the men who would be employed in the area...I am impatient to see a beginning."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Shopping malls, hotels, recreation facilities, low-incoming housing? Sound familiar? Except this letter was written in 1950.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Development and highway safety remain two of Malibu's top issues, but there are more recent concerns—things that early residents could never have imagined: escalating issues with homeless and drug use; the impact of short-term home rentals and the one-night-only party crowd they attract; drug rehab facilities that transform neighborhoods into hospital zones; global warming and sea level rise; and the estimated 15 million visitors who flocked to Malibu's beaches and mountains in the past year.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">The proposed "Whole Foods in the Park" shopping mall planned for this quiet field provided the flashpoint for the grassroots Measure R movement. All of the candidates are running on a slow growth platform. However, there are major differences: three candidates actively participated in and helped lead the grassroots Preserve Malibu movement, a fourth wasn't involved in the campaign but supported Measure R, the fifth appears not to have publicly stated their views on the ballot initiative, and the sixth vehemently opposed the measure. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">When Malibu was fighting for cityhood, the letters column in both papers was a major battleground that sometimes spilled over into the Los Angeles Times’ letters section. It was also sometimes a literary experience. You might find a pithy response from mystery writer Ross Thomas, a politely devastating retort by legendary screenwriter Philip Dunne, or a dryly humorous opinion penned by actor turned journalist Paul Mantee.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Rodenticide and pesticide use in Malibu remain a major issue, with activists pushing hard for a citywide ban. While all of the candidates have stated that they oppose pesticide use, which candidates have a history of supporting the ban? Which are most likely to support the ordinance if elected? Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Ross Thomas was so quiet in person that you had to listen hard to hear him. It was worth the effort. Before settling down to the mystery novelist’s life he had traveled the world: Africa, Asia, Europe. He’d lived in London and Manhattan, rubbed elbows with the entire literary scene of the 1960s. His first novel <i>Cold War Swap</i>, won the Edgar Allen Poe award for best first mystery novel in 1966. As an activist and letter writer he was fierce and deadly.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #323333;">Malibu is nearly 23 miles long and includes more coastline than any other municipality in Southern California, but it's this tiny section of land that is ground zero for local controversy. </span><span style="color: #323333;">Critics have warned that more than one million square feet of development could eventually be squeezed into the Civic Center area. </span><span style="color: #323333;">The fate of many of the red parcels, zoned Commercial, could be decided by the city council members elected in November. With the Civic Center sewer under construction, some development interests are already pushing for mixed use development, which would increase density. The triangular section at the center—Legacy Park—is the only undeveloped parcel that is not in play. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Philip Dunne, also a quiet man, was a ferocious fighter for social justice on a national level—he co-founded the Committee for the First Amendment with William Wyler and John Huston,</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> and fought for the rights of the entertainment industry professionals who found themselves on the Hollywood Blacklist. He also fought for small local issues, including Malibu cityhood, which he passionately supported. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Paul Mantee was another energetic Malibu activist. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Beneath the tough guy exterior lived a keen intelligence and a wry wit. </span><span style="font-size: large;">He wrote a column in the Malibu Times for years and could always be counted on for a witty response on local issues in the letters section. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yard signs and mailers are all useful in an election, but letters go much further, offering a forum for questions and observations. In a year when everyone is being snowed under in a blizzard of local, state, and national election mailers, letters offer a forum that may actually reach that rare and elusive being, the undecided voter. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Malibu Bluffs Park Open Space, top, and the newly acquired Trancas Fields, are both hot topics. The candidates elected next month will help determine the future for both parks.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The 19th century French novelist and social activist Emile Zola changed history with a letter. He was threatened with a year in prison and a 3000-Franc fine for a letter he wrote in support of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a French war hero who was charged with treason. Zola was forced to flee to England to escape the fallout, but the letter, famously beginning with the accusation "j’accuse," generated a groundswell of support for the wrongly imprisoned Dreyfus, and ultimately changed history.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Malibu is a small town at heart, one that comes together when faced with adversity, like the 1979 Big Rock landslide that closed PCH for months. It's helpful to remember that during campaign season. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Image: Evening Outlook</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">If you, dear reader, feel strongly about this election, if you have questions for the candidates, or comments to make on their campaign promises, or a response to a letter someone else wrote, take a minute to act on that thought. Let’s keep the letter writing tradition alive in Malibu. Who knows, it could even change the course of history. Malibu election outcomes are sometimes decided by just a few votes. Your letter could be the catalyst that decides an undecided voter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Why not write a letter to an editor today? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #323333; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; line-height: normal;">Malibu Times: </span><span style="color: #788196; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:agyork@malibutimes.com" style="color: #457d9d; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">agyork@malibutimes.com</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">or </span><span style="color: #788196; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-decoration: underline;">emily@malibutimes.com</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #323333; line-height: normal;">Malibu Surfside News: </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); color: #676767;">Lauren Finkler: <a href="mailto:lauren@malibusurfsidenews.com"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(28, 117, 187); color: #021eaa;">lauren@malibusurfsidenews.com</span></a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">And, as always, feel free to leave us your thoughts in the comments section. But be nice. The spirit of May Knight Rindge is keeping a watchful eye on all of us. </span></span><br />
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-85503327227851730372016-09-23T14:25:00.003-07:002016-09-24T13:54:46.059-07:00By Any Other Name<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Place names may seem an unlikely repository for history but they can hold a surprising amount of information about the locations they describe and the people responsible for selecting and bestowing the names. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Here at The Malibu Post we're not convinced that the bard is right about that whole rose-by-any-other-name idea. Suppose, for example, that 19th century Malibu Rancho owner Frederick Hastings Rindge discarded the Chumash-derived name and rechristened the old Topanga Malibu Sequit Spanish Land Grant “Zumaland,” “Billowbay,” “Midocean,” “Happyland,” "Archangel,""Ozone," “Puritan,” or Hopehaven,” hypothetical names he proposed for the Malibu City of Tomorrow in his book Happy Days in Southern California. What would that have meant for Malibu? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">It seems unlikely that the Malibu Rum Company would have got off the ground if Malibu Rancho owner Frederick Hastings Rindge had opted to trade Malibu's historic name for one of his inspirations like Puritan. And it's probably safe to say there would never have been a Happyland Barbie or a Chevy Ozone. </span></span></td></tr>
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We were discussing local place names the other day at The Malibu Post because the Malibu City Council recently took the first step towards a discussion on naming protocols, following an offer by resident Brian Strange to donate $1 million in matching funds for a skatepark in memory of his son, much loved Malibu native and extreme athlete Johnny Strange, who died in a wingsuit accident in Switzerland in 2015.<br />
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Councilmember Joan House pointed out that naming rights can be a surprisingly complicated matter, and she’s absolutely right. Whether it involves naming something new or renaming something old, the process inevitably sparks debate.<br />
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The Malibu community was shattered by the death of 13-year-old Emily Shane on Pacific Coast Highway near the intersection of Heathercliff in 2010. However, while there was a tremendous sense of shared sorrow, not everyone supported the Shane family’s push to rename Heathercliff Road after her.<br />
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Residents and businesses were dismayed at the potential cost and confusion the name change could cause. Some expressed concern at the precedent the change would set, fearing that the unintended consequences could transform the community into a city of the dead. A compromise was reached that involved adding Emily’s name to the Heathercliff sign but not officially changing the name of the street, leading to confusion for visitors, but not requiring residents to reorder their lives.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here is a Google maps image of the intersection renamed to commemorate Emily Shane. However, the name does not appear on the actual map.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Homeowners on De Buttes Terrace, which was named by and for pioneers Marianne and Edward Delaplane De Butts, petitioned the Malibu City Council in 2006 to change the name of their street for a very different reason. They sought to rename the road out of concern that their children would be the butt of jokes.<br />
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I grew up reading Marianne De Butts' column in the Malibu Times. It was called "Squeaky Mesa" and featured the family's quirky menagerie of animals, including the eponymous dog Squeaky, and a lost lifestyle that involved growing vegetables, chopping wood to heat the house, and pumping water from the ranch well.<br />
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The same people that couldn't bear the name De Butts didn't want to call the place Squeaky Mesa when councilmember Ken Kearsley, who opposed the change, suggested it as an alternative. They wanted “Paradise View Way” but failed to convince the council that their choice had sufficient historic significance. In fact, Paradise was the name chosen by developers to replace the historic name Banning Harbor in the mid 20th century. In the end, the 16 property owners on De Butts Terrace opted to rechristen the road Murphy Way, after the family of film director Dudley Murphy who owned several Malibu-area properties, including the celebrated Holiday House Inn, now Geoffrey’s Restaurant, and Cold Creek Preserve, one of the most pristine and undisturbed portions of the Santa Monica Mountains.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's Banning Harbor in 1899, long before it was renamed Paradise Cove. The original name came from the fact that Phineas Banning (<span style="background-color: white; color: #252525;">1830 – 1885) the larger than life entrepreneur who made a fortune in shipping and staging,</span> used the cove to replenish his ships' supplies of water from Ramirez creek and to harvest fire wood.</span>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps its not surprising that Fauquier Road, also named by Marianne and Edward De Buttes in the 1950s, was changed decades ago to Winding Way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">If developers and the occasional homeowner sometimes exhibit the sensitivities of a Victorian maiden aunt over unsuitable names, they also seem to have a weakness for a sort of highly ornate and somewhat fussy Victorian romanticism, which is why we have streets with names like Heathercliff, Boniface, Selfridge, Wandermere, and Galahad, Fairside, and Idlewild and also fluffy pretty things like Ocean Breeze, Sea Star, and my personal favorite, the wonderfully incongruous Royal Stone Drive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ever since the end of WW II, developers have had the last word in Malibu's place names. Those names are layered on top of the old rancho's Spanish and Chumash heritage, with a little bit of the old west thrown in for good measure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The plan for Point Dume in the 1930s was intended to be the new "American Riviera" and included a massive hotel, piers, groins and breakwaters, a polo field and golf course, and a fake lighthouse, but no street names were recorded on the plans. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Many of Malibu’s Spanish names are largely pragmatic: Encinal, which means oak grove, was named for the canyon’s impressive live oak woodlands. Big Rock is a sedate English version of the more colorful original Spanish Piedra Gordo—fat rock. Las Flores was named for the canyon’s abundant spring flowers. Tuna Canyon gets its name from the native prickly pear cactus. La Costa means simply coast, while Escondido means hidden. Trancas means barrier, perhaps describing the narrow box canyon that was ideal for containing cattle, while Latigo means harness leather.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">This 1920s advertisement for a failed tract development contains the first mention of Latigo Canyon that I could find. This real estate scheme, named by madly optimistic and hopelessly romantic developers "Malibu Mar Vista," boasts "approve the plans, drive out some weekend and find your mountain home already built." However, one of the captions under the photos reveals that Latigo Road has not yet been completed, complicating the sales premise. "Arrow indicated steam dredger at work on new Latigo Canyon Road," it states.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pragmatic settlers christened Cross Creek, Westward Beach, Corral Canyon, Broad Beach, Boney Ridge, Saddle Peak, and Sandstone Peak, although Sandstone Peak is actually volcanic not sedimentary, and Broad Beach is no longer broad. Carbon canyon, mesa, and beach, also named with un-enigmatic accuracy, got their name from an unsuccessful oil rush in the early 20th century. </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Yerba Buena Road might be named for any of the dozens of “good plants” the grow in the area, but the consensus is that the road takes its name from redshanks, a shrub that is abundant in the highest portion of the Santa Monica Mountains and rarely seen in the rest of the range. It's the bright green plant visible in the photo, above, with Boney Ridge in the background. Red shanks was used by the Chumash, the Spanish, and the Mexican Americans as a medicine for toothache, fevers, colds, injuries and infections. </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Most of Malibu’s Spanish names are said to date from the period when the Rancho was owned by the Tapia family, in the early 1900s. I was always told that Puerco Canyon, which means means pig in Spanish, was an exception. The canyon was home to a pig farm in the 1940s and '50s owned by</span><span style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> land speculator William De Bell, and tradition has always given DeBell credit for the name, but I recently found it labeled Puerco on a 1901 geologic survey map. Either way, the old pig farm now has a new name: Cameron Wilderness Preserve, for filmmaker James Cameron.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Puerco Canyon already has its name on this 1901 map of the Malibu coast, but Latigo is called Dry Canyon, and Carbon Canyon, Coal Canyon.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Leon Victor Prudhomme, who acquired the Malibu Rancho through marriage into the Tapia family in 1848, appears not to have left any names behind, but Irish immigrant Matthew Keller, who purchased the Rancho in 1857, is commemorated in the name “Keller’s Shelter,” the official if seldom used title for a stretch of coast along Old Malibu Road. Rising Sun Trail in Solstice Canyon is a 20th century tribute to Keller, named for his famous Los Angeles vineyard and the grapes he grew in the canyon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">This archival photo dating to around 1908, the year the Rindge family's Hueneme, Malibu and Port Los Angeles Railway was completed. It shows the impressive Rindge railroad trestle over Ramirez Canyon that connected the mesas at Paradise Cove. Some early maps show Ramirez Canyon spelled Ramera—Spanish for mesa, but the 1870 plat map created for Rancho owner Mathew Keller gives it as Las Ramirez. Zumirez remains a mystery. It may represent a developer’s effort to Spanish-ize the Chumash name Zuma.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The first detailed map of Malibu was produced for Keller in 1870 as part of his effort to confirm that he had legal title to the property. Almost all the names on the map are still in use, from Arroyo Sequit, to Cañada Malibu, but there are some curious variations.<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The 1870 plat map records Solstice Canyon as Cañada del Solto. Rindge later refers to it as "Soston" but a 1900 geologic survey map shows it as Solstice. Lechuza Canyon is listed as “La Chusal” on Mathew Keller’s 1870 plat. Tradition says this canyon was named for the Spanish word for “barn owl,” which is also the name of an enigmatic shape-shifting witch woman from Mexican folklore. However, the name may be folk-etymology. According to Chumash language specialist Richard Applegate, Lechuza may be derived from the Chumash name “Lisiqsihi.” Applegate's paper <i>Chumash Place Names</i>, <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3s34f5ss#page-1">published in the Journal of California Anthropology</a>, indicates that Arroyo Sequit may also be a version of the same word, which in Ventureño means “beachworm.”</span><br />
