Home > Travel Guide > LA Scenic Drives 1-a
Los Angeles Scenic Drives I
Part I-a: Visiting Malibu Beach, Zuma Beach,
& Santa Monica Mountains
Seeing L. A. like a native
You can enjoy this exhilarating Los Angeles scenic drive in one day.
At your own pace, you'll explore some of California's finest beaches, natural areas, and celebrity hangouts, including —
- Malibu Beach,
- Mel Gibson arrest scene
- Zuma Beach,
- renowned Malibu Surfriders Beach,
- Leo Carillo State Beach,
- Charles Manson's former home,
- other celebrity home areas in Malibu,
- Point Dume,
- Will Rogers State Historic Park,
- and Will Rogers State Beach.
Part I-b and Part I-c take you on to —
- Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area,
- Paramount Movie Ranch,
- Malibu Creek State Park (former Fox Movie Ranch—M*A*S*H, Planet of the Apes),
- Malibu Canyon,
- Point Mugu State Park
- Verizon's iDon't "Magic (Oh, Oh, Oh)" highway
- Santa Monica Pier (Baywatch, Ruthless People, etc.),
- Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica (numerous films),
- the Dogtown skateboarding neighborhood, and
- Jay Leno's favorite Sunday drive.
With an extra day, you can add Santa Barbara, California's most beautiful city.
Save up to 75% on 4-star Los Angeles hotels!
Timing your Los Angeles scenic drive
This makes an easy one-day drive, but get an early start. During weekends or school holidays, leave especially early to avoid the worst traffic on its way to the Malibu beaches.
From May through October, you may wake up to fog or low clouds in Los Angeles. Don't be concerned, as this usually burns off by mid morning in Malibu and Zuma Beach.
The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Will Rogers State Historical Park offer extensive hiking opportunities—you may wish extra days for these.
The Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club has numerous day hikes in these mountains open to the general public. See the schedule on its website. Make sure to choose your correct fitness level!
Reaching your scenic drive
From anywhere in the Los Angeles area, head for Interstate 10, the Santa Monica Freeway, and then travel westward toward Santa Monica.
From the Disneyland area, take the northbound I-5 to westbound I-10.
From the San Fernando Valley or southern Orange County, take the I-405 to the I-10.
Driving toward Malibu Beach
When you reach Santa Monica via Interstate 10, you're in for a surprise.
After driving under a web of overpasses in the Santa Monica city center, Santa Monica Beach pops up on your left.
Suddenly, you're on Pacific Coast Highway—California's famed highway One—without even watching for a freeway exit.
Along this portion of the beach, a few buildings may periodically block your views, but you'll soon have an uninterrupted view of the Pacific.
You may be tempted to stop—but hold off—you'll return later.
Continue on "northbound" Pacific Coast Highway. You're actually traveling westbound all the way through Malibu and Zuma Beach to Point Mugu.
Because it faces south, this part of the California shoreline usually gets its best surf during the summer and fall Mexican hurricane season.
On your right, the Santa Monica Mountains rise out of the sea. If these cliffs look as if they're falling onto the highway, they are! This road closes nearly every year due to some big slide, and rocks can fall at any time. Note the barriers to protect you—hopefully.
Will Rogers State Historical Park sidetrip
If you get an early start, enjoy this optional scenic side trip. Otherwise, continue on Pacific Coast Highway.
After reaching the beach, watch for a major right turn. This is Chautaugua Boulevard.
Turn right onto Chautaugua Boulevard to visit the former ranch of actor and comedian Will Rogers, now Will Rogers State Historical Park. A brief visit here will take you back to the early days of Los Angeles.
From Chautaugua, turn right onto Sunset Boulevard.
Soon, Will Rogers State Park Road comes up on your left.
Turn left onto Will Rogers to reach the entrance.
The gardens around Rogers' home offer a nice place to picnic and watch polo on weekends, one of the very few places in North America where this can be done.
There are hiking trails, including one to Inspiration Point that gives awesome views of the coastline and Santa Monica Mountains. You'll see some great scenery in as little as 40 minutes walking. However, carry water, stay on the trails to avoid poison oak, and watch for rattlesnakes, which tend to stay out of the sun on warm days.
You're in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades.
The late President Ronald Reagan—whose personality bore a striking resemblance to Will Rogers—and First Lady Nancy Reagan lived in this area until Reagan became president. Steven Spielberg and other luminaries still do. Do not linger, as the best is yet to come.
Will Rogers State Beach and Topanga State Beach
If you visited Will Rogers State Historical Park, return to Pacific Coast Highway the way you came, and turn right.
Continue on Pacific Coast Highway.
You'll soon reach two great beaches—Will Rogers State Beach after turning back onto Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga State Beach up ahead.
Will Rogers State Beach provided the main filming venue for Baywatch, the most popular television show in history, with over one billion viewers to date.
Note the wonderfully tan quality of the sand here.
Stop if you wish, but there are even better beaches ahead.
