My family goes back 3 centuries living in Massachusetts. So it is interesting to know that Malibu was started by someone from there. I'm French descent not Irish
My kids are 4th generation L.A., San Diego. Its not about the distant past for me. I always imagined L.A. will go back to Mexico in time. Grew up in the Palisades, lived in West Hollywood then Marina Del Rey. I'm moving to the southern coast of Italy. Buying a beautiful beach house. Zero rent/ mortgage. Kids will inherit. Our older son followed an Australian gf he met teaching snowboarding in Utah to Brooklyn in his 20s. Loves it there. Never moved back to San Diego....that was 17 years ago.
I was born here in Los Angeles, though I was raised in Newport Beach tot he south. The most interesting thing about the daughter's house, and what it is best known for, are the orange tile color, which is a uranium salt, and the tiles are radioactive.
My mother-in-law remembers taking a trolley from L.A. to Malibu in 1910. Lots on the ocean were only $25 USD. Her father passed on the deal saying that $25 USD was way too much for land that was only good for jack rabbits and rattlesnakes. However, later when she had married she bought a house on Trancas Beach in Malibu in 1968 which she later sold in 1980.
That electric 'trolley' was called the Red Line. It went from downtown LA straight down what is now Pico boulevard and ended right at the entrance to the Santa Monica pier. 🚎 ⛱️
My father bought one of the newly available subdivided lots in about 1950, one mile into the hills above Zuma Beach. It was a 1.5 acre lot with a clear, magnificent view of the ocean on one side, and the hills on the other. He paid $2,000 for it. He built a house for his very young family, but died after just two years. At least he had that. We later experienced the Malibu fire of December 26, 1957, which started in the early morning hours when the dreaded Santa Ana winds blew it over the ridge. There was no water for the firefighters to use, so we kept our roof wet using the garden hose for as long as possible. We lost a shed to the fire that passed by. Malibu hills were very rural then, everyone was spread out. We had to go to Santa Monica for groceries, a 13 mile drive. We were bused to Webster school until Juan Carrillo school was built.
I was born in Santa Monica in 1949. It was a sleepy seaside resort for the wealthy and a beach colony for the Hollywood set. The Rindges Santa Monica 'beach cottage' (not as stated in this video) was located on Ocean Avenue across from Palisades Park overlooking Santa Monica Bay. The beach cottage, as they were called, was not a mansion but a good sized home. I was living four blocks north of there in the early 1970s when the Historical Society of Santa Monica had to fight to keep it from being demolished and succeeded in getting it listed. Then, with great fanfare, it was moved a few miles down the road to Venice where it was initially used as a museum. The Rindges only lived in the SM house for a few years while they built a HUGE mansion in the style of the wealthy of that era in the West Adams District. The Ringes lived there full-time, using their other houses during the summer. Rhoda lived in the Adams District mansion for 36 years until she died. The Malibu mansion was never the primary residence and was eventually donated to the Catholic Church as was the Adams District House (it is now in private ownership). Rhoda's daughter,, also named Rhoda, married into the Adamson family, and the beautiful Spanish-style house on the beach, Adamson House (now a museum), was built for her by her parents. The Adamsons also owned a big dairy farm in Tarzama in the San Fernando Valley. When I was four years old, my family bought a small ranch in Tarzana, or my siblings and I grow up, not far from both the Adamsons and E.R. Burroughs. And due to my family's show business connection, I spent my summers at Maliu Colony. The Adamsons started a dairy and called it Adohr Farms (Rhoda spelled backward). They had little drive-thru kiosks in the early days, and we would pull up, give the milk/cream/butter order, and they would bring it out, and away we'd go! Eventually, they started selling it in markets and made home deliveries. In the late 60s, I moved back to my hometown and lived in a sweet cottage on Palisade Ave. for 20 years until the 1994 earthquake took me out. What memories of a time long past!
Thank you for sharing your history. I was born in St. John's Hospital (my middle name) in Santa Monica. A 4th generation Californian (now we're 5) who went to UCLA in the 80s, such a wonderful university at the time.
@@joetanaka6446 That's wonderful, Joe! Thank you for sharing, too. I was the first born in California on either side of my family. They were from the Dakotas, Norwegians and Irish on my mom's side and French and Bavarian on my dad's. Got my AA degree at SMCC and then transferred to UCLA in the early '70s, it was wonderful. Blessings to you and your family.
You overlooked a significant achievement of the Ringes in fighting off the Union Pacific RR. I used to have a house on Broadbeach and saw sections of the Ringe's narrow gage railroad tracks get exposed when the beach erroded. That is what saved Malibu form being destroyed by the RR. They laid tracks where it was flat and easier to construct. The Ringes saved all the beaches in Malibu from being wrecked by railroad tracks by constructing their own narrow gage railroad which went from their Malibu estate to Santa Monica. The law was the Union Pacific could not lay track where there was an existing railroad. That is how the Ringes effectively fought off the powerful Union Pacific from getting the right of way through their property.
EXCELLENT ... Thank You for so much info I never knew so fascinating! I was born 1950 Santa Monica and our family moved to Malibu 1953 as they loved the ocean ... bringing in speared fish, hand grabbed lobster & crowbarred abalone fresh meals ... we also took up surfing in the 50's and my mother used to surf Malibu lots. My dad used to drive to work downtown LA 5 days a week. But by the early 60's they felt Malibu & PCH was getting too crowded so we moved to North Shore Oahu 1963 to continue surfing & simple ocean lifestyle. When younger a decade later, I spent some time back in Malibu 1974, surfing and working at the now sadly gone, Malibu Drug store ... that also housed a burger & soda shop ... sort of an art deco rounded design. Have been back a few more times to visit my parents surfing friends ... but could never live there again. However, very grateful for having grown up there where surfing was life-transforming and so be-fitting of my outsider eccentric family. Back then, Malibu did not have any movie stars but was a small community of very eccentric beachy folks, as it did not cost much to purchase oceanfront property, due to no movie stars living there then. They started moving back in the 60's ... and have ruined it!