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Leo Carrillo State Park brings together almost every type of Malibu naming convention: there's Sequit, the original Chumash name; San Nicholas Canyon, named by Spanish explorers; Mullholland Highway, from the era of developer and water baron William Mulholland; and Leo Carrillo, for the philanthropist and park advocate. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Arroyo Sequit was an important cultural center for the Chumash. In Malibu the canyon and the road the cuts through it represent a symbolic class of cultures. Mulholland Highway bears the name of the man who rewrote Southern California history, water baron William Mulholland. Unlike earlier inhabitants, who usually chose descriptive names for their landmarks, California's developers had no scruples about naming things for themselves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In Malibu, those place names include Merritt Drive, commemorating Merritt Adamson, Jr., the son of Rindge family heir Rhoda Rindge and Merritt Adamson; and Busch Drive, named for Malibu Realtor Louis Busch who had the responsibility of splitting up and selling the Malibu Rancho for the Marblehead Land Company after the Ridge family was forced to sell.</span></div>
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The map on this 1946 real estate ad for Louis T. Busch Associates features all of the modern canyon names, but gives Ramera—the singular form of the Spanish word mesa for Ramirez and Piedra Gordo—fat rock—for what is now Big Rock. </span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Homesteaders and other early residents also left their names behind. Cotharin Road, above, Houston Road, and Decker Canyon Road are all named for homesteader families who carved out a living in the remote and inaccessible western Santa Monica Mountains in the first years of the 20th century. Cavalleri Road was named for Enrico Cavalleri, who moved to Malibu just after WW II. His son Louie ran an earthmoving company and was the bulldozer operator for almost all of the early development on Point Dume, in an era when the first roads were being built. The family also raised dry crops like lima beans in the open fields of what is now Malibu Park. Kanan Dume Road combines elements of history and developer influence: it was named in the 1960s by Oak Park tract developers Louis and Mark Boyer for a family of 19th century Agoura area settlers. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There's also a politician or two lurking in Malibu's nomenclature. One of them is Robert H. Meyer, who had the honor of having three of coast's most beautiful pocket beaches named in his honor, despite the fact that as assistant secretary of agriculture in the Carter administration he was forced to resigned amid allegations that he using his position to secure extra water rights for his personal Central Valley agricultural holdings, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/28/archives/agriculture-official-asks-us-aid-for-valley-where-he-owns-land.html?_r=2">the September 8, 1977 New York Times</a>.</span><br />
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Beautiful El Matador Beach is part of Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beaches, named for a politician who served on the California State Parks Commission but who was also forced to resign his government position over allegations that he abused his position as assistant secretary of agriculture in the Carter administration. One can't help wondering what performer, humorist, and social commentator Will Rodgers, whose State Park and beach is just east of Malibu, would have thought of this naming choice. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: left;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">P</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">hilanthropists have also made their mark on Malibu. Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo (1881-1961) was a fourth generation Californian, and an actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. Carrillo served on the California Beach and Parks commission for eighteen years and was involved in the acquisition of Hearst Castle, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and other properties. He purchased 1500 acres in Arroyo Sequit from Waite Phillips, a Los Angeles financier, in 1952 and left an endowment after his death to fund the conversion of the ranch into a State Park. It's fitting that one of the most popular parks in the state is named in his honor. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Frederick Hastings Rindge was also a philanthropist. In his Massachusetts home town streets and buildings commemorate his contributions, but in Malibu almost no trace of the Rindge name remains other than the long defunct Rindge dam, which will eventually be demolished.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">While Rindge appears to have enjoyed creating names for landmarks on his ranch but few if any of the names mentioned in his book “Happy Days in California” appear to have stuck. There’s a good chance that “Conviction, Conversion and Salvation” peaks may be the three peaks visible from Heathercliff and Selfridge on Point Dume that once bore the official designation “Lion Peaks,” but “Cataclysm Chasm,” “Mocking Bird Valley,” “Crag Noble,” and “Sycamore Grove” are anyone’s guess today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">A clipping from a 1946 Malibu Times shows the first post WW II roads being cut on Point Dume. The U.S. Government took possession of the Point during the war, and placed the area off limits. Development was delayed first by the Depression and then by the war. By the time the windswept peninsula was divided into parcels and sold in 1946, there was no longer any talk of polo fields and golf courses and the grand vision of an American Riviera lives on only in the names of the three Point Dume homeowners associations: Riviera I, II, and III.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rindge appreciated Malibu's Chumash history. It would have been easy for him to discard the name Zuma and even Malibu in favor of one of his fanciful ideas, most developers of the era wouldn't have hesitated, but he didn't do it, and in a very real way it is thanks to him that the local Chumash place names we still use have survived.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Malibu was home for thousands of years to Chumash communities. The city’s name is adapted from a Ventureño Chumash word generally translated as “where the surf sounds,” but the Chumash, rounded up and sent to the San Fernando Mission, had been gone for nearly three quarters of a century when Rindge bought the Rancho only the names remained. </span></div>
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The Adamson House, Malibu Lagoon State Park, Surfrider Beach and a half mile or so of Pacific Coast Highway occupy the site of the original community of Humaliwo. The Chumash name is generally translated as "where the surf sounds." Applegate cites a paper published in 1957 that "<span style="text-align: left;">suggests the etymology </span><span style="text-align: left;">'(the surf) sounds loudly all the time,' based </span><span style="text-align: left;">on the stem </span><i style="text-align: left;">iwo, </i><span style="text-align: left;">'to sound,' and a prefix </span><i style="text-align: left;">mal, </i><span style="text-align: left;">which </span><span style="text-align: left;">can refer to the terrain."</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Topanga means “a place above” in the Tongva language. Anacapa Island, visible on clear days from west Malibu beaches, is said to mean mirage, Sequit was beach worm, and Zuma was the word for abundance. According to Applegate, Sycamore Canyon may dirive its name from the Ventureño word ˆs</span></span><i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">uwalaxˆso.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">There's substantial evidence to support the theory that Point Dume is also a Chumash name. While British explorer George Vancouver is credited with naming Point Dume for Father Francisco Dumetz, whom he visited prior to naming the peninsula in 1793, there is substantial evidence to suggest the word Dume may have come from the same root as Zuma, the Chumash word Sumo.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Vancouver named Point Mugu for the Chumash community of Muwu, shortly before assigning the name Dume, not Dumetz, to the eastern point. “This Point I will call ‘Point Dume,’” he wrote.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rindge, who purchased the entire 13,300-acre Malibu Rancho in 1892, always called the point “Duma,” and states in his book <i>Happy Days in Southern California</i> that the name was derived from Zuma.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">His view is supported by information provided by Chumash elder Ferdinando Librado to ethnographer John Peabody Harrington between 1912-15. Librado stated that “Sumo extends out to sea and at the end of the point there was a hill.” Librado added that “Sumo is called in nautical language Dume.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's a detail of the 1870 plat created for Mathew Keller that describes the point as “rocky” and calls it “Duma or Zuma Point.” The Adamson House has a printed version of the map. A scan of the original hand-drawn sketch can be viewed at the <a href="http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15150coll4/id/13283/rec/2">Huntington Library</a>'s digital archive.</span></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Point Dume was a significant Chumash population center. The portion that is now part of Point Dume State Beach was reportedly a shrine site. Other portions of the point, now developed, contained the remains of large villages and several cemeteries. The street name “Indian Mound” within the Point Dume Club Mobile Home Park is the only reminder of what was there before homes were built. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">The sign post at the corner of Indian Mound Road and Metate Lane in the Point Dume Mobile Home Park is all that's left of an extensive Chumash village and burial site that was bulldozed in the 1970s. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Here at the Malibu Post we think the Johnny Strange Malibu Skatepark could be a great addition to the community, and there is no reason why an amenity provided to the city through a generous donation that is made in memory of a much loved community member should not be named in their honor—Michael Landon Community Center at Malibu Bluffs Park and Leo Carrillo State Park are good examples. However, we confess to being less enthusiastic about some other recent naming conventions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's easy to see how Malibu Bluffs Park got its name. With the insipid exception of Legacy Park (visitors always want to know whose legacy), the City of Malibu has sensibly used the geographic location for the names of its parks. However, since we already have a Trancas Canyon Park it remains to be seen if Trancas Fields, the city's newest acquisition, keeps its everyday name or receives a new title. </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Some longtime Malibu residents were dismayed when the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy renamed old McCoye Ranch Wientraub Family Park, without a single mention of its pioneer family. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">It wouldn't have cost the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy anything extra to stick the words "Old McCoye Ranch" on the sign welcoming visitors to the Ana and Cole Weintraub Family Park. Weintraub is to be commended for selling the property to the Conservancy instead of going through with <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2000/mar/14/local/me-8645">controversial plans to build a resort with yurts</a>, but naming rights shouldn't overwrite history, especially in a case like this where the property is filled with the ghosts of the past (you can read more about it <a href="http://themalibupost.blogspot.com/2016_01_01_archive.html">here</a>). </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Choosing stoner surfer dude comic strip character Zonker Harris as the namesake for the west Carbon Beach beach accessway in 1981 made a certain amount of thematic sense, but with so many amazing real people with a connection to the area—real life New Yorker cartoonist Leo Callum lived nearby, so did Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs—it might have been nice if they'd picked someone with an historical connection to Malibu, or maybe even a Chumash name, for the people who were Malibu's first residents and stewards. On the bright side, having a beach accessway named after him seems to have inspired this eternal slacker to become, in his own way, an active access activist.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">So far, Garry Trudeau's eternal surfer dude Zonker Harris is the only fictional character to be honored with a place name in Malibu.</span></span></div>
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</span></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">As Malibu continues to evolve there may be many new naming opportunities. As residents, it will be up to us to make sure they reflect the real Malibu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Names traditionally have power, choosing them wisely is important. Just the name Malibu is enough to conjure with, in a way that "Billowbay" or "Puritan" never could be. But the best and most important name those of us who are lucky enough to live here can give this community is home.</span></span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-88104930068661873982016-09-14T15:44:00.003-07:002016-09-14T15:48:42.151-07:00The Ghost in the Machine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br />Every Malibu election season the ominous rumblings and clankings of the Malibu Political Machine can reportedly be heard, a sort of small town Deus ex machina that seeks, critics say, to arrange the future of Malibu. Assuming you managed to get an audience with Malibu's version of the Great and Powerful Oz, what would you find behind the curtain? Let's see if we can find out. Image from <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> @ 1939, Universal Studios</span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Before we begin looking for ghosts, we need to read the Malibu Vision and Mission Statements:</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">The General Plan Vision and Mission statements were prepared by the General Plan Task Force and subsequently adopted by the City Council prior to the development of the goals, objectives, policies and implementation programs by the General Plan Task Force and the City’s planning consulting team. The statements guide the formation of programs and policies that are included in the General Plan.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Vision Statement—Malibu is a unique land and marine environment and residential community whose citizens have historically evidenced a commitment to sacrifice urban and suburban conveniences in order to protect that environment and lifestyle, and to preserve unaltered natural resources and rural characteristics. The people of Malibu are a responsible custodian of the area’s natural resources for present and future generations.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Mission Statement—Malibu is committed to ensure the physical and biological integrity of its environment through the development of land use programs and decisions, to protect the public and private health, safety and general welfare.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Malibu will plan to preserve its natural and cultural resources, which include the ocean, marine life, tide pools, beaches, creeks, canyons, hills, mountains, ridges, views, wildlife and plant life, open spaces, archaeological, paleontological and historic sites, as well as other resources that contribute to Malibu’s special natural and rural setting.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Malibu will maintain its rural character by establishing programs and policies that avoid suburbanization and commercialization of its natural and cultural resources.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Malibu will gradually recycle areas of deteriorated commercial development that detract from the public benefits or deteriorate the public values of its natural, cultural and rural resources.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">Malibu will provide passive, coastal-dependent and resource-dependent visitor-serving recreational opportunities (at proper times, places and manners) that remain subordinate to their natural, cultural and rural setting, and which are consistent with the fragility of the natural resources of the area, the proximity of the access to residential uses, the need to protect the privacy of property owners, the aesthetic values of the area, and the capacity of the area to sustain particular levels of use.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">On June 5, 1990, the City of Malibu became a reality. After three decades of fighting Los Angeles County, and three failed attempts at incorporation, residents overwhelmingly passed Measure Y, the ballot initiative that gave Malibu its independence. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It was a brutal marathon of a battle (you can read the details <a href="http://themalibupost.blogspot.com/2014/03/put-it-to-vote.html">here</a>), but optimism was in the air in the months following the landslide vote. A mission statement was drafted and the future never looked brighter. