Throughout its history, Malibu’s unique geography placed it at the mercy of numerous natural disasters, namely floods, fires, and mudslides.
A common and deeply-ingrained misconception amongst Californians is that their coastline is uniformly north-south. Around Malibu (and Santa Barbara) the coastline runs almost entirely east-west, as does its main artery, Pacific Coast Highway. While traveling northbound on the PCH through Malibu one is actually traveling west. Likewise, the Pacific Ocean is due south and the inland Santa Monica Mountains are north. Malibu residents often feed into this misconception by referring to areas near the Ventura County line as “North Malibu” and areas near Santa Monica as “South Malibu,” even though they are on virtually the same latitude.
Carbon Beach, Surfrider Beach, Broad Beach, Pirate’s Cove, Westward Beach, Zuma Beach, and Trancas are places along the coast in Malibu. Point Dume forms the northern end of the Santa Monica Bay, and the public park there affords a vista of stretching to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Santa Catalina Island.