Malibu to Seal Beach, California: The city of angels

January 16, 2013

Malibu has three major components: the Tuscan style villas up in the hills along the 27 mile strip, the highway and the businesses along it, and the beach houses between the highway and the water. Arthur had us pass by to check out one beach house that was for rent, at $54,950 per month. That price would be loosely consistent with a purchase price of $13,000,000. So we looked at it with that figure in mind. We had to admit that it was an original design, and fairly large, but we would not pay a penny over $6,000,000. Part of our critique is how tight the house is with its neighbours. That makes it a bit slummy, in our expert view!

We proceeded along and came to Cross Creek Road, at which point what might be called downtown Malibu begins. This is just a few shops and motels. Strangely there is no area of upscale shops that might service all the upscale homeowners. I guess they all commute into L.A. to buy their home furnishings and even lattés.

Thinking about commuting, there are surely as many Porsches and BMWs in Malibu as in Germany. The convertible Boxster seems to be a favourite. However, space is tight, and we sympathized with the beach house owners forced to park their Porsches by the roadway, among the garbage cans.

It all put us to thinking. What exactly can you do in these either tightly packed or hilltop multi-million dollar houses? There is no farmers' market to go to, no town to stroll about, no place to go for walks. Well, you could jump into your Porsche and head for some excitement in the city, right? Well, maybe wrong. As we continued a bit toward Santa Monica, the traffic quickly jammed up and soon our goofy Bike Fridays were cruising past all the fast BMWs.

We got tired of this, though, because all the traffic was noisy. So we were glad when we reached the beginning of the beach bike path that extends to Venice Beach and then to Redondo Beach. Here is where the real fun of this day's ride began. First there is the pleasure of just crusiing along a flat paved path by the beach, but then there is the very interesting design of the beach houses, the beachside shops, the joggers, the transient bicyclists with their whole lives in trailers, Muscle Beach - where the parks department has provided weight training equipment, beach paddleball courts, the Santa Monica amusement pier - it's a whole scene!

In contrast to when we cycled here last year, though, the scene was just a little less intense. We were early in the day and earlier in the season, so many shops were closed and the throngs were absent. Still we found the fruit we were looking for, and it was so great!

The route leaves the beach to skirt around Marina del Rey. Here is a whole other world of sailboats, moored or for sale at dealerships. We also passed the Marina del Rey Cheesecake Factory, making us think of Penny, from Big Bang Theory. Of course, her fictional Cheesecake Factory would be in Pasadena - quite far inland.

At Redondo Beach the route leaves the beach and takes an inland shortcut to Long Beach, passing through Torrance and Carson. We had trouble finding the way, but some road angels popped out of the sand. First, Fred got us off the beach and pointed in ther right way, and then Bruce and John took us on a tour that landed us properly on Torrance Road. Thanks fellows!

In Torrance and Carson we have quite heavy traffic, a bike lane that comes and goes, and retail that ranges from hamburger places and hair salons to car dealerships. Eventually we arrived at the so called Los Angeles River. It is contained in concrete banks and almost empty. We assume it has been depleted by water demands. The great thing, though, is that there is a bike path along the concrete bank, and this shoots you straight to Long Beach.

Looking toward Long Beach from the path, one sees in the distance high rise buildings of a major centre. And just by the path, under the freeway bridges, homeless people set up with tents. Suddenly, though, we arrived at Long Beach by the ocean, and it seemed extremely pleasant, with boats and restaurants, and trees and plazas. The bike path became confusing, but immediately our road angel for this place - Keith - appeared and guided us on his bike through the maze. Keith set us on the beach path that leads to Seal Beach.

Here, the sights include the long sand beach with many joggers and the super bikeway, the Queen Mary cruise ship which has been converted to a hotel, and the offshore islands which were created as part of the exploitation of extensive oil reserves in the area.

With the easy cycling, we were making excellent progress (for us). This was good, because actually we had not seen many (or any) places to stop. Keith had advised us that we would find something in Seal Beach, so we pressed on.

By the time we reached Seal Beach, evening was upon us. We located a reasonable motel about 6 km further on, and turned on all our flashers and lights in order to mix it up with the quite heavy traffic on highway 1. Just before reaching the motel we came upon another Fresh and Easy, and grabbed some fresh and easy stuff for supper. The motel had all the key elements we look for: wifi, microwave, and no smoke smell. So again we ended with food and a place to stay.

That was it, then. We had negotiated the whole span of Los Angeles by the beaches, without getting shot, or too lost, or run down by a BMW on the way to the studio. On the contrary, we had met some helpful people, considered and rejected buying some multi million dollar houses, and seen some yucchy areas and some beautiful areas. It was our longest distance of this tour, and an excellent day overall.

The building is quite large. You can see more at its web site: www.malibudolphinhouse.com

The beginning of what passes for downtown in Malibu

Because the BMW is hogging the parking space, the Maserati is stuck out with the garbage cans.

We decided to mentally try out a downmarket property. This semi-slum rents for just $10,500 per month. See www.19158pch.com Is there enough room for my Porsche?

Traffic jams begin well before Santa Monica

More hillside development near Santa Monica

Swimmers offshore around Will Rogers Beach

Baywatch! Dear to the hearts of Canadians because of Pamela Anderson

Beach volleyball is a signature feature of all the beaches in this area

I like this gefahr - the way the climbing man clearly has no chance!

This runner slowly drew level with us. I amicably told him what his speed was, but he never acknowledged I had spoken to him. Then dodie did the same and also got no response. We think he was just a cuckoo local specimen. but maybe his iPod was to blame.

A man fell as his bike slipped in the sand. Not only did these lifeguards respond to see how he was, but an ambulance and a fire truck soon showed up too.

Helicopters patrolled back and forth on the beach, seemingly part of the lifeguard service. This one looks military, though.

This beach side place was where we stopped for lunch.

Big windows reveal the residents of this beach house!

Near Redondo Beach, the houses differ from those at Venice, but are unique and nice as well.

Looking up a street that ends at Redondo Beach

Bruce and John guided us for quite a few blocks

Actually the bridge is a great shelter for a tent

The Queen Mary. The dome used to house the Spruce Goose

Sunset by an oil island. The four islands were named for astronauts who were early casualties.

Today's ride: 109 km (68 miles)
Total: 2,235 km (1,388 miles)

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