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The first Malibu City Council, in a 1991 photo by Tom Dobyns for the Malibu Surfside News, blissfully unaware of the Pandora's box of troubles before them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Things fell apart almost at once. Instead of uniting to make the mission statement a reality, the first city council—men and women who fought ferociously for cityhood—fell out. A bitter rift developed, one swiftly exploited by development interests.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Malibu's warring political factions, whose disagreements are rooted in petty rivalries, each have pitched the election as a plebiscite on development," <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1992-04-02/news/we-543_1_city-council">wrote Los Angeles Times reporter Ron Russell on April 2, 1992</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The minority and their supporters insist that the majority has sold out to development interests, something the majority vigorously denies. Meanwhile, the majority accuses the other side of wanting to turn back the clock completely on development, which the minority disputes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">"The result has been a sharply divided City Council that critics from each side say has been ineffectual, leaving Malibu severely polarized barely a year after it officially became a city," Russell stated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">"We're finally going to have a city government that is responsive to this community," Councilmember Carolyn Van Horn told Russell when the dust settled. She, with challengers Jeff Kramer and Joan House "trounced 17 other candidates Tuesday—including two incumbents—to win four-year terms on the City Council," Russell wrote.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">If you disregarded the date and replaced "frustrated by the county" with "frustrated by the city council," and "Cityhood June 5" with "city council election November 8," this 1991 Malibu Surfside News cover could be reused this week. A quarter of a century after incorporation, Malibu is still fighting many of the same battles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Malibu Mission Statement and what it stands for is really at the center of the rift that developed. The side that favors a looser interpretation of the mission statement is unofficially known as The Malibu Machine. It isn’t really a machine so much as a well-organized group of like-minded people who share a common vision. Unfortunately for those on the other side of the divide, achieving that vision all too often seems to involve inverting the Malibu Mission Statement by agreeing to trade some of the area’s “unaltered natural resources and rural characteristics” for some of the “urban and suburban conveniences” we are not supposed to want. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Opposing the so-called Machine is a group of community activists comprised of Malibu residents with occasional help from non profit environmental organizations like the Sierra Club and the National Resource Defense Council.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-size: large;">Every time there's a council election the machine wheezes and clatters into action. In 2002, council candidate Beverly Taki <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_7ef041ea-5537-5d25-901f-1de051d8af0b.html">told the Malibu Times</a> that </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"Most Malibu voters don't want a political machine running our city government, therefore, they are voting for me, an independent candidate." </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">She didn't win.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">In a March 13, 2002 letter to the editor of the Malibu Times,during the same election battle, longtime Malibu resident Carole Bush wrote:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>At the two recent candidates' forums, Sharon Barovsky was asked about her political machine and alliance with Andy Stern. Both times she adamantly denied being a part of any such team. This weekend, campaign yard signs have cropped up all over town. I noticed that every house that featured a Barovsky sign also featured a Stern sign. Looks like a political alliance to my neighbors and me. We have now caught Barovsky in a lie. What more will she lie about if elected? Or what lies is she telling us now in order to get herself elected?</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Are both of these candidates so devoid of character that they are sending their machine workers Deirdre Roney, Pat Lang, Laureen Sills, Anne Hoffman and Lloyd Ahern out to smear the other candidate's daring to challenge their hold on City Hall? </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Barovsky supporter Mona Loo responded to critics, stating:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-kerning: none;">[ They] </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">seem to believe that Sharon Barovsky has created a deep, dark, and dangerous political machine. I and many other Malibuites have volunteered repeatedly to work on numerous local campaigns. If working together in the past qualifies a group as a "machine," then I plead guilty as charged. However, I would insist that there is nothing malevolent, dark or dangerous about campaign volunteerism. More people ought to do it. This city deserves a political process that includes all of us."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white;">In 2014 the shadow of that "deep dark machine" was still apparently felt: Council candidate Hamish Patterson ran on the platform of being an </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">“outsider to the political machine." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">He didn't win.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> This isn’t Soviet Era Berlin. Malibu residents drift from one side of the debate to the other depending on current issues. People on both sides remain neighbors who come together during emergencies, no matter how much they oppose each other’s politics or how nasty the rhetoric becomes at times. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Both sides are in favor of public safety and good schools, clean water, and mom and apple pie. When the energy lobby pushed for a massive liquefied natural gas facility off the coast Malibu both sides worked together to defeat it. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">However, while the so-called Machine side and their opponents may agree on many things and work together to achieve common goals, development remains an unreconcilable divide.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here's another headline from Malibu's Measure Y election in 1990 that could just as easily be a news story in the 2016 city council election. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Malibu preservationists have always been a loose-knit alliance rather than an organized force. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps the closest the preservation side has ever come to being a well-oiled machine was during the fight for Measure R, when everyone banded together to take on powerful developers proposing a 38,425-square-foot shopping center on the corner of Civic Center Way and Cross Creek Road.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Development pressure was the reason Malibu residents sought independence from a county government that was actively promoting a population of 120,000 by 1980. Local activists have fought an unending series of battles against freeways, marinas, high rises, sewers, subdivisions, shopping centers and that infamous nuclear power plant.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Malibu residents battled dozens of ill-conceived and poorly thought out development projects like this freeway, which would have flattened Malibu Canyon and wrapped the Civic Center area in a serpentine tangle of concrete.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It’s unlikely that even the most ambitious developer retains any delusions about the level of development once envisioned, but Malibu has some of the most valuable real estate on the planet and development pressure is a constant. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The pro-development faction still views undeveloped land as raw material that should be shaped into a new vision, but instead of the high rise hotels and yacht marines that were promoted in the 20th century, they envision a sort of Beverly Hills by the Sea, where high end shopping and bijou apartments and hotels are a destination. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The spectre of nearly two million square feet of new development in and around the Civic Center area was a rallying cry during the Measure R fight and is expected to be a major campaign issue this November.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia";">The theory put forward by the pro-develpment side is that taxes from these developments are needed to fund community improvements like ball fields, public art, and landscaping along Pacific Coast Highway. The majority on the city council has often embraced this approach.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia";"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia";">Things fall apart when the developers, flexible invertebrates that they are, manage to wiggle out through loopholes, <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_0243e216-02b2-5d6b-b688-33722629559b.html">like that time in 2009 when the city council approved a 16-year, $1.5 million, interest-free rent deferral for the developers of the Lumber Yard Shopping Center.</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When they can't exploit existing loopholes, developers invariable attempt to create their own by bending the rules set out in the Malibu General Plan. They do this by seeking variances in exchange for elements they hope the city will find appealing, even when the proposal conflicts directly with Malibu’s general plan and mission statement. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The infamous <a href="http://themalibupost.blogspot.com/2015/09/monopolizing-malibu.html">22,000 square feet</a> (slightly more than half an acre, and double the amount of actual "Park") of "vertical landscaping” a.k.a. walls covered with potted plants, approved in lieu of open space requirements for the “Whole Foods in the Park” shopping center development is a recent example. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A ten-year-old agreement with the owners of the La Paz property next door to the Whole Foods mall that would permit a 30 percent increase in development density in exchange for setting aside an inconveniently out of the way and partially unusable two-acre portion of the property for a city hall or wastewater treatment facility that Malibu no longer needs is another example.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The preservation side of the spectrum embraces the city’s mission statement as Malibu’s Declaration of Independence. Activists on this side of the divide are not interested in shopping destinations, do not care if PCH is landscaped as long as traffic is moving, and would prefer that all development fall within the existing guidelines. They counter what they view as over-the-top projects with appeals to the Coastal Commission, litigation, and when all else fails, ballot initiatives.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">When the current city council approved five mega mansions on the blufftop next to Malibu Bluffs Park in exchange for the donation of a 1.75-acre parcel to expand the city’s active recreation facilities and parking, activists protested in front of the Coastal Commission and succeeded in getting changes to the height and orientation of the buildings to reduce the visual impact, things the city could and should have done to ensure maximum mitigation for the environmental impacts of the project.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />When the city approved a plan to bulldoze the heritage sycamore on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Cross Creek Road to facilitate the La Paz shopping center development mentioned above, preservationists rallied, unwilling to accept the project planner's assertion that chopping down the tree would provide views of “the clear blue sky.” The tree was saved. It turned out that nobody—</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">not even the developer—</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">really thought removing the tree was a good idea, except for that city planner. One criticism repeatedly leveled at Malibu's government is a lack of adequate communication and transparency. If there is in fact a machine it sometimes appears to operate on autopilot.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In 2003, the city council negotiated and endorsed Measure M, a ballot initiative that would have authorized 600,000 square feet of new development on 12 Malibu Bay Company properties scattered throughout Malibu, including a 40-unit housing development next to Malibu Lagoon State Park. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The development agreement allowed the Bay Company a 20-year approval period and the projects would have been exempt from many key aspects of Malibu’s zoning code, allowing for non-conforming development projects all the way through 2022.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">In exchange for all those entitlements, the Bay Company agreed to build a 5000-square-foot community center at Point Dume and offered the city a limited option to buy what is now Legacy Park for $25 million. If the city didn’t raise the funds within two years, the Bay Company would have been entitled to build 155,000 square feet of development on the property.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">When Measure M was proposed in 2003, it was presented as the only way for the city to ever acquire the land that is now Legacy Park. Because the issue went to a referendum, the voters had an opportunity to call the developer's bluff. In 2006, the owner agreed to sell the property to the city without Measure M's smörgåsbord of development bonuses attached. A different city council cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the park in 2010, just seven years after the Malibu Bay Company issued the ultimatum that Malibu would never get the property unless the community agreed to Measure M. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #323333; font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-size: large;">Malibu architect Lester Tobias <a href="http://archinect.com/blog/article/78067877/on-being-a-malibu-architect-the-malibu-bay-co-measure-m">in a July 27, 2013 blog post</a>, recalled that:<br /><br /> <i>“A large-scale model was constructed and put on public display. During one presentation an environmental activist ran up and dumped a bucket of mud on the model. It proved, at the time, that Malibu was not ready to entertain such a large project... </i></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #323333; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: large;"><i>And it probably still isn’t.” </i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The city council unanimously approved the Measure M initiative. Their planning commission opposed it. One of the planning commission’s main concerns was “the inadequacy of the traffic planning,” according to a</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;"> November 3, 2003 Los Angeles Times article by Martha Groves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“The commissioners objected to that plan as allowing more development than Malibu could support,” Groves wrote. “Opponents say the conditions and alternatives make Measure M too iffy a proposition.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure. A few years later, the City of Malibu was able to purchase the entire property that is now Legacy Park without the development agreement. The 40-unit subdivision site next to the lagoon that would have been facilitated by the Measure M deal has also been retired from development. It will be transferred to State Parks after the owner's death. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: start;"><br />More than a decade after the Measure M debate, traffic issues continue to be a major concern in the Civic Center area. The city addressed this concern during the Measure R debate with a traffic study that found </span><a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/news/article_18372164-2aa1-11e5-94df-f7fad02bace6.html" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: start;">“no increase in traffic in the past 20 years.”</a> A finding that elicits incredulity, in light of the fact that an estimated 15 million people visited Malibu last year.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The current council continues the tradition of variances for big developers. Four of the five council members opposed Measure R, the grassroots voter initiative that limits chain stores and empowers Malibu voters to weigh in on development projects over 2o,000 square feet. The only council voice in support of the measure was Skylar Peak. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><a href="http://jayluchs.com/sites/default/files/malibu_village_flyer.pdf">This ad</a> for the vacant 4500-square-foot space previously occupied by the now defunct Banana Republic store boasts "this affluent community attracts over 15 million visitors annually for its spectacular natural beauty."</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Malibu residents passed Measure R by nearly 60 percent. When development interests challenged the law in court, the city council reluctantly agreed to enter into the appeal process only after Malibu residents raised $50,000 to fund their own appeal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A quick look at the eight Malibu mayors who opposed Measure R and the four who supported it offers a primer on who falls where in the Malibu political spectrum:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sharon Barovsky, Joan House, Jeff Jennings, Andy Stern, John Sibert, Lou LaMonte, Laura Rosenthal and Ken Kearsley actively opposed Measure R. Most of these names were also at the top of the Yes on M list a decade earlier. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">These five former mayors are regarded by conspiracy theorists as the core of the Malibu Machine with Sharon Barovsky as a kind of queen bee. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Accusations of a shadowy machine were already being made during the second city council election, just two years after Malibu incorporation, long before Barovsky stepped in to finish her late husband Harry Barovsky's term in office in 2000. This group, however, was the driving force behind the Measure M development agreement, defeated by a landslide in 2003, and among the most outspoken opponents of Measure R. