Malibu loses its character as celebrities and chain stores take over

Residents decry the decline of their community as family-run concerns are priced out by big business
Some seafront homes in Malibu cost more than £100,000 a month to rent, with the rise in property prices driving local businesses and residents away. Photograph: David Mcnew/Getty Images

It was once a sleepy seaside town, a place where surfers could shop at family-owned markets alongside celebrities such as Goldie Hawn and John McEnroe, who admired Malibu's laid-back feel in a town of Hollywood hustlers.

All that has now changed, say long-time Malibu residents, who complain that a series of rent hikes has forced small shops out and brought higher-end boutique stores in.

With luxury chains such as Missoni and James Perse replacing the city's well-loved independent bookshops and family-run restaurants, locals have been forced to adjust to the changes. "Paparazzi Zone" placards now dot the Spanish stucco walls of Malibu's plazas. There are celebrity Rolls-Royces and BMWs with blacked-out windows in the car parks, and yachts owned by billionaires such as Larry Ellison and Roman Abramovich often occupy the sun-drenched bay.

"Malibu really used to be 'the boonies', a place where people rode their horses to the local market to do their shopping and the clothing store sold nothing but cowboy gear with buckles and boots," said resident Judy Van Schoyck, a local estate agent of 20 years' standing. "Then, just like the rest of LA, it got developed. A university came in, more people moved here, and property prices went up. Now you can rent a house on the beach for $170,000 [£108,000] a month, and mom-and-pop stores just couldn't afford to stay."

As the locals moved out, drawn by lower rents further afield, investors moved in. Many of Malibu's businesses, which residents say long defined the city's sense of self, were bought out by businessmen who some tenants say are "only interested in profits, not community". 

In the newly rechristened Malibu Village, only a handful of the original businesses remain after a sale in 2007 that saw their rent increase three-fold to $18,000 a month, said one tenant who wished to remain anonymous.

"People think that because this is Malibu, everyone has tonnes of money and they don't mind spending $10 on an ice cream or $500 on a T-shirt. But not everyone's rich, and not even the rich people want to waste their money like that," the tenants said.

"Now the locals would rather go over the hill [to an adjacent city] to save even just a couple of dollars than come down here, because there's nothing for them to do here anymore, nowhere to hang out."

Concerned residents have taken up the matter at council meetings, where solutions to "bring back the community" have centred around retaining a certain percentage of stores for local retailers.

But for some disgruntled residents, it may be too late.

"I miss the old way of life, having stores that actually provide a service to me, of knowing who works in the store, who owns the store, who's who around here," says Greg Latham, a former stuntman who has lived in Malibu for 40 years.

"I think it's kind of over, that it may be time to move. But I also know it's up to us, the locals, to support the local shops – or whatever remains of them – and buy and do what we can here in Malibu while we can."