NEIGHBORHOODS

BIG ROCK

President Ulysses S. Grant issued Henry Keller a grant in 1805 with the name Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit, arguably the first recorded use of the word Malibu. William Randolph Hearst bought the majority of the Big Rock area in 1936 and planned to develop a residence there. In 1944, he sold the lower half of his interests to Art Jones. Phillip McAnany bought 80 acres in the Big Rock area's upper reaches. Jones sold a piece of land in the upper Big Rock region to Pierce Sherman, a Pacific Palisades realtor. Upper Big Rock Drive, Rockcroft Drive, Seaboard Road, Rockpoint Way, and many others were graded by Sherman. In 1959, the lower mesa was created. The name Big Rock was inspired by a big rock at the bottom of Big Rock Drive.

LA COSTA

La Costa was the first neighborhood developed in Malibu, which is located in Eastern Malibu. In 1926, developer Harold Ferguson bought the La Costa beachfront and hillside from May Rindge's Marblehead Land Company for the sum of $6 million. Ferguson created the La Costa Beach Club for landside property owners and he had plans to develop the beach lots. Ferguson named and developed many streets that still remain today such as Rambla Pacifico, Las Flores, and Rambla Vista. It extends from the intersection of Rambla Vista and Pacific Coast Highway to the cross of Rambla Pacifico and Pacific Coast Highway.