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; line-height: normal;">Measure R's supporters included Malibu’s first mayor Walt Keller, as well as former Mayor Jefferson Wagner and current councilmember Skylar Peak. Wagner and Peak are running for second terms on the city council on a slate with first-time candidate and Measure R activist Rick Mullen.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />There was just one debate on Measure R. Bowing to pressure from the developer, the city agreed to limit tickets to the city hall event and to segregate the audience: blue tickets were assigned to Measure R's opponents, green tickets to R's supporters. Each side was expected to enter and exit through their own side of the door. There was no middle ground for agnostics. The organizers tried to corral the media into a special corner in back, which didn't go over well. They might have done better putting the elected officials in the corner reserved for media, because four of the five city council members and a number of their friends and supporters sat in the front row on the No on R side, a seating arrangement that may have been based on voting preference but was something of a public relations fiasco.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">2016 city council candidates Rick Mullen and Jefferson Wagner were sitting in the Yes on R side right in front of the photographer. Denise Peak, Skylar Peak</span>’<span style="font-size: small;">s mother and a longtime conservation activist in her own right, is in the photo, too. The Yes on R side of the room was made up entirely of</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">friends and neighbors.</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> The No on R side? Mostly politicians, developers and consultants.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">On Oct. 1, 2014, Arnold York, the publisher of the Malibu Times, <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/opinion/article_e4507a9c-49a7-11e4-add4-234540b7bf2f.html">had this response</a> to the letter from eight mayors urging a no vote on R: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>There is a letter in this week’s Malibu Times from eight past mayors urging a “no” vote on Measure R. The hard reality is that there is a significant segment of the Malibu population that doesn’t trust the council to fix things. To a degree, this development problem — both actual and potential — got away from all eight of them and the current council is going to have to show they can improve the situation, assuming of course the proposition fails. The eight ex-mayors are all sensible, competent people, but they grossly underestimated the impacts of the Civic Center development. I must confess, so did I. It sort of crept up on all of us and if they get the opportunity again to fix it, they need to act, and act with more urgency than they have in the past. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>No matter what the results of the Measure R election, if the present council doesn’t deal with the Civic Center development problems in a way that satisfies more of Malibu, I suspect in 2016 a much more radical council could get voted into office. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Perhaps it is not surprising that the candidate who has deep ties to those eight anti-R mayors was also an outspoken Measure R opponent. Laureen Sills <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/opinion/article_ebcd8c24-5a23-11e4-9148-fb163ad880d7.html">stated in a 2014 letter to the editor of the Malibu Times</a> that:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"> “Our voices will never be heard if Measure R passes.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">She also called the measure’s supporters the “Always Angry Rouge [sic] Group,” who “have never won an election.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Well, </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">avast ye mateys, Malibu’s rogue group (we’ll assume she meant “Rogue,” as in Captain Jack Sparrow, or Han Solo, as opposed to rouge as in red) won a stunning victory, with 59 percent of Malibu voters approving the measure. Malibu voters also united to defeat Measure W, Steve Soboroff, the "Whole Foods in the Park" </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">developer who is also the mastermind behind the massive multi-billion dollar Playa Vista development once </span><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/21/business/la-fi-soboroff-20100421" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">described by the L.A. Times</span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">as "one of the most rancorous development deals in modern Los Angeles history,"</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">sought voter approval for his mall as required by Measure R. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />If Malibu residents are shouting, perhaps it is because they feel they that their voices are not being heard. Nearly 60 percent of Malibu voters supported Measure R and opposed Measure W.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The "Whole Foods in the Park" developer, with the help of the Malibu Bay Company—perhaps still smarting from Measure M—promptly sued. The case is working its way through the appeals process, but Measure R is currently in effect. </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">If the new council supports the ideals of voter-approved Measure R they will be, in the words of preservation activist Peter Jones, an insurance policy should the higher court reject the Measure R appeal. That's because the council has always had the authority to implement the core principles of Measure R. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes the whole machine vs preservationist battle deteriorates into a kind of slapstick farce, like that time city employees were ordered to remove 70 Yes on R signs from in front of houses all over Malibu.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">“Last week I did order city crews to pick up signs within the public right-of-way, as we have done in prior elections,” former City Manager Jim Thorsen said, after the disappearance was traced to the city. “Historically our road crews have not picked up signs in front of homes, even where they are on public land or right-of-way, generally because those parkways are often treated just like private property. However, an honest mistake occurred with the signs, and for that I do apologize to our citizens.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">When the curtain is pulled aside in <i>The Wizard of Oz</i>, the Great and Powerful Wizard is revealed to be a humbug rather than a mage but he's also an essentially decent human being, even if he hasn't used the power he has wisely. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Image from </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Wizard of Oz</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> @ 1939, Universal Studios</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">With two old guard council members termed out leaving two empty seats, and a dedicated preservation incumbent running for re-election, the preservation side of the power struggle is hoping that the balance will change this November. However, for a change to take place, the preservationists needs to elect </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;">three candidates, otherwise the status quo remains the same. </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">And anyone doubting the pro-development slant of Malibu City Hall has only to look at the speakers panel at the recent Malibu Times-sponsored forum for potential city council candidates. <a href="http://www.malibutimes.com/opinion/article_f8ae3c94-49a8-11e4-956c-bf2f42840d34.htmlbut">K-Bu journalist Sam Hall Kaplan </a>described it as: "</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">weighted with pro development panelists." </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Critics of the current Malibu political climate point to what they describe as the endless cycle of council members appointing commissioners, commissioners running for council with the former council members' blessing, and newly elected council members appointing former council members to commissions and committees, a Malibu version of the self-satisfied medieval Worm Ouroborus, above. Image: Wikipedia</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The council elected in November will decide the fate of Bluffs Park Open Space and the newly acquired Trancas Fields Park. They will have the power to pass or deny the rodenticide ban and Malibu’s long delayed dark skies ordinance, and they will determine the ultimate fate of the Civic Center area, where the new sewage treatment plant is under construction and development interests are already pushing for new zoning that will permit higher density projects. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">In the words of late Coastal Commission executive director and eco warrior Peter Douglas: </span><span style="background-color: #fbfbfb;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“The coast is never saved. It’s always being saved.”</span></span><span style="background-color: #fbfbfb; font-family: "pt serif" , "times" , sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />It may look peaceful, but the Malibu Civic Center area, once the flood plain for Malibu Creek, is ground zero in a development fight that has spanned more than 50 years and will continue to be the main battleground as the sewer project opens the flood gates for a new wave of development. Photo @ 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">A study was released this week that finds developers have destroyed one tenth of the Earth’s wilderness in the past 20 years. That’s a catastrophic loss for everyone and everything. And in its own small way, Malibu is on the front line of that battleground. This 27-mile-long stretch of coast and mountains is <a href="https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/nature/mediterraneanecosystem.htm">a recognized area of special biological significance</a>—a biodiversity holy grail that is one of just five Mediterranean ecosystems on earth. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This is what people dream of seeing when they come to Malibu, not this:</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Every developer who lies and cheats and wheedles their way around Malibu’s environmental protections, and every Malibu city planner and city council member who is complacent or who voluntarily trades away open space in variances for things like "vertical landscaping" is complicit in a crime against the earth and against the future.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "georgia";"><span style="font-size: large;">Bad development deals, alas, appear to be part of human nature going all the way back to poor old Esau who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage and ended up with nothing but an empty bowl. That doesn't mean they are inevitable.</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: large;"> The November 8 election offers Malibu residents an opportunity to change the future. We just need to choose wisely.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Malibu is worth fighting for, no matter what the odds are or how many battles are lost or won. Photo @ 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<br />Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-14325559874268717072016-08-06T17:24:00.000-07:002016-08-07T00:21:06.677-07:00Gargantuan Gastropods<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3uSWW05aoFc/V6ZYsMXUEMI/AAAAAAAAGJI/kcuV6PfevHIIvnVThoemEIFhnomCiA7gQCLcB/s1600/giant_gastropod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3uSWW05aoFc/V6ZYsMXUEMI/AAAAAAAAGJI/kcuV6PfevHIIvnVThoemEIFhnomCiA7gQCLcB/s640/giant_gastropod.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(127, 127, 127); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><br />All summer long, the tabloids and gossip columns are full of Malibu celebrity sightings, but here's a really big celebrity (or possibly a sea-lebrity) that's been overlooked: </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(127, 127, 127); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><i>Aplysia vaccaria</i>, the California black sea hare, a mild-mannered sea slug that has the distinction of being the world's largest gastropod. Eat your heart out, Orlando Bloom. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © 2016 S. Guldimann.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Were you aware, dear reader, that the Malibu coast is currently playing host to large numbers of the world’s largest gastropod? While that sounds alarming like the plot of a 1950s B movie, this celebrity among slugs is a peaceful vegetarian, despite a passing resemblance to that movie monster favorite, The Blob.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Although it bears a distinct resemblance to Hollywood's favorite invertebrate horror, </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>A. vaccaria</i> is mostly harmless. Image: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blob#/media/File:The_Blob_poster.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">While the California brown sea hare, <i>Aplysia Californica</i>, is a regular tidepool resident in Malibu, this year, its much larger relative, <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(127, 127, 127);"><i>Aplysia vaccaria—</i></span>the black sea hare—is turning up in large numbers. No one at the Malibu Post can remember seeing more than one or two black sea hares. It's unclear if the vast number showing up this year is related to the unusually warm water or if other factors are in play.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Brown sea hares are smaller and usually a lighter color than their giant relative. Both species graze on kelp, which they chew up with a rasp-like tongue called a radula. Sea hares get their name from their rabbit ear-like appendages—actually scent organs called rhinophores.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Brown sea hares can grow to be impressively large for a slug, often measuring more than 15 inches from nose to tail. <i>A. vaccaria</i>, however, can grow to be more than three feet long and weigh as much as 30 pounds. That’s one big slug. The largest specimens rarely turn up in the intertidal zone, but this year’s Malibu crop of <i>A. vaccaria</i> is still impressive, resembling a football in size and shape.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This unfortunate slug was left high and dry by the receding tide. However, sea slugs have adapted to the extreme conditions of the intertidal zone and can survive several hours out of water even in bright sunlight during low tide. The holes in the rock near this slug's head measure about an inch across, giving an idea of the creature's size.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Sea hare eggs look exactly like noodles, but probably would not be pleasant to eat. Both California species contain toxins from their algae diet that make them inedible to almost everything except lobsters—the garbage crew of the sea—and green anemones, which appear to be immune. There's a type of Australian sea hare that is so toxic that dogs have died after coming into contact with it. California sea hare species are much less potent, but it's a good idea not to handle them and to keep dogs away from them. Brown sea hares can release a purple dye that is a skin irritant. Black sea hares appear to depend on their terrible toxic taste for defense.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Sea hares are usually observed grazing on seaweed in tidepools during low tide, like this California brown sea hare, or waiting for the tide to rise while stranded, blob-like, on the beach, but they can also "fly" through the water with their wing-like parapodia—literally "foot wings."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">There's actually a third giant gastropod on the loose in Malibu: the giant limpet, which is really another type of sea snail and not a true limpet at all. This species, <i>Megathura crenulata</i>, is the only known member of its genus, making it a monotypic genus. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>M. crenulata </i>can grow to be nearly a foot in length. It may not be much to look at, but compounds in the blood of this primitive snail apparently hold promise as a cancer treatment. According to </span><a href="http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jir/2011/614383/" style="text-align: justify;">a 2011 article in the Journal of Immunology Research</a><span style="text-align: justify;">, "Keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) appears to be a promising protein carrier for tumor antigens in numerous cancer vaccine candidates." </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">After a sort of gastropod goldrush in the early 2000s that ran the risk of pushing this rare animal to the edge of extinction, <i>M. crenulata</i> is now being raised via aquaculture techniques.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Megathura crenulata</i>, the only known member of its genus, lives only off the coast of California. The blood of this primitive snail species has become a key ingredient in vaccine research, but the burgeoning demand for the giant limpet blood could push this poorly understood and </span><span style="font-size: small;">increasingly rare </span><span style="font-size: small;">species to extinction. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Here's a side view of <i>M. </i><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>crenulata</i>, suggesting a very old person shuffling along under a large umbrella, and revealing the creature's true snail nature. Sea hares also have a shell, but it is internal and vestigial.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Sea hares are also important for medical research. <a href="http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/california_brown_sea_hare">According to the Aquarium of the Pacific's sea hare page</a>, the California brown sea hare may not have a lot of brain wattage, but it has "the largest neurons in the animal kingdom, making it possible to identify individual nerve cells that are responsible for specific behaviors. They have been and are being used extensively in studying memory, behavior, and learning."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Humans may not find sea hares or giant limpets lovely to behold, but there's more to Malibu's giant gastropods than meets the eye. