Ben Marcus Rules

First question: Where is Surf Canyon? That’s a nice space back there: Quiet and pastoral. Fresh air. 
Surf Canyon is in the heart of Malibu, at the back of Cross Creek Road. Surfrider is the front. Surf Canyon is the back. Malibu has lost her heart and gone a bit astray in recent years, and in a way we hope Surf Canyon can help bring that back. To be a real place, with real people, and real small businesses. 

How much of that space is being taken up by Surf Canyon?

It is all called Surf Canyon. Welcome!

Second question: Who is Surf Canyon? Who are the masterminds behind it? Who are the tenants?
Surf Canyon is an eclectic community of Local businesses, creatives, artists, chefs, and farmers. 

Third question: Why is Surf Canyon? What is your manifesto? What need is Surf Canyon creