The Surfrider, Malibu
A ’50s surf motel is transformed as a boutique beachfront hotel, channelling the coastal style of California and Australia.
Emma Crowther Goodwin and her husband Matthew were among thousands of residents forced to evacuate as bushfires jumped Highway 101 and raced down hillsides towards the Californian coast late last year.
A week later the pair returned to The Surfrider, the boutique hotel they opened just a year before. “Malibu town was completely untouched, not even signs of ash,” says Crowther Goodwin, “so we felt a great sense of relief, but also responsibility to help the residential community north of us, where some people lost everything.”
The couple and their business partner, Alessandro Zampedri, offered free lodgings for residents in need and staged a fundraiser barbecue for 400. “The perception of Malibu is about celebrities, but it’s much more than that,” says Crowther Goodwin. “Here was a small community, only 13,000 of us – real and vulnerable – pulling together.”
It’s this sense of community as much as the Californian dream of freedom, good times and perfect barrels that the hoteliers aim to showcase. Creative director Emma, from Brisbane and Byron
Bay, Matthew, a Californian kid and former architect, and Alessandro, a former racing driver, have collaborated with local businesses to develop guest experiences, including hikes to “secret” spots, beach picnics, surf lessons on boards designed for Malibu conditions, beach yoga, canyon meditation and surf trips in the hotel’s
1968 Land Rover.
Local farms supply organic or biodynamic produce for picnics and meals in the guest-only rooftop restaurant, with spectacular views of Surfrider Beach and the Malibu Pier, and the wine list features small Californian producers.
The partners spent four years transforming the old motel, built in 1953 beside Neil Young’s former Crazy Horse Saloon, into a “beach house” with 20 guestrooms, a library, fire pit and rooftop bar, and dining space. And they’re planning to develop other sites as bases for “the ultimate Californian road trip”.
The Surfrider, 23033 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, California, US, thesurfridermalibu.com