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">A football-sized specimen of<i> A. vaccaria</i></span></span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: start;"> </i></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">waits for the incoming tide on the beach at Little Dume.</span></span></span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-24425906416647291242016-08-02T13:10:00.001-07:002016-08-02T13:10:56.816-07:00Living with Lizards<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">One of The Malibu Post's resident Western fence lizards consents to pose for a portrait. Unless otherwise noted, all photos are © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It was dusk and the faint glow of a smartphone screen illuminated the face of a small girl intent on capturing an imaginary animal in the street in front of The Malibu Post. The girl's father, hovering nearby, called instructions: "Wait until there's a green circle, that's it!" The Pokemon was successfully captured and the pair moved on. I felt a certain kindred feeling. I've spent the last several months attempting to track down a full collection of creatures, too, but while my hunt was for real world creatures, several proved every bit as elusive as any legendary beast.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Anyone who lives within the boundaries of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area has lizards among their nearest neighbors. They sun on the rocks in the garden, or zip across the driveway. Sometimes they show up uninvited in the house where they may end up mummified under the couch or on the cats' menu, but mostly the reptile world and the human world occupy the same space largely unnoticed by the inhabitants of each world. That's unfortunate, since human activity can inadvertently take a terrible toll on lizards, and because lizards are beneficial and interesting and worth a closer look. However, just because they often live among us doesn't mean they're easy to find.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Western fence lizard is the most common reptile in Malibu. It is quite happy to take advantage of garden features like rocks and fences. Those fantastically long toes and claws on the hind feet enable the fence lizard to almost effortlessly climb vertical surfaces like tree trunks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Seven lizard species can be found in the Santa Monica Mountains. Four of those species can be found even in urban gardens, but the Western fence lizard is far and away the most commonly seen reptile. This small cousin of the iguana lives alongside humans, successfully surviving in even the smallest gardens and yards, but also abundant in the wild. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fence lizards are beneficial garden residents. They feast on creatures humans regard as pests, including mosquitos, ticks, scorpions, centipedes, beetles and spiders. Fence lizards are, in turn, a key food source for everything from hawks and roadrunners, to gopher snakes and larger lizards. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The Western fence lizard's Latin name,<i> Sceloporus occidentalis</i>, let's you know that this is the Western spiny lizard. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Up close, the fence lizard's back scales resemble a pinecone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Fence lizards that don't end up on the menu of some larger animal can reportedly live for as much as five or six years. </span><div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The metallic blue stripes on the fence lizard's underside give this species its other popular name: the blue-belly. This is an adult male. Females have much fainter markings.<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some Malibu gardens are also home to another iguana relative, the side-blotched lizard, </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Uta stansburiana</i>. This small elegant lizard comes in a surprisingly wide range of colors and may have spots, stripes or, sometimes, no markings at all. </span><div class="page" title="Page 1">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Some Malibu residents have this beautiful lizard in their gardens. At first glance, the side-blotched lizard closely resembles the fence lizard, but this species has brighter, lighter markings and a scale pattern that is much less spikey than the fence lizard's.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Visitors to Point Dume State Park or Malibu Bluffs Park Open Space are almost guaranteed to see the colorful side-blotched lizard going about its business of hunting ants and other small invertebrates. Like the fence lizard, they are an important food item for numerous other species of birds, reptiles, and mammals. Unlike the fence lizard, they are not strong climbers and prefer to stay close to the ground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The side-blotched lizard's scales resemble a George Seurat painting. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Fence lizards and side-blotched lizards are active, lively lizards. They dart around the garden in pursuit of insects, sun themselves on rocks, squabble with their neighbors, and often lounge in the middle of the driveway. However, there's a third common Malibu lizard species that many Malibu residents have never seen, although it also lives in our gardens. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The Western skink, </span><span style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Eumeces skiltonianus,</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> is a sleek, secretive lizard that stays close to the ground, hiding under rocks and dead leaves, and even tunneling underground when the soil is moist.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">We rescued this unfortunate Western skink from the cat, who apparently heard me lamenting that I needed a good photo of a skink and decided to present me with one—quite a feat for an indoor-only cat. This little guy clearly had another recent close call, its tail has detached and is just beginning to grow back. Juvenile western skinks have a bright blue tail. Adults like this one are a sedate cinnamon color.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Western skink has a taste for sow bugs and moths. Possibly because of its secretive ways, it is longer lived than other local species, reportedly surviving for as much as 10 years when conditions are right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The fourth common garden lizard is the fierce and robust Southern alligator lizard. Alligator lizards are not closely related to true alligators, but apparently no one bothered to explain that to them. They are fierce, grumpy and aggressive. They swallow other lizards whole, devour mice and small birds and have a remarkably painful bite for something that doesn't have teeth.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This is the undisputed Malibu lizard king, the alligator lizard. I photographed this nearly foot-long behemoth at Malibu Bluffs Park. The alligator lizard gets its name from its gator-like looks, but it isn't a close relative of its namesake. This is, however, a fierce and voracious beastie, that will swallow smaller lizards whole, and has been known to go after birds, rodents, and people's toes. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This juvenile alligator lizard strayed into the bathroom and had to be rescued before it became a cat treat. Juvies are smooth and bronze-colored, and lack the distinctive scale pattern of the adults. Here at The Post we find best way to rescue a lizard from the house is to herd it into a bucket or wastepaper basket, cover the container with a newspaper or book, and cart lizard and container to a safe place for release back into the garden. Many lizard species are territorial, so it's a good idea not to take them too far from their point of entry into the house. Screen doors can help cut down on the number of uninvited reptilian houseguests.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Our fifth native lizard may also be at home in the garden, but it is almost never seen, and when it is it gets mistaken for either a small snake or a large earthworm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The legless lizard, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Anniella pulchra,</i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">spends its life almost entirely underground, tunneling through sandy soil for grubs and worms. We've never seen one here at the Malibu Post, but a new subspecies turned up recently near a runway at LAX, of all places, so it iss a distinct possibility that this small secretive lizard is quietly living its life just a few feet away from where I sit writing this post.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Here's a photo of </span><i style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A. pulchra</span></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> courtesy of <a href="ofhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anniella_pulchra#/media/File:Anniella_pulchra.jpg">Wikipedia Commons</a>. Although it looks like a snake, it is a true lizard, equipped with a detachable tail-tip to fool predators into thinking they've caught the whole animal. It also has eyelids and can blink, something snakes can't do.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mystery marks in the sandy soil at the Point Dume Headlands may indicate the presence of legless lizards, but this observer has never seen one at work.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Here's a closer look at <i>A. Pulchra</i>. This photo was taken by M<span class="mw-mmv-author" style="color: #555555; line-height: 24.48000144958496px; text-align: start;"><a class="external text" href="http://www.flickr.com/people/28867468@N08" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;">arlin Harms</a> in Los Osos, CA, and appears on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anniella_pulchra#/media/File:Anniella_pulchra1.jpg">Wikipedia</a>.</span><span class="mw-mmv-source" style="color: #555555; line-height: 24.48000144958496px; text-align: start;"></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The remaining two local lizard species are, unfortunately, increasingly rare. The coastal whiptail was already rare when I was a child, but there was a time when this colorful lizard was abundant throughout the area.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Frederick Hastings Rindge, who purchased the entire Malibu Rancho in 1892, had this to say about the coastal whiptail lizard in his 1898 book <i>Happy Days in Southern California</i>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>The long pipe-stem lizards sunned themselves near by, but they are not very harmful; they are so called because, if struck by a stick, their tails fly into as many pieces as a pipe stem when broken on the pavement. The common little lizards are harmless, sometimes being even used for pets. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>I do not like to recall the remembrance of a lady in Saint Augustine, Florida, I once knew, who had such a creature for a pet, feeding it regularly and taking it in her hand. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>A Californian I have known who would catch them, put them on his shoulder, and let them run at will over his back. These things are told to ward off fears of poison. The big pipe-stem fellows, however, I will not vouch for.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We wouldn't vouch for them either, because this lizard has some formidable claws. There are two Southern California whiptail species. Ours is </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i style="text-align: -webkit-center;">Aspidoscelis tigris </i><i style="text-align: -webkit-center;">stejnegeri, </i><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">the tiger whiptail. There's also an orange-necked whiptail, that lives in San Diego County.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">We had to go into the back country of the Santa Monica Mountains to find this beautiful beast. The coast whiptail was once common in Malibu. Frederick Hastings Rindge talks about this species in <i>Happy Days in Southern California</i>. Habitat loss in Malibu has left it on the California species of special concern list for this area. The whiptail is a medium-sized lizard with powerful legs that enable it to move fast. It also has formidable claws, and despite the dramatic yellow and black markings it has mastered the art of not being seen.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Can you spot the lizard? Finding lizards can be like a cross between Pokemon Go and Where's Waldo. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We had to go on an expedition to the back country to find whiptails for this article.</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This species is a California Species of Special Concern, and can only be found in a few locations in the Santa Monica Mountains.</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It was May, and we witnessed a strange and wonderful thing, the mating dance of the whiptail, which involved a sort of fencing match, followed by Sumo wrestling. By now, the eggs will have hatched, and a new generation of whiptails will be embarking on the dangerous life of the lizard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">We never expected to find a legless lizard for this article, but I had high hopes for finding the seventh species, the coast horned lizard,<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span><em style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Phrynosoma blainvillii, </span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">also known as Blainville's horned lizard.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">When I was a child, horned lizards were common in Malibu. I vividly remember the first one I ever saw. It was at the Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park. My friend's mother called us over to see it just outside the door of their Airstream. I was four years old, and enchanted. It looked exactly like one of the plastic dinosaurs I played with at home.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The Malibu Post never succeeded in tracking down a horned lizard for this article, but here's a wonderful image of the dinosaur-like Blainsville's horned lizard. Photo: <span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/nature/hornedlizard.htm">USGS/Chris Brown</a></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The horned lizard remained a personal favorite, but even so, I couldn't tell you when it began to disappear. Habitat loss and the mass invasion of the tiny Argentine ant, which displaced the native ants this lizard feeds on, are to blame for this this species ending up on the California Species of Special Concern list.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">That's why it's ironic to me that after months of hunting for the once plentiful horned lizard to photograph for this blog post, I finally spotted one at Malibu Bluffs Park Open Space, right where the City of Malibu is planning to build new baseball diamonds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The encounter left me with the uncomfortable feeling that the day may be coming all too soon when this species will be joining the dinosaurs that it resembles, and that Malibu, in an effort to provide recreational facilities for the community, will be unintentionally hastening its demise.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Pokemon Go has taken the country by storm. A player in New York made headlines last month for reportedly "collecting them all." It's great that the game is getting people out of doors, but here at the Malibu Post we could wish that our own real live amazing creatures are as valued and appreciated as the imaginary ones currently so highly prized.</span><br />
