Legacy Park hosted hundreds of Malibu residents catered food and brought in live music on Sunday bringing locals together to honor the city’s 20th birthday.
To celebrate residents from all walks of life joined in the park to eat catered cuisine among modern art in the ambience of folk music. Even a handful of Pepperdine students enjoyed the free festivities as a way to integrate into the Malibu culture.
“Being from New York I don’t know too much about California Malibu especially freshman Rmani Crawford said. But being able to come out here today and see so many people that are proud to be a part of this community listening to good music and tasting great food I felt really welcomed.”
Freshman Bri Rhodes agrees that the light-hearted environment eased the strained relationship between Pepperdine students and the Malibu community.
“I always feel like there’s a tension between Malibu and Pepperdine but at this event with the free food and music there was some great bonding time Rhodes said. I think we built some bridges between the community and the school today.”
Just two decades ago Malibu became an independent city and held its first city council meeting at Malibu Junior High. After several years of battle with county authorities residents commemorated the victory of separation from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on March 28 1991.
From Malibu’s origination locals prized the “rural” beach town as a quiet haven from the overdeveloped area eastward in Los Angeles. Therefore when the LA Board of Supervisors proposed big sewage treatment facility plans the Malibu people rejected them three times sensing the underlying consequence of overdevelopment and a widened Pacific Coast Highway. Finally a vote was held in which 87 percent of locals voted for cityhood electing the first City Council members among 32 candidates.
This Monday the newly elected city councilmen had the first meeting in the new Malibu City Hall. The meeting continued the celebratory environment of the previous day’s activities as several original council members joined the new members as a nostalgic reflection of the city’s journey since 1991. The three original members in attendance were Carolyn Van Horn Missy Zeitsoff and Walt Keller the first mayor of Malibu.