Gladstone's
At the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway, at 17300 on the beach side, you'll find Gladstone's, one of the Malibu area's most famous restaurants.
Featuring seafood and great views, Gladstone's hosted Surya's team as winners of a weekly task during the 2006/2007 season of The Apprentice: LA. And Entourage had two foodies, Drama and Turtle, dining there.
Malibu Beach gateway
Continue on Pacific Coast Highway.
After Topanga State Beach, you've reached the eastern end of Malibu.
Surprisingly, the first homes you'll notice at the main gateway to Malibu are far less than impressive, but the people in these residences are living on the beach, and—hey—we're probably not.
Unusual in California, which prides itself on its extensive public beaches, a long stretch of Malibu offers very limited beach access.
However, marked public pathways between some homes give access to the water. Time your use with low tide, and do not approach the often alarm equipped houses.
Better yet, visit the fantastic public beaches discussed below.
Mel Gibson July 2006 arrest scene
Approximately one and a half miles beyond the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway with Topanga Canyon Road (California Highway 27), you'll notice Moonshadows Blue Lounge on your left at 20356 Pacific Coast Highway.
At this pleasant beachfront restaurant and bar, Mel Gibson allegedly got smashed on the night of July 27, 2006. Although the "Lethal Weapon" actor has admitted wrong doing, I say "allegedly" because of unresolved legal issues, such as the serving of liquor to someone who was possibly drunk.
The arrest occurred just beyond the restaurant in the same block on Pacific Coast Highway at 2:30 in the morning. Mel was allegedly clocked driving at nearly twice the speed limit—driving at 87 miles per hour—with an open container of alcohol (out of reach). As you know, remarks made by Gibson during the arrest prompted front page headlines around the world.
Spotting celebrities in Malibu
You'll find relatively few upscale restaurants and lounges like Moonshadows in Malibu. Especially during the evening, these public gathering places provide excellent venues to spot celebrities.
If you respect the privacy of well-known patrons—if you don't ask for autographs or stick cameras in their faces or otherwise act as if you don't belong—you may even get to interact with them, but let the celebrities initiate conversation. Mel Gibson, for example, had friendly conversations with strangers at Moonshadows on the night of his infamous arrest, when he did not feel threatened by them.
See also the the Malibu civic center and shopping area below.
Malibu Beach celebrity home areas
Soon after Moonshadows, wall-to-wall celebrity beach homes begin to line the beach side of Pacific Coast Highway starting before Los Flores Canyon Road and ending when you reach the commercial area of Malibu.
Many of these look less than impressive, as their windowless walls front the highway to keep down traffic noise.
Homes on the beach prior to Los Flores Canyon Road, called Los Flores Beach, are among those that are featured on Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing."
Other celebrity neighborhoods include the Malibu Colony, which you'll see later, and homes along Pacific Coast Highway as you drive toward Point Dume and Zuma Beach.
For additional privacy and living space, as well as isolation from the noise of Pacific Coast Highway, more and more top celebrities like Mel Gibson live on the hillsides—off the beach—especially beyond Malibu Pier.
Because the ownership of celebrity homes constantly changes as careers ebb and flow and marriages take place or fail, you're not going to get some grossly inaccurate "map to the stars" here.
Charles Manson home
However, one house will always remain infamous.
Beyond Los Flores Canyon Road, find the apartment building at 22119 Pacific Coast Highway on your right. No, I will not admit this was my first home in Malibu.
However, the even more truly—terribly—horrifically infamous crib is directly across the street, whose front is now entirely hidden by vines, where actress and singer Doris Day once lived.
No, it's not Doris who is infamous. She's one of the sweetest people to come out of the Hollywood star system.
This is where the notorious Charles Manson and his satanic musician friends lived, with permission given by Doris' son.
Manson composed music with the late Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and others on the beach in front.
Doris Day, who never visited here after the death of her husband, didn't have a clue about what was going on. Later, Manson followers murdered actress Sharon Tate and nearly assassinated President Ford.
These homes block your views, but that soon changes.
Malibu Surfriders Beach
The next public beach area comes up just beyond 22800 block of Pacific Coast Highway, next to the Malibu Pier, and it's a fine one.
Its official name is Malibu Lagoon State Beach, but everyone calls it Malibu Surfriders Beach or just Surfriders.
Without question, this is one of the top surfing spots in the world.
It's not the size of the waves, but their quality on many days. The long rides surfers enjoy are a joy to watch.
Finding parking in this area can be a nightmare, but grab any spot you find. Then enjoy the view from Malibu Pier, which is extensively used in film and television.
To the right of the pier—in the distance on the point—you'll notice the famed "Malibu Colony," an area of celebrity homes. A gatehouse prevents unauthorized auto access, but you can easily walk along its beach at low tide. Don't approach homes too closely, however. Otherwise, you may be cited for trespassing.
Just past the beach, in the palm-shaded lagoon area, Malibu Creek reaches the sea. You'll follow this creek later on. On the hill, in the cluster of homes above you, across the highway from the lagoon, Mel Gibson lives.