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-76295617777391018662016-07-03T12:58:00.001-07:002016-07-03T12:58:51.037-07:00Madeleine Ruthven: Poet of the Mountains<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />More than 70 years ago, poet Madeleine Ruthven captured the spirit of the western Santa Monica Mountains in her poetry. Thanks to conservation efforts, that landscape has remained largely unchanged and still inspires with its rugged beauty.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In 1934, Hollywood screenwriter and poet Madeleine Ruthven wrote a slender pamphlet of poems titled <i>Sondelius Came to the Mountains</i>. In it she captured the austerely beautiful back country of the western Santa Monica Mountains and painted a vivid portrait of some of the area’s early 20th century pioneers. Today, the book provides a tantalizing glimpse into an otherwise mostly forgotten past.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A portrait of Madeleine Ruthven by legendary photographer Edward Weston. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I first encountered Madeleine Ruthven in author Lawrence Clark Powell’s essay on living in Malibu called <i>Ocean in View</i>. Powell stated that her poems describing the beauty and wildness of the western Santa Monica Mountains were one of the inspirations that brought him to Malibu. It would be years before I tracked down her poetry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">While I was researching a feature article on Ruthven and her poetry for Anne Soble’s Malibu Surfside News in 2010, I found that </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Ruthven was a pioneer woman screenwriter, a celebrated poet, a Los Angeles intellectual in the early days of Hollywood, a progressive activist, and a victim of the relentless communist witch hunt of the McCarthy era. </span><span style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: large;">I was fascinated and continued to hunt for details, but they were frustratingly scarce. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A poster for the 1934 film <i>Shock, </i>written by Ruthven. Image: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025782/mediaviewer/rm3596230144">IMDB</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I found that Madeleine Bunch</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> Ruthven was born in Iowa in 1894. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">In 1920, the US Census lists Madeleine, 26, living in Houston, Texas with husband Sam D. Ruthven, 35, born in Louisiana, and Ormond B. Ruthven, son, aged 10. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Sometime during the 1920s, Ruthven moved to Hollywood. She wrote title cards for silent movies, story treatments and screenplays for 16 film projects.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A studio still from the 1927 film <i>Riders of the Dark</i>, directed and written by W.S. Van Dyke, known as One-Take Willy. Ruthven wrote the title cards for this film. Image: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019322/mediaviewer/rm4186382080">IMDB</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the late ’20s, she wrote several westerns, including <i>The Frontiersman. </i>Unfortunately, this film like so many from the silent era, is lost. She also has credits for writing title cards, an essential part of the silent era storytelling process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A still of actress Claire Windsor sharing a pensive moment with her horse from the MGM film The Frontiersman. A handful of studio stills are all that is left of this 1927 silent western. Ruthven shares a story credit for this film with Ross Willis. The film was directed by the prolific Canadian-born filmmaker Reginald Barker. Image: MGM Studios</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Ruthven published two collections of poetry during the 1930s. Most of the poems first appeared in Rob Wagner's <i>Script, </i>a weekly literary and film magazine that Ruthven contributed to regularly. However, t</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">here is little record of her as poet or film writer in the papers of the time. Just a party in 1937 honoring English poet and novelist Ralph Bates, where she rubbed shoulders with celebrated writer William Saroyan</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> and a glowing review of her first collection of poems, <i>Summer Denial</i>, published in 1932, written by journalist and activist Reuben Borough, whom she would later marry. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Summer Denial</i> is a bleak but compelling collection of poems. There's just one note of levity, and that's a malediction entitled "To a Victorious Rival":<br /><br /><i>Daughter of a limpet,<br />Sister of a leech,<br />Triumphant as a fungus<br />On a blasted peach,<br />To you the palm of victory,<br />Crown of laurel, too!<br />(They tell me laurel's poison,<br />And I hope to God it's true!) </i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the 1940 US Census, Ruthven is divorced and sharing a residence in Beverly Hills with artist and studio architectural researcher Herta Uerkvitz. Both women were </span><span style="font-size: large;">blacklisted by the House Un-American activities committee in the McCarthy era. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Herta was an artist, poet and an architectural studio researcher. Like Madeleine, she was blacklisted. Herta </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">appeared before the House Un-American committee on September 20, 1951. She took the 5th, rather than incriminate herself. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">According to Robert Vaughn, in his book </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); font-size: large;"><i>Only Victims: A Study of Show Business Blacklisting</i>, </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-size: large;">Ruthven was denounced by </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">"Mrs Meta Reis Rosenberg, former head of the literary department of Berg-Allenberg," who "introduced into the ‘Red’ record Ruthven 'ex-writer and CP Functionary in Hollywood and its environs.'" </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />By the 1930s, Ruthven had switched from writing Westerns to police dramas. This 1936 thriller was directed by Charles Barton. Image: Wikipedia</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The 1936 film <i>The Accusing Finger</i>, a detective story about a man wrongly accused of murder, is Ruthven's last film credit. The title seems perversely appropriate in light of the ordeal the writer would face during the McCarthy Era. Image: IMDB.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Unlike many victims of the Hollywood witchhunt, Ruthven appears to really have been a member of the Communist Party. She was also a member of the Women's Shopping League, a socialist organization that promoted consumer and worker safety and opposed war profiteering. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ruthven may never have worked in Hollywood again as a writer, but being on the black list didn't prevent her from continuing to work as a political and social justice activist.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">She married journalist and fellow progressive activist Reuben Borough in the 1950s, after the death of Borough's first wife. Borough set several of Madeleine's poems to music, according to documents held by UCLA, but no additional collections of poetry appear to have ever been published. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Madeleine Ruthven with Reuben Borough (left) and a mystery man during Borough's unsuccessful 1946 campaign for Congress. The couple married some years after the death of Borough's first wife. Borough died in 1970, Ruthven in 1978. Image: <a href="http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll102/id/1089">USC</a> Digital Library.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(50, 51, 51); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-size: large;">There's no record that I could find of when Ruthven visited Malibu. She must have come often in the early years when the newly constructed Roosevelt Highway first opened the area to visitors and adventurers. The finding aid for the Borough's collection lists letters from her that contain pressed flowers. There may be wealth of information on the Santa Monica Mountains within those boxes. She certainly knew the area well and loved it.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />A large swath of the western Santa Monica Mountains remain largely unspoiled by development thanks to decades of conservation activism. This is a spring view from the Mishe Mokwa trail that leads to Sandstone Peak, the highest point in the mountains. Photo © S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Oh wild and lovely country! I am beginning to know you,” Ruthven wrote, describing the “white fire” of the yucca, the “golden tarweed, burned by the summer sun,” and canyons “veiled in a haze of mist-gray sage.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When she first explored the mountains, they were a true wilderness, roadless and remote. Malibu and the western portion of the Santa Monica Mountains were accessible to the public for the first time only in 1929, when Roosevelt Highway—today’s Pacific Coast Highway—opened.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Massive Balance Rock, a local landmark and popular hiking destination, looks just the same today as it did in Ruthven's time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ruthven celebrates a landscape of unspoiled vistas, abundant wildlife, caves that still contained Chumash pictographs, springs of water that were not only safe to drink but provided the only source of water for miles, and the rugged individuals who were the first since the Chumash to make the mountains their home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today, the backcountry attracts crowds hikers, bikers and rock climbers, but an early riser can still find the solitude that Ruthven and the settlers she described rejoiced in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">According to Ruthven, Dagon Sondelius was one who loved solitude. He once owned the ridge—600 acres of land—and lived in a cabin made of sheet metal:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <i>On the crest of Boney Mountain</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Melted glass from a wildfire glitters on a stark outcropping of stone off Yerba Buena Road. The mountains are filled with evidence of old homesteads reclaimed by fire and repopulated by nature. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">According to Ruthven, Sondelius kept goats and made a hobby of collecting bottles. He was dead by the age of 30, but his goats lived on, veterans of a fire that reduced the cabin to ashes and melted Sondelius’s collection of glass into shapes of “strange fluidity.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No trace remains now of cabin, but the view still spreads out at one's feet. On a clear day, one can see a panorama of mountains—the San Gabriels, the Topa Topas, and the Channel Islands—the farthest reach the Santa Monica Mountains—with the Pacific stretching away to the horizon.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />I like to think this might have been where Sondelius lived. There are the remains of a cabin at this site, and just as it did then, "the world spreads out like a map below."</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Other Boney Ridge characters described by Ruthven include Mary La Touche, an Irish woman who came west from Kansas with her husband to homestead in Big Sycamore Canyon, carrying all of her possessions and a month-old child over the rugged spine of the mountains during the heat of summer on pack mules and horses.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">La Touche loved the backcountry and kept an inland cabin on Boney Ridge. In summer, when the springs dried up, water had to be carried in by pack mule.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A large section of the backcountry described in Ruthven's poetry has been preserved as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, including Bony Ridge, Balance Rock and Echo Cliffs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">When Ruthven knew her, La Touche,“weatherbeaten and rugged as the land,” still roamed the mountains on her mule, Benny, who was:</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is a small section of the epic expanse of shear rock shown in the panorama photo. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Instead of homesteaders, shepherds and prospectors, hikers and climbers now flock to Echo Cliffs. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">One of the anecdotes presented by Ruthven is an account of La Touche, her five-year-old son Edward and fellow pioneer Walter Haines who became lost in a maze of arroyos while exploring Triunfo Canyon. They spent a cold and uncomfortable winter night on a boulder above the raging floodwaters in the creek without food or blankets. It was almost night on the following day when they finally found their way home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Haines, a refugee from the city, lived in a tin shack in a canyon “Where trees grow, and a spring trickles,/ And a gray cat purrs in the doorway. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In Ruthven's time, the residents of the area called the massive stone “face” above Trifuno Canyon “Walt’s Old Woman,” in honor of the canyon hermit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ruthven knew Edward La Touche at 15, “competent, strong, unhurried,” a “true child of the hills.” The La Touches, mother and son, arranged horses for Ruthven and guided her and other visitors through the mountains.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Luxuries like paved roads, water and electricity began to arrive in the Malibu back country in the 1930s. This last bastion of wide open spaces still appeals to individualists who enjoy solitude, dark skies and wildlife for neighbors. Self-sufficiency remains key. Emergencies like fires and rockslides are frequent and cell phone reception undependable. The roads are narrow and steep, and while mule teams have been replaced with SUVs, there are still no quick routes out of the mountains.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Ruthven’s poems appear to provide the only surviving record of the rugged mountain characters like Sondelius, the La Touches, and Walter Haines. The names may have been changed but it's clear that they were real people, members of the tough and self-sufficient homesteader community who carved out a precarious life for themselves, a sort of corner of the wild west, without roads, electricity or running water, in the early years of the 20th century.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">She also provides a description of fire in the mountains, and its after effect on the environment and the people who made the area their home.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />In her poem <i>Mountain Fire,</i> Ruthven describes a wildfire that traveled almost the same route taken by the 2013 Springs Fire. It's a pattern of destruction and regrowth that has occurred over and over. I took this photo of Boney Ridge just days after the 2013 fire. Photo © 2016 S. Guldiman</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mountain Fire</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>When we came to the crest of Boney Mountain</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>All the lower hills and the sea were hidden</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Under a cloud of fog.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Mountains and valleys and plains of cloud</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Glistening pearl in the moonlight.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>We turned to the north and east.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Sixty miles away we saw the mountains burning</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>In Santa Barbara and Ojai—</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>White plumes of smoke billowing over the ridges,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And a black wall of smoke,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Smooth and solid as basalt,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Thrust seaward into the horizon.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They have known fire in Yerba Buena, too,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They have faced fire and survived</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Stripped and scarred, but still alive,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Ready to begin anew.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Two years ago fire came here.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>It licked the thick brush from the high hills,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And filled the canyon with flame.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>It leaped from the great parapet of Boney Mountain</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And swept the slopes below.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The hill people fled before it.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They left the roads, arched with fire,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And followed the wild things</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Seeking safety in the water courses.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>The fire roared after</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And did not pause in its ravening</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Until it came to the sea's edge.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Then the folk went back to the blackened smoking hills.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They had nothing left but their courage</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And the stoic strength of the harsh land</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Under their feet.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They had no assurance</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Save the promise of the rain</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And the surety of the seasons</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>To bring life back again.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They went back—</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>They belong to the hills.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I revisited the Springs Fire in the spring of 2014. Although it was a severe drought year with little rain, the damage from the fire was already beginning to disappear, even without "the promise of rain." Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The people Ruthven described are gone, but if she</span><span style="font-size: large;"> were alive today she would find the area around Boney Ridge that she lovingly described in verse still recognizable. Her</span><span style="font-size: large;"> voice remains alive in the poetry that reveals her deep love for the Santa Monica Mountains.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>This was the summer when I came to know,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>After long years,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>My love for these brown hills,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And learned the peace</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Their stony harshness brings,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And felt their beauty singing in my blood.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Now in October, warm and dusty-hazed,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>I wait serenely for the winter rains</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>To fill the parched and stony waterways,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Knowing that Spring will follow</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>In a blaze—</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Green fire of grass,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Blue flame of lupin bloom,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>And poppies burning on the bare hillsides.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Poppies still bloom on the bare hillsides in spring. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Sondelius Came to the Mountains</i> is out of print and can be hard to find-apparently only 200 copies were printed by the Primavera Press in 1934-but the book occasionally turns up second-hand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The mountains that inspired Ruthven’s poems are still right here in Malibu’s backyard, and continue to invite exploration and reflection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="text-align: start;">Although development has engulfed the valley below and made inroads on the once remote wilderness, the peaks are preserved as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, created by an act of Congress in 1978, the year Madeleine Ruthven died, and nearly 50 years after her book celebrating the mountains was published. </span>Yerba Buena Road still invites the traveler to explore Ruthven's mountains. Photo © 2016 S. Guldimann </span></div>
