Geoffrey’s, Howdy’s and Zuma Jay’s are three local businesses in Malibu with history rooted in Malibu.
For the owners of all three, hard work and passion enabled them to build their businesses. For Jeffrey Peterson, the owner of Geoffrey’s, faith also played a role.
“In life, if you never set goals, you’ll never know if you get to the finish line,” Peterson said.
Geoffrey’s
In 1983, Harvey Baskin opened the oceanfront Malibu restaurant Geoffrey’s. Four years later, Jeffrey Peterson started working there as a busboy.
Now, he is the owner.
When Baskin died in 1997, Peterson was trying to find a way to gather enough money to buy the restaurant. When his church’s pastor told him to ask God for help, Peterson realized it was the one effort he hadn’t made. Then he started to pray.
“Two days later, the family calls me and they say, ‘Do you remember the deal that we said we’d never do? Well, we’ll loan you all the money,’” Peterson said. “So I went from trying to get a piece of the restaurant, to ending up owning the whole restaurant by myself.”
Although it is now a Malibu staple, Geoffrey’s has roots in old Hollywood. It used to be called the Holiday House, which famed silent film director Dudley Murphy opened in 1948.
“The rumors were that Marilyn Monroe and JFK used to have rendezvous there at the hotel and restaurant,” Peterson said. “Back in the day, it was such a far drive for people to get out there, it was kind of a secluded spot where people would run to.”
Once Murphy died in the ‘70s, the restaurant fell into financial turmoil, going into bankruptcy soon after. That was when Harvey decided to purchase Holiday House and rebrand it to Geoffrey’s in Malibu. When Peterson later took over the restaurant, he put his own twist on it.
“What I tried to do is create a creative environment that’s beautiful,” Peterson said. “Flowers and gardens and waterfalls. But then on top of that, trying to get great food and really friendly service, which I think sets us apart.”
Geoffrey’s is a place where Peterson said people go for special moments in their lives — whether it’s for a first date or an anniversary. Invested in keeping that meaningful Geoffrey’s legacy alive, Peterson said he has a 25-year plan for the local hotspot.
“People laugh at me and say, ‘Wait 25 years, you’re going to be ancient by then,’” Peterson said.
He said the biggest goal is to open a Geoffrey’s hotel in addition to the restaurant.
“God has a bigger plan for you,” Peterson said.
Howdy’s
Howdy Kabrins, the owner of Howdy’s Sonrisa Cafe, is a restaurateur. He opened his first restaurant, La Salsa, in 1979 in West Los Angeles, according to the Howdy’s Cafe website, and by 1986, he owned six locations around L.A. County.
His nephew Silvano Perez said Kabrins had a lot of influence on the restaurant industry at the time.
“He is one of the guys that started to change the way Americans see Mexican food,” Perez said.
Kabrins ended up selling La Salsa in 1992 and opened Howdy’s Taqueria in Malibu in 1995. In the past 28 years, they have gained loyal customers in Malibu — and a big portion of them are Pepperdine students.
Junior Luke Brown first tried Howdy’s when he was visiting Pepperdine, and when he moved to campus, he began eating there regularly.
“The food is very good,” Brown said. “It’s all very high quality. They have steak burritos, sushi burritos, quesadillas, breakfast food, everything you can imagine. The service is also amazing. I’ve gotten to know several people there so it’s always fun to go.”
Perez said it is one of the company’s biggest missions to make sure customers are treated with care, and that is part of the reason he loves having Pepperdine students around.
“Every time I walk in and Blanca, the cashier, [is there] she’s like, ‘Hey how are you? How’s your week and school?’” Brown said.
Perez now runs the restaurant with his uncle, but before Kabrins asked for Perez’s help in the family business, Perez worked for a hotel in Tulum, Mexico, for two and a half years — an experience he said was very different.
“It’s much easier to work with these guys, because they already know what they need to do and that makes everything so much easier,” Perez said.
In Malibu, Perez recently extended the business and opened a sushi restaurant, Sushi by Howdy, next to Sonrisa Cafe, and they are also working on opening restaurants in Brentwood and Hollywood. He said they are trying to get back to serving on the Pepperdine campus as well, which Brown said students would be happy about.
“I used to eat there, actually every day,” Brown said. “Now we can’t because Bon Appetit doesn’t allow outside vendors.”
Zuma Jay’s
Jefferson Wagner said he was always more of a sailor but didn’t have the budget to open a sailing parts store.
So he opened a surf shop instead.
He said he started surfing at the age of 10, and it quickly became a passion.
“Parents would bring you to the beach and give you $1 and leave you at the beach in the morning and come fetch you in the afternoon,” Wagner said. “That’s how it was.”
Wagner opened Zuma Jay’s in 1968. He started shaping the store in his late teens and opened it in his early 20s by himself. He said for the next 13 years, he slept on the floor and took showers with the hose to afford the shop.
Even though Malibu has grown and changed significantly since Wagner opened his PCH surf shop, he said he remains dedicated to what he has always strived for with his business.
He said he makes sure the products he is selling are the best of the best function-wise, rather than focusing on the looks of them, in comparison to Becker Surf by Ralphs and CVS in Malibu.
“They [Becker Surf] send us so much business that they have an open account at Starbucks on my credit card,” Wagner said. “I’m constantly rewarding them for sending me so much business.”
_________________________________
Follow Currents Magazine on Twitter: @PeppCurrents and Instagram: @currentsmagazine
Contact Anežka Lišková via email: anezka.liskova@pepperdine.edu
