Rooms and boards available
New Malibu hotels offer surf-lovers stylish rooms in a beachside enclave
With a reputation as a happy mix of surfers, resident hippies, incognito celebrities and carefree intelligentsia, all living in a relatively small community on a stretch of pristine Pacific with perfect surf breaks, Malibu has long held a cachet as a particularly alluring beachside enclave.
But until recently, there weren’t many tasteful lodging options for visitors who weren’t in possession of a mansion (Hard Rock co-founder Peter Morton reportedly just sold his Richard Meier modernist compound for a mere $110 million U.S.) or who wanted more than just a bare-bones motel room. Most visitors like me would just head there for the day and then have to go back to Los Angeles after sunset.
As an American living in Tuscany, I love to surf when I can — from Siargao, Philippines, and Sayulita, Mexico, to the North Shore of Oahu. A return to Malibu was like a tonic for the soul to me.
And that’s why the opening of three new properties in this old-school surf boho destination was so striking to see. Malibu has welcomed the Surfrider Malibu, the Native Hotel and the Nobu Ryokan Malibu, not to mention a complete interior renovation of the 1989 Malibu Beach Inn, one of the first luxury lodgings in the community. And with the debut of a members-only Soho House outpost, Little Beach House Malibu, the area also has new pull for creatives and Hollywood types who want to brainstorm away from Los Angeles. Now, after a day of surfing, I too planned to sleep over for a long weekend.
Local observers say the new additions to the lodging scene embrace the fact that a diverse group of travellers finds the “Bu,” as Malibu is affectionately called by surfers, compelling.
The Surfrider Malibu has actually been around since the 1950s, a thin-walled motel to bed down after a post-surf session or a show at next door’s Crazy Horse Saloon, a rock hangout, but nonetheless on a prime spot on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Now, after a three-year-plus renovation by its owners, Matthew Goodwin and Emma Crowther, and their partner Alessandro Zampedri, the Surfrider Malibu has been transformed into a boutique hotel with the kind of barefoot-cool vibe that the destination seemed to crave. The property opens into a large communal lobby full of coffee table books and framed art, a long wood table and wicker lamps hanging from the ceiling.
When I stayed there in April, I found custom surfboards to borrow, scented candles, an airy bedroom with a custom-made teak bed, reclaimed wood floorboards and hand-painted ceramic tiles in the bathroom.
With its neutral tones and natural materials, the effect was soothing.
“In the Surfrider, we set out to create the ultimate California beach house,” Crowther said, “a place for travellers rather than tourists, for the person seeking the local experience, a taste of the elusive California dream.”
As I was in a ground floor unit, I didn’t have a full Pacific view as did the people in the rooms above me. But I did spend most of my time at the rooftop restaurant and bar drinking a fresh smoothie and marvelling at how the natural light changed over the iconic 1938 pier, across from the hotel. The pier juts over the water with its little cafes and shops, and surfers gather at the world-famous break alongside.
The Surfrider, with rates starting at $350, offers a complimentary 1968 sage green Land Rover for excursions to other surf breaks, as well as picnic baskets for beachside lunches at a cost.
At $2,000 a night with a two-night minimum, the Nobu Ryokan Malibu on local Carbon Beach, also known as “Billionaire’s Beach” because of its high-end real estate, is close to the Little Beach House Malibu, the Soho House outpost with no lodging, but it was sadly out of my price range.
The Nobu Ryokan Malibu, formerly the Casa Malibu Inn, was bought by tech guru and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in 2007 and opened a decade later as the new bench mark of luxury on the beach. Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, actor Robert De Niro and producer Meir Teiper are co-owners of the property, which is managed by Nobu Hospitality. The property has 16 suites, some with teak soaking tubs, indoor and outdoor fireplaces, and room service from the famed sushi chef himself. (When I win big, I will be booking a suite.)
I opted instead for an overnight at the Native Hotel, with a starting rate of $400. Formerly known as the Malibu Riviera Motel (Bob Dylan and Marilyn Monroe were among its guests), the property has been given a fresh look by the owners of Folklor, a design company that does chic branding for hospitality and restaurant companies like Venice Beach’s Gjelina and the Line Hotel.
The Native Hotel is not on the beach itself, and the cinder block bungalows seemed a bit brutally modernist, but inside I liked the feeling of having my own cabin with its crisp white linens, minibar in the vintage ice chests and kimonostyle robes. There are also New-Age California embellishments like a yurt for yoga and sage smudge incense sticks for getting rid of any negative energy. It felt like a sleepaway camp for stylish grownups with a penchant for the outdoors.