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<br />Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-46802500166038635062016-05-30T11:50:00.000-07:002016-05-30T11:50:14.977-07:00Bluebirds and Happiness<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Bluebirds are a traditional sign of good fortune in several cultures, but the Bluebird of Happiness seems to originate in Belgian symbolist writer Maurice Maeterlinck's 1908 play <i>The Blue Bird. </i>And like the children in the play<i>,</i> we found happiness—and bluebirds—right in our own backyard this spring here at The Malibu Post. While its fate is still in the balance, the Western bluebird, <i>Sialia Mexicana</i></span><span style="color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><i>, </i></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">appears to be on its way to a happy ending. This beautiful bird came close to extinction in the 20th century, due to DDT, habitat loss, and competition from non-native species like the house sparrow. Bluebirds are making a recovery, thanks to passionate advocates who are providing a voice for the species and are seeking to reintroduce it to areas—like Malibu—where bluebirds have been missing for decades.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Encouraged by the presence of a bluebird family at our birdbath last year, we purchased a bluebird box this spring and installed it in a liquidamber tree. The first visitor to the box was an oak titmouse, but apparently the box didn't meet his requirements. A week later, a pair of bluebirds moved in.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Nest building commenced at once. This is the male, bringing grass and what looked like palm tree fibers into the box. Both Eastern and Western bluebirds need cavities like hollow trees to successfully nest. In the Santa Monica Mountains, they compete with wrens, tree swallows, and the oak titmouse, as well as non-native sparrows, for nesting space. The right kind of real estate can be scare. Nest boxes offer a good alternative, but they have to be the right kind of box. Wrens aren't particular—they'll nest in almost anything. But bluebirds need a tall narrow box for safety. It should have good ventilation and an entry hole that is the right size for the species. It's important to avoid the kind of bird boxes that have a built-in perch. Predators like crows and squirrels can use a perch to gain access to the nestlings. It is important to place the bird house in a safe location where cats, raccoons and rats don't have access, and also to monitor the box to make sure house sparrows don't move in before the native birds have a chance. </span></span> </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r2Sln1pLG7U/V0vR5sD7KXI/AAAAAAAAF0k/pcDoHbmtcRE0mbR5sOdCPOfYJBB7J1LSwCLcB/s1600/clinging_to_box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-r2Sln1pLG7U/V0vR5sD7KXI/AAAAAAAAF0k/pcDoHbmtcRE0mbR5sOdCPOfYJBB7J1LSwCLcB/s640/clinging_to_box.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The industrious female kept showing up with astonishing amounts of building material. Here she is with a beak full of pine needles. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here she is again, carting in a bunch of oxalis stems and a dead leaf.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CB2xg4VY054/V0vSIQTKLUI/AAAAAAAAF0s/Yqs42qNwNRIFwhwch_2IX3Bixzm2XKvDACLcB/s1600/mama_bluebird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CB2xg4VY054/V0vSIQTKLUI/AAAAAAAAF0s/Yqs42qNwNRIFwhwch_2IX3Bixzm2XKvDACLcB/s640/mama_bluebird.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Finally, the nest was finished and the business of laying eggs and incubating them begun. The bluebirds rapidly adapted to their human and canine neighbors. We often saw the female watching us from the entrance of the nest, but she never seemed to mind when we walked past. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The male brought food to his mate and kept watch from the top of the tree for potential hazards.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The neighborhood fox squirrel was the biggest threat. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">He lurked like a kind of rodent Godzilla, but never managed to break into the nest. Here's how he looked to the bluebirds. Not remotely cute and furry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our looney dog took no notice of the birds until the eggs hatched and the chicks grew big enough to make noise. Then she became obsessed and had to be temporarily vanquished from that part of the garden. Cats and dogs can have a catastrophic impact on wild birds and we didn't want to take any chances.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Once the eggs hatched, the nest became a hive of activity, with both parents swooping in and out all day long with insects for their brood. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Here's mama bird with a fine fat caterpillar. Bluebirds depend on open areas for foraging and often seek out lawns—a reminder of why it is important to avoid toxic pesticides and lawn chemicals. Ecologists warn that homeowners</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> who replace their lawn with gravel or artificial grass in a well-intensioned effort to conserve water may actually be removing essential bird habitat, inadvertently creating wildlife wastelands. Replacing lawns with native plants, or adopting a turf-management program that conserves water through the use of mulch and other organic methods are bird-friendly options.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">That caterpillar went straight into the open beak of a hungry nestling. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />As the chicks neared fledging day they became increasingly noisy and active, peering out of their front door and chattering to each other. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jDjp-GxGF-0/V0vc_btBsrI/AAAAAAAAF1s/-nFJJbyVbOAUB49S2do1sWPNjXBrnqPkgCLcB/s1600/bluebird_in_garden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jDjp-GxGF-0/V0vc_btBsrI/AAAAAAAAF1s/-nFJJbyVbOAUB49S2do1sWPNjXBrnqPkgCLcB/s640/bluebird_in_garden.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">We never saw the young ones fledge. One day, the nest was a hive of activity; the next, it was empty. I caught one last glimpse of mama bluebird on her favorite perch overlooking the garden, and then they were gone. The garden seems strangely empty without them. </span></span></td></tr>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-39352027914186210402016-05-15T14:31:00.000-07:002016-05-15T14:34:13.270-07:00Drawn from Life<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TKD0ynSw7B8/VzZLSOr9rNI/AAAAAAAAFvc/YIhFJWQMipsgEjATstDCjoaJxd3D_Wm9gCLcB/s1600/nature_journal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TKD0ynSw7B8/VzZLSOr9rNI/AAAAAAAAFvc/YIhFJWQMipsgEjATstDCjoaJxd3D_Wm9gCLcB/s640/nature_journal.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">I will be teaching a special new class called <a href="https://parksrecreation.malibucity.org/CourseActivities.aspx?id=2&cat=2">Creative Nature Journaling</a> this summer at the Michael Landon Community Center at Malibu Bluffs Park. </span></span><br />
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<i>"To see a wren in a bush, call it "wren," and go on walking is to have (self-importantly) seen nothing. To see a bird and stop, watch, feel, forget yourself for a moment, be in the bushy shadows, maybe then feel "wren"— that is to have joined in a larger moment with the world." </i></div>
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—Gary Snyder, <i>Language Goes Two Ways</i>, 1995.</div>
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I've kept a nature journal for many years, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to teach a course on creating one through the City of Malibu's community classes program.</div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QSQXcSiU7i0/VzBAhbx93lI/AAAAAAAAFr0/dr56OxclDQ4kbYZ73pIMAjw9RVE1icX1ACLcB/s1600/winter_crows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QSQXcSiU7i0/VzBAhbx93lI/AAAAAAAAFr0/dr56OxclDQ4kbYZ73pIMAjw9RVE1icX1ACLcB/s400/winter_crows.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />I carry a small journal and some simple art supplies everywhere I go. This sketch was done in the space of a few minutes between work events using a couple of water-soluable colored pencils and a Sharpie pen. </span></td></tr>
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Leonardo Da Vinci is regarded as the most celebrated nature journalist, recording his observations in painstaking detail and spectacular profusion. However, you <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">don't need to be an artist or a scientist to keep a nature journal, although there are elements of art and science involved. All that is required is curiosity and the time to observe and experience nature. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Delicate and detailed sketches of bird wings and feathers from the journals of Leonardo Da Vinci show the artist's meticulous attention to detail.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Well-known natural journalists include </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Lewis and Clark, John Wesley Powell, John Muir and Mary Austen all kept nature journals. So did Beatrix Potter and Edward Lear. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">A sketch from the journal of John Muir.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Edward Lear, best known for his nonsense poems, kept detailed journals of his travels that often featured drawing of plants and animals, especially birds. He is justly famous for his scientifically accurate illustrations of parrots.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Edith Holden (1871-1920), made famous through the posthumous publication of <i>The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady</i> in 1977, filled her journal with delicate watercolors simply for the joy of recording the seasons.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Edith Holden was a largely self-taught artist who kept a nature journal. It was published decades after her death and received much acclaim but was created as a private record of the artist's joy in nature, with no thought for posterity.</span></td></tr>
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Writers Diane Ackerman, Annie Dillard, and Barry Lopez, and naturalist Bernd Heinrich are contemporary nature journal keepers, but all kinds of people keep a nature journal.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Biologist, bird behaviorist, and nature journalist Bernd Heinrich takes what he calls a "hands-and-knees" approach to observing nature. </span></div>
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A Google image search will turn up an amazing range from the drawings of grade school children to pages that resemble the jewel-like illuminations in a medieval manuscript. The one thing they share in common is an interest in the natural world.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here in Malibu, the natural world is never more than a few steps away. Most of us see—or hear—mourning doves every day in the spring. Adding a sketch of one to the journal is an opportunity to really look at this bird, observe its colors, shape, habits. I find that drawing fixes the subject in the mind in a way that observation or even photography cannot match.</span></div>
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In her book Keeping a Nature Journal, author Clare Walker Leslie describes the difference between a nature journal and a personal journal like this: "a diary or personal journal records your feelings toward yourself and others, a nature journal primarily records your responses to and reflections about the world of nature around you.”</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Capturing a fast-moving sea lion is half observation and half drawing on memory. It doesn't matter if the sketches in a nature journal are detailed or rough, as long as the memory is fixed, the observation recorded, that's all that matters. </span></span></div>
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In the class, we'll use watercolors and pencil to chronicle some of the plants, animals, and landscapes at Bluffs Park. We'll also explore the art of observation—sharping the ability to describe what we see. I think it will be fun and useful, whether you are new to nature journaling or have kept a journal for years.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">My journal, especially in springtime, is full of birds, but almost anything can be the subject for a nature journal. Poetry can evolve out of written descriptions. Some journal-keepers press objects like leaves or flowers between the pages. Sketches might range from stick figures dashed off with a ballpoint pen to intricate pen and ink drawings. Watercolors might be used to match the exact colors in a leaf or feather, or in loose, abstract washes that attempt to capture the colors of the sky or the rush of birds in flight.</span></div>
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The Creative Nature Journaling class is offered in two four-week sessions on Wednesdays, 10 am-noon. The first session is June 15 to July 6; the second, July 13-August 3. There is an $80 fee per session, and a $25 material fee that includes all of the necessary art supplies. I would be delighted, dear reader, if you would join us. More information, including the registration form, is available on the City of Malibu's Parks and Recreation website, <a href="https://parksrecreation.malibucity.org/CourseActivities.aspx?id=2&cat=2">here</a>.</div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-84461737452596721292016-05-10T09:42:00.000-07:002016-05-10T09:43:19.614-07:00Flying Whales<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The 2016 gray whale migration is winding down, but it seems to be going out with a splash this year. This group of five northbound whales appeared to be engaged in a sort of cetacean ballet, punctuated with spectacular leaps and tail lobbing. I have no idea if the performance had to do with vigilance and safety or joie de vivre, but I've never seen anything quite like it, not in a lifetime of watching the horizon for marvels. All photos © 2016 S. Guldimann</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Have you ever seen a whale fly, dear reader? I have. For nearly twenty minutes this evening I watched gray whales leap through the air, splashing back into the sea with an explosion of spray. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">That heart-shaped spout is the most conspicuous sign that gray whales are in the water. Although, sometimes the best way to spot whales is to look for humans pulled over by the side of the road pointing out to sea with expressions of wonder.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The adventure began with the telltale sight of whale spouts off Corral Beach. Stopping on Pacific Coast Highway can be a dangerous endeavor, but there wasn't much traffic. I pulled over in the company of four other carloads of spectators and stood sharing the feeling of awe and wonder with a group of strangers I had never seen before and would probably never see again. "Oh, look!" we said to one another. "How beautiful!" "Did you see that?" "Can you believe that?"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">A whale rockets out of water...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Launching itself into the air...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Then, splash!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">On many occasions I've watched whales steam decorously and determinedly across the bay with just the occasional spout or glimpse of back visible. This group danced and rolled and flapped their tails and flew through the air.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This whale is spyhopping—poking its head out of the water presumable for a look around.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />How can something that vast be so incredibly graceful?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">One last breath, and the travelers are on their way again.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">My companions and I watched the whales until they vanished out of sight, headed toward Point </span>Dume<span style="text-align: justify;"> and on the next phase of their epic journey to the arctic seas that are their summer home. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="text-align: justify;">The last heart-shaped spouts caught the light of the setting sun, and then the whales were gone. One by one, their earthbound watchers awoke from the spell, got back into their cars, and drove away, each of us aware that we had witnessed something amazing; whales, flying through the air like birds, or like angels. </span></span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6554578598317739175.post-37056813682037901742016-03-30T11:16:00.001-07:002016-03-31T10:55:59.270-07:00The Battle for Malibu<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Compared to the fight for Malibu cityhood, battling the Learnean hydra would be a piece of cake. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image: John Singer Sargent, <i>Hercules</i>, 1921, via <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Singer_Sargent%2C_John_-_Hercules_-_1921.jpg">Wikipedia Commons</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The City of Malibu turned 25 on Monday. Technically, it turned 25 on June 5, 2015, the day that Measure Y passed by a landslide. But March 28, 1991, was the day Malibu officially became a city, and what a strange, long, hard journey it was to get to that day.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />The battle to make Malibu an incorporated city has often been compared to the task of Sisyphus, condemned to push the same rock up hill forever. It certainly felt that way to many of the activists involved in the seemingly unending multi-year cityhood fight.