KERIANN BOONE
Living Columnist
Malibu is known for its soft beaches, incredible waves and breathtaking sunsets. It is not, however, known for its strong sense of community. Pepperdine is strategically located in the heart of this small beachside district, yet it could never be more distant.
What does a Pepperdine student really know about Malibu? Why don’t students interact more often with the locals? Do students even know any locals?
Quite possibly the best place to spend four years of college, Pepperdine draws students from all corners of the world. As a result, students meet and interact with a vast variety of cultures.
However, few students choose to venture down the sapphire hills and into the depths of the city below. Certainly someone who has spent his or her entire life in Malibu has an interesting tale or two.
The relationship between Malibuites and Pepperdine students has been one of distance, dislike and curiosity. Locals see the students as snotty, rich kids who don’t know how to surf. Ironically, Pepperdine students see Malibu locals as, well, the same.
Yet behind those towering walls and offensive “Private Beach” signs live real people who — gasp! — carry out actual lives. According to Walker Ragsdale, a Malibu local whose wife, Claudia, graduated Pepperdine in 1991, most of the families living in Malibu when he was young were middle-class. The insanely rich, celebrity herd is a recent phenomenon.
Locals who grew up in the city before it became a fad carry out a typical life — they work. They own many of the small boutiques and businesses native to Malibu. They work in places such as Duke’s, Becker’s, and even the infamous Dume Room.
Pepperdine students interact monetarily with Malibu locals on a daily basis. They see the same people working the same cash registers every day, yet never get past, “And $2 is your change.” The farthest their relationship could possibly go is an imaginary, elaborate story about a man named Skeletor sweeping through the Peppervine.
Students seem to forget that Malibu is a town full of town people, where everybody knows everybody. Oh, except for Pepperdine students.
So how exactly does a Pepperdine student go about befriending the townsfolk of Malibu? Certainly Pepperdine students are too engrossed with endless hours of tedious, mind-blowing homework. They simply don’t have the time to mingle about with social matters.
Each week, this column will feature a different Malibu resident. These locals will tell their own stories, hopefully clarifying all the hovering speculation about them and encouraging students to venture off of campus every once in a while to brush shoulders with the locals.
01-26-2006