Born in L.A. and moved to Santa Monica in 1950 where I went through the entire S.M. School System to SMCollege and after UCLA. I currently avoid going to Santa Monica because they have torn down everything I loved and it’s like walking through a ghost town to me, although I loved it a lot.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing the history of Malibu and the family what an extraordinary family and the accomplishments of the family. I owned a home on Malibu Road. I came from Toledo Ohio. My name is Jan Michaels and my partner Jeff Kerr created a beautiful home on Malibu Road And I want to think you for this video and what it it has met to Jeff and myself….. much aloha. Yes I live in Hawaii now God has blessed me tremendously. Thank you……….😘👍😉
i was born at Redondo Beach in 1968. I grew up going to the beach. My dad had a catamaran boat we would sail all over there. Our family lived in Santa Clarita - Canyon Country. Malibu is a gem.. loved it. we went to Santa Monica or Ventura as well. the WHOLE coastline is just gorgeous. I LOVED this documentary . I had no idea how integral The Ringes family was in all of this. I do remember the tiles. : )
I very much enjoyed watching this informative episode on Malibu as I recently moved here near the Colony and made my 35 plus years dream of mine a reality! Couldn’t be more happier. Thanks!😎
The Ringe Ranch was a cattle/dairy ranch and they had Adohr Milk. Adohr was Rhoda spelled backwards. They used to have armed cowboys riding the border with Santa Monica stopping people from going up the coast and Pacific Coast Highway didn’t exist and they tried to keep it that way.
The landscape is the real star, if you want to get down to it. Palisades, Zuma are an amazing build up to Malibu, geographically. The weather is consistently awesome. Peace
Interesting to me that Frederick was director of the Edison Electric Light Company. My Grandpa Bryant became Chief Electrical Supervisor of DWP in SOCAL and Hoover Dam, replacing Ezra Scattergood in 1945 when he got sick. Small world. Sometimes magical. They all knew each other, going back to St Francis Dam eve, which fortunately they left before the sad collapse. I'm over Edison, now that I know more, but he introduced June Lockhart's parents to each other. My parent's first date was at the Malibu Sea Lion, and I just happened to move right there at 21.... and so on and so on.
I met my Wife at point Dume and married her there too. Her Mother lives in Malibu Park one mile from the ocean.In 2018 her Mother house burned and the electric company bought a new house but all the trees are gone now. My Dad was IATSE union member and he worked on tv shows his whole life.
in 1993 My wife and I moved into a small old cottage on the Adamsons ranch in Serra Retreat. Grant Edmonton owned the last remaining parcel of land from the Range ranch. There were lots of horses back there, Mel Gibson and other famous actors were our neighbors. One day I found a secret panel in the house and opened it and it had newspapers from the 1800's with articles talking about Fredrick Ridge. On another occasion we saw workers digging something up in a horse stall across the street. We went there and found out there used to be a wooden shack there that had burned down. In that check was ll the remaining tile from the Malibu tile company. It was put there when the tile company burned down. I think it was in the late 30's or early 40's. I still have a bag of that tile. I remember grant Adamson dumped all the remaining tile in an Avocado orchard on the ranch. A few years after We moved away I called Grant and asked him if I could buy the tile. He said no.
I was there today. Malibu is about a 30min drive from my home. Pacific Coast Hwy is a particularly dangerous route with many deaths due to reckless driving.
I was born at St. Vincent Hospital in Los Angeles in 1961 and my family moved to Orange County a year later. I grew up in Orange and Villa Park and have lived in Dana Point for 40 years.
Very interesting life details. I recently saw a short done on the local morning news station where they featured the Rindge famly so I found this very interesting Thank you.
malibu colony is indeed a wonderful place where movie stars and their families can play together freely without worrying about privacy, because they are protected by the colony security gate, and can enjoy the marvelous and pleasant beachfront homes that share ocean in that area :)
The Ringes and now the duke and duchess of Cringes, American Riviera Orchard, where apparently strawberries grow on trees. Maybe a nice big tsunami to cleanse those shows of all the decadence. Interesting that a Brit is narrating this saga.....
I surfed in malibu in 1957 for years and i lived in Manhattan beach in 1967 i purchased property in malibu canyon my son inlaw family had a home on broad beach road my nest Philo
Wonder how Frederick's dad got the original 2 million. And many mentions of financial problems of May, even though she got all that money from her husband
Newport is nicer. Cleaner, more manicured, more conservative and family focused with a beautiful harbor and lots of boating, yacht clubs. Malibu doesn’t have boating and is more expensive. Because Malibu is LA County it get lumped in with the bad governance of LA. And it’s BAD.
Aw you know your not from LA bc you called it THE PCH... which is true for all the other frwys we have example "the 405" "the 101" but Pacific Coast Highway my friend is simply... PCH. 😊
Pepperdine University looks God-awful. Who designed that? Looks like a strip mall architect designed a university for 30% off his usual rate. LOL. Cheap, gawdy architecture in beautiful spaces is always appalling.