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Image: </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Titan, <i>The Punishment of Sisyphus</i>, 1548-9, via Wikipedia Commons</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"> It’s been said the fight to save Malibu from the county’s plans for a major metropolis was like poor old Sysyphus, pushing that stone uphill, but to me it was more like a mashup between the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party and Hercules battling the hydra—every time residents succeeded in defeating a project, ten more sprang up, and the rules changed all the time, leaving everyone scrambling for a chair at the table. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />This cartoon from the Malibu Surfside News highlights the Alice-in-Wonderland-like lunacy of the incorporation battle and casts the county as the Red Queen. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It’s hard to convey just how crazy the whole process was to those who weren’t involved in it. I summarized the three previous unsuccessful attempts at incorporation, as well as some of the other challenges leading up to the final cityhood vote in the March 23, 2016 issue of the Malibu Surfside News. You can read the story <a href="http://www.malibusurfsidenews.com/city/malibu%E2%80%99s-not-so-easy-path-cityhood">here</a>. But somehow the article doesn't entirely convey the sense of urgency and anxiety.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was a small child during the 1975 incorporation effort and an undergraduate in college during the 1991 battle. For almost as long as I can remember, my parents were involved in the fight to save Malibu. They held meetings in the living room, spent weekends and evenings gathering signatures and meeting with officials. My dad traveled to Los Angeles for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meetings and to Sacramento to meet with state officials. I grew up stuffing envelopes and walking voting precincts, and I definitely wasn't alone: a whole generate of Malibu kids participated in the Malibu revolution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">The county had plans for a golf course and housing at what is now Charmlee Wilderness Park. They also had plans for 2.2 million square feet of development in the Malibu Civic Center, vast blocks of high rise apartment buildings along PCH; a shopping mall at Trancas; a high intensity development with 700-800 housing units, plus shops and restaurants at Topanga Creek; a giant marina between Paradise Cove and Point Dume and even a multilane freeway through the Santa Monica Mountains. It's not surprising Malibu residents felt besieged and disenfranchised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">While many battles were being fought on all fronts, the sewer became the major focus for the simple reason that a central plant was essential for the high density development envisioned by the county. Without the sewer, the 2.2 million square feet of development planned for the Malibu Civic Center—a 1988 L.A. Times article described it as "equal to roughly one-quarter the office space in Century City," and the high-rise apartment complexes, shopping centers, golf courses, county clubs, and marinas could not be built. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />If things had gone the way the county planners intended, Corral Canyon Park would be a golf course, county club, and housing tract. A dozen years earlier, planners wanted a nuclear power plant in the same location. Today, the canyon and its spectacular views are safe from power plants and golf courses as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the Surfside article, I wrote: "A 1966 report by the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission predicted that with sewers to accommodate growth, the population of Malibu would expand to 117,000 by 1980. Malibu voters fought back, overwhelmingly defeating county-sponsored sewer bond measures in 1966, 1968 and 1971."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Corral Canyon nuclear power plant is a favorite example of out-of-control Malibu development plans, but the marinas were a much bigger threat. The power plant never got past the initial planning phase once the geology of Corral Canyon was examined, the yacht harbor plot endured for decades. The first plan, for a small craft harbor at the Malibu Lagoon, was proposed immediately after WW II. The Malibu Post took a look at that particular battle in a blog post titled "<a href="http://themalibupost.blogspot.com/2015/01/sailing-onto-rocks-failed-plan-to-turn.html"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(4, 46, 238);">Sailing onto the Rocks</span></a>."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Malibu Lagoon marina plan rematerialized in the 1960s and involved using vast amounts of fill from the proposed Malibu Canyon Freeway to channelize Malibu Creek, build a massive breakwater and create a full service yacht harbor. <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">What is now Malibu Lagoon State Park was purchased with a marina, not a wetland, in mind, but Paradise Cove was the county's pick for a marina that would have been essentially a small city.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />An artist's representation of the Quarterdeck Club, the first Malibu Lagoon yacht harbor proposal from the 1940s. The project refused to die and had to be fought off multiple times by Malibu conservationists over three decades. By the time this plan was finally dead, the county had set its sights on a marina at Paradise Cove. There were even plans for small craft harbors at Topanga Creek and Sequit Cove, at what is now Leo Carrillo State Park.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The plan to transform Paradise Cove into a harbor first surfaced in the 1950s, when the Army Corp of Engineers announced it was was on board with a plan to build a breakwater and small boat harbor with a 1500-1800-foot-long breakwater. A November 20, 1960 Los Angeles Times article states, "A committee of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce expects to meet shortly with Rex Thomson [county director of small craft harbors] and L.A. County Supervisor [Burton] Chace to push the project."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Burton Chace seems to have had a bee in his bonnet over the boat harbor idea. By 1964, he had plans for four Malibu boat harbors. He was egged on by Realtor Bill Reid, the president of the Malibu Chamber of Commerce, who apparently shared the view of Kenneth Graham's character the Water Rat, that "</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">nothing is half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Instead of tide pools, sandy coves, and a legendary surf break, county planners envisioned this stretch of coast from Little Dume to Paradise Cove looking more like this:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">By 1969, the ever-expanding Paradise Cove/Point Dume harbor plan ran afoul of the surfing community. Suddenly, the planners had to deal with a whole new level of ocean advocacy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">"Good beaches for surf riding are diminishing everywhere," Western Surfing Association representative Robert Scott told the L.A. Times. But the county continued to push for the project, seemingly oblivious to a rising tide of opposition. An $11-million budget for the Paradise Cove marina was proposed in 1971. A 1972 article states that the county continued to prefer the Point Dume location despite "opposition running two to one there."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">I have a copy of a petition my dad circulated, signed by more than 500 people opposing the marina. It states: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>"We, the undersigned, request that no further funds be appropriated for, or expended by, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the State of California, or the County of Los Angeles for the study, design, or construction of a marina, boat harbor, or related facilities along the fragile Malibu seashore.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>"The narrow coastal Malibu bluffs and beaches are a priceless resource, the last unspoiled coastline and of major importance to the entire Los Angeles Metropolitan region.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Dad's first Malibu fight was over that marina, his second was to save the Point Dume Headlands. A hotel was originally planned for the bluff, later the county wanted to flatten what is now the wildlife preserve and make it into a parking lot. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Malibu activists, including my dad, battled county plans to bulldoze and develop the Point Dume Headlands. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, my parents gathered signatures for the Coastal Act initiative, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and Malibu Incorporation. They wrote letters, attended and held meetings opposing plans for hotels, golf courses, apartment complexes, housing tracts, marinas, and parking lots, in addition to the infamous sewers. My dad served on the board of the local homeowners association and on the Malibu Township Council, the community organization that served as the main voice for Malibu's residents and was the driving force for the incorporation effort. Juggling all that activism with a full time job didn't always leave much time for anything else.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">It's only a flesh wound! Malibu activists refused to admit defeat despite major setbacks in early 1989. This cartoon appeared in the January 19, 1989 Malibu Surfside News.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Activists up and down the state passed the Coastal Act in 1972. Local conservationists successfully lobbied congress to create the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in 1978. These were two key elements in the fight to save the local coastal zone from being paved under.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">It was the power of the coastal act that finally ended the marina proposals. <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The Coastal Commission also partially reigned in the county’s other development plans in 1986, halving the proposed maximum build-out along the Malibu Coast from 12,095 to 6,582, with a 2,111-unit cap on residential</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">development until PCH could be “improved.” (we’re still waiting for that one).</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Developers seized the opportunity during the rabidly pro-development 1980s to push through many of the ugliest commercial buildings on Pacific Coast Highway. The one on the left added insult to injury by replacing the historic train shed from the old Rindge Railroad.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Coastal Commission's 1986 land use decision met fierce opposition from L.A. County Supervisor Deane Dana, who presumably just couldn’t bear to see all of that revenue—and potential voter base—slip away. He threatened the commission with legal action, and when the Malibu Committee for Incorporation succeeded in jumping through all of the hoops necessary to put Malibu incorporation back on the ballot, he famously vowed to "bury the process or delay the process," so Malibu residents would be unable to move forward with the election. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />I was convinced as a child that the Los Angeles County Supervisors was something like this, with Deane Dana in the starring role as the Lord of the Sith. Walt Keller, who worked tirelessly on incorporation and went on to become Malibu's first mayor, described Dana as the "Sewer King." In a</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;"> December 17, 1989 L.A. Times interview</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> he stated that Dana's "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">whole attitude has been insulting." </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Dana's response was that the opposition he encountered in Malibu was</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , "times" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">"of no consequence, really," and that "if they spell my name right, it doesn't make any difference." </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;">The county was redistricted towards the end of the Malibu cityhood battle, placing Malibu under the care of Supervisor </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;">Paul Edelman, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 20px;">the only supervisor who had supported the local independence movement. Fortunately, Malibu has had a much better relationship with the county in the decades following the departure of Dana.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">1986 was an important year for Malibu, not just because of the land-use debate. It was the year the county revealed plans for a</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> 17-mile-long sewer running down the middle of PCH to a central treatment facility that would dump effluent straight out to sea at world-famous Surfrider Beach. Assessments of $13,500-$26,000 were made for every property owner in the community. The controversy over this mega-sewer ignited the final push for independence from the county.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The sewer would facilitate not only the buildout of the Malibu Civic Center, including that five-story, 500-room hotel, but also a new “urban center” at the bottom of Topanga Canyon. This city of 700-800 apartment units and condos, and “upscale shops and restaurants and a new multimillion-dollar channel to safely and permanently route Topanga Creek to the ocean,” according to the Los Angeles Times. It was to be an entire new city, and for many Malibuites, it offered the final proof that there was no end to the greed and tone-deafness of developers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Malibu could and did, and is celebrating its 25th year as an independent city. The February 8, 1990, Malibu Surfside News reported that “Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs has issued the order for the cityhood vote in the form of a mandamus writ.” After three years of open warfare with the county, Malibu incorporation appeared to be finally headed for the ballot. However, in order to get it there, the judge had to threaten the supervisors with contempt of court and order them to set the date, a sort of municipal shotgun wedding, or perhaps a shotgun divorce.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The fourth and final campaign for an independent Malibu began in 1987. It was an uphill battle all the way, but after three years of protests, lawsuits, countersuits, and appeals, Measure Y finally made it to the ballot. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">Malibu Incorporation passed by a landslide on June 5, 1990. Anne Soble, the original publisher and editor of the Malibu Surfside News, was committed throughout the entire multi-year battle to ensuring that the Malibu incorporation process receive due process from the county. Looking back at that coverage was a reminder to me of how journalism can help a cause by providing facts, demanding accountability from the players and keeping the story alive over time so that those not involved in the front line can know what's happening in the trenches. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The City of Malibu is not perfect. Some of the major issues that fueled the incorporation effort continue to be contentious, including development in the Civic Center, which was delayed for a full generation but is once again an issue of critical importance and one that is no less divisive than it was a quarter of a century ago. However, d</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">espite the discord and continuing challenges, much has been accomplished. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />Malibu has changed in 25 years, and not all of that change has been for the better, but there are still a lot of all the things that make Malibu special and worth fighting for. It's still the unique land and marine environment that has inspired generations of activists to make an extraordinary effort to preserve it.</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">A quarter of a century after incorporation, we have a Marine Protected Area instead of marinas; open space parks in place of golf courses and county clubs; a national park in our backyard instead of wall-to-wall housing developments and freeways; and a City of Malibu that has a population of 12,861, not 117,000. And no matter what ultimately is built in the Civic Center, it won't be the 2.2 million square feet of development once sought. All of that is because, in the words of Walt Keller, "hundreds of volunteers worked thousands of hours to make it so." </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-align: start;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Here at the Malibu Post, we like to look at this full-page ad opposing Measure Y when we're discouraged, because it’s a sterling reminder that while the City of Malibu is a long way from perfect, it’s a huge improvement on what the county was planning for us, and none of the doom and gloom prophesied by that handful of incorporation naysayers has come to pass.</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"> Taxes, taxes, taxes! Parking meters! Lousy quality of life! Dogs and cats living together! </span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">At the 25th anniversary celebration, current Malibu Mayor Laura Rosenthal presented Malibu's first Mayor, Walt Keller and his wife and partner Lucile Keller with the first annual Walt and Lucile Keller Award for service to the City of Malibu.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The Kellers, with customary modesty, accepted the award in the name of all the unnamed volunteers who made cityhood a reality. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: start;"><br />I can testify to how hard those volunteers worked. I saw it first hand. So thank you, Dad, for all you did for Malibu. And heartfelt thanks to </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(103, 103, 103); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; text-align: start;">all of the unsung local heroes who have cared so passionately for the place that Frederick Hastings Rindge called "very near terrestrial paradise" and who have worked so hard to save it.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dad and me in the early 1970s, under a rare summer rainbow on the beach he was working so hard to save. </span></span></div>
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Suzanne Guldimannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17107986841124339211noreply@blogger.com0