Sunday, July 10, 2016

King and Queen of Malibu

"The King and Queen of Malibu" by David K. Randall was very interesting. Back in the late 1880s, Frederick and May Rindge bought the Malibu Rancho, intending to use it as their family get away from the hustle and bustle of the ever expanding Los Angeles area. Unfortunately, Frederick died young, but May was determined to keep his dream alive. After decades of court battles, fights with homesteading neighbors, newspaper editorials calling her the most hated woman in Los Angeles, May finally lost the battle to keep Malibu underpopulated when the Great Depression wiped her out financially. Because of May Rindge, we have the Pacific Coast Highway. Today wealthy residents of Malibu are still fighting to keep people off their "private" beach. It really raised some interesting questions about what rights property holders have versus the good of the community at large.

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