Continue west on Highway One and the Pacific Coast Highway.
Not far beyond the pier, you'll come to Malibu's civic center and main shopping area.
This provides a good place to stock a picnic lunch. During off-peak hours, the supermarket and other shops here (as well as, of course, periodically the courthouse and sheriff's station) offer good celebrity sighting. Leave them alone, however.
Pepperdine University
On the hill above the Malibu civic center, you'll notice Pepperdine University.
This striking hillside campus offers fine views of the Malibu coastline and the entrance to rugged Malibu Canyon.
Pepperdine's location remains controversial, and not just for environmental reasons.
After the deadly Watts riot of 1964, Pepperdine turned its back on South Central Los Angeles and moved its largely wealthy student body to Malibu, in contrast to nearby USC, which stood pat. Pepperdine feared significant loss of enrollment if it did not uproot.
An aside: Interestingly, University of Southern California students, who did not leave South Central, in my opinion, got the richer educational experience, as their university found numerous positive ways to interact with and improve its troubled neighborhood. In 1999, Time Magazine named USC its university of the year based in large part on this relationship. Today, USC takes in more disadvantaged students than any other large private university in the United States—many from schools in its neighborhood, where USC students tutor and coach—yet its first year SAT scores outrank UC Berkeley, UCLA—and—you guessed it—Pepperdine. UCLA, by the way, takes in more disadvantaged students than any other large public university in the U.S.—some 35% of its student body. (In the interest of full disclosure, I attended both UCLA and USC.)
Point Dume
Unless you decide to enroll immediately at Pepperdine after viewing its breathtaking location, continue on Pacific Coast Highway. Interestingly, the views are better driving this direction than if we came back on the beach side.
Beyond Pepperdine, several pleasant public beaches beckon, but carry on toward Zuma Beach County Park.
Prior to reaching Zuma, Point Dume with its small pier sticks out to your left.
On the television program "The Rockford Files," actor James Garner "lived" in a trailer adjacent to this pier.
On the bluff above, mobile homes in a true mobile home park recently started at $600,000 (although this has declined to a mere $325,000 in the current recession) for a small Airstream travel trailer. Most larger ones sell in the millions. Your money buys the mobile home and the right to park it, but not the land and space fee. You do get a spectacular view from portions of the park.
Zuma Beach
Several minutes later, you'll notice signs for Westward Beach Road and Point Dume State Beach, but do not attempt to turn left across Pacific Coast Highway.
Instead, turn right onto Busch Drive.
Then take the tunnel under Pacific Coast Highway to the entrance to the Zuma Beach parking lots. (There's free parking along Westward Beach Road, but frustrating to try and find it on warm days.)
Even on the hottest days, Zuma Beach seems to have space for everyone, especially if you walk toward Point Dume. You'll seldom feel crowded. Moreover, the usual traffic along Southern California beaches intrudes less here.
My sole complaints are the overly large changing rooms and other beach structures that intrude on the natural setting.
Zuma Beach provides a popular place for local college and high school students bask along these shores. Families also feel welcome.
You can experience great swimming at Zuma, but watch for rough surf during the late summer and fall Mexican hurricane season.
Be careful when the waves are large! They slam down hard—extremely hard. (This is from experience. I nearly broke my back body surfing at Zuma Beach.)
Rip tide safety hints
Take care at nearly all California beaches, which are known for their powerful rip tides, strong currents that run from near the shoreline out toward the open ocean.
When gripped in these, swimmers panic and exhaust themselves by swimming against the current trying to reach shore.
Instead, remain calm—easier said than done—and remember that rip tides run in narrow bands.
For your safety, swim perpendicular to the current, NOT against it, until you reach calmer water. Then you should easily be able to swim toward shore
Rip tides are not express routes to the Far East. At some point—usually quite quickly—they lose momentum and turn back toward shore.
Leo Carillo State Park
Continue "northbound" on Pacific Coast Highway.
Nature lovers will enjoy Leo Carillo State Beach.
Leo Carillo offers a picturesque setting with tide pools, rock formations, and coastal caves at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Because the surf at Leo Carillo becomes very rough at times and the rocks are sharp, use some care.
For information about the limited camping here, check the website above.
Alternative routes
At this point, you have two choices. In each case, you will pass through Point Mugu State Park, which offers the most undeveloped and rugged coastline near Los Angeles.
- You can return to Los Angeles today via the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, as outlined in
Los Angeles Scenic Drives, Part I-b
- You can go on Santa Barbara—an hour beyond Leo Carillo via Highway One and U.S. Highway 101—and stay overnight.
With one of the most pleasant urban environments in the U.S., the garden city of Santa Barbara is an absolute joy to visit. Its marked scenic drive leads you to nearly all the best places.
On your way back to Los Angeles, you can rejoin this scenic drive in Part I-b.
For weekends or any warm day, you must reserve Santa Barbara accommodation in advance.
Try to grab a discount on Hotwire.com.
Go on to —
Los Angeles Scenic Drives, Part I-b
