‘The Surfer’s Palm Tree’

from The Malibu Times • February 2, 2023

LEGAL NOTICES

Malibu’s forgotten history

The palm tree at the Topanga intersection links us to the surfers of the 1940s, particularly Randall Edward “Ted” Berkeley (1912-1997), a greensman who rescued it from a lm set, and wrote the tale in e Malibu Times (1977-12-02).

“…as I rounded the corner of the stage, I almost stepped on a thirsty little palm in a one gallon can … [that] had served its photographic purpose to the industry ... I picked it up and … drove to my shack on the coast highway ….

[M]y wife held a ashlight while I planted the little palm.”

Ted, his wife Sylvia (19192000), and their daughters Bonnie (1938-2011) and Wendy (b. 1943) rented their green shack in the summer of 1943. A Pasadena High School swimmer, he got into sur ng with his best friend Steve Balker, whose VW van ferried them up and down the coast. He surfed in red trunks like another buddy, Santa Monica lifeguard Pete Peterson, and made his own wooden surfboards using a butcher knife and sand paper. He was lucky enough to meet, probably at San Onofre, early Hawaiian surfer Duke Kahanamoku.

He wore laced pants and tennis shoes without socks like a sailor, and had all the typical tattoos: a ship, a sparrow, a star, a spider.

He greased his hair back and lifted weights. His daughters only saw him cry once, when their dog Moose, an Irish Setter, was killed on PCH.

“Ted was macho,” says neighbor Larry Franklin (b. 1930). “He would go the icehouse behind Potter’s Topanga Trading Post [now the Malibu Feed Bin] and carry a block of ice home on his bare shoulder. He was great at getting along with people, and probably the handsomest guy I’d seen.”

Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Ted and his siblings moved to Hollywood in 1918 for his mother’s respiratory problem. Separated from her husband, she started working as a lm extra.

Ted grew into a teenage daredevil, racing cars and motorcycles when he was barely old enough to drive, and making deliveries for bootleggers. He moved to San Francisco in the 1930s to work on the Golden Gate Bridge, but got a e construction, which took a little more than four years, was built with sustainability standards and is LEED certi ed. Its systems are water and energy efficient, using passive air ventilation and a circulation system controlled by window louvers. ere’s a green roof, storm water retention basin, and drought-tolerant landscaping. e campus includes two classrooms, an art studio, computer lab, and lecture hall. ere’s even a lactation room. A multi-purpose room abuts the building’s wing housing the Los Angeles County Sheri ’s substation. e exible space can double as an Emergency Operations Center.

“ is building has an innovative design,” said SMC Malibu Associate Dean Alice Meyering. “It’s kind of open on the top so it encourages people to move around. In that way it kind of ts the area of Malibu.” An extensive tile mosaic inside the building’s entrance she commented “honors its Malibu location” and vicinity to the beach. from e People Concern. Some area surveys involved drive-by counting from a vehicle, while other areas involved getting out on foot.

On Wednesday, Jan. 25, Malibu participated for the eighth year in a row in LA County’s annual homeless count, coordinated by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

A volunteer force of 23 members of the community fanned out in small groups across the 21 miles of Malibu to conduct the count, including two members of the Homelessness Task Force, and the two members of Malibu’s homeless outreach team

Capt. Seetoo said incorporating the community in a group e ort will be e ective in preventing burglaries

Burglaries continue to be a concern not just locally, but across Los Angeles County. Malibu/Lost Hills Sheri ’s Capt. Jennifer Seetoo

“We can’t provide a rough estimate of the number [of unhoused] yet, given that the numbers undergo an extensive data analysis process, but I can say that volunteers counted individuals, families, cars, RVs, tents, and makeshift shelters to ensure we get as accurate a count as possible,” said Luis Flores, public safety liaison for the City of Malibu, and handson site coordinator for the last two counts.

He went on to explain that LAHSA utilized a new Homeless Count App built by a new vendor with years of experience developing apps for homeless counts across the country, called ArcGIS Quick said the department will maximize resources to create a task force to combat burglaries in Malibu and neighboring communities. Multi-level collaboration of law enforcement agencies and community leaders will share information and resources to better address burglaries.

During the Las VirgenesMalibu Council of Governments board meeting on Jan. 17, Seetoo said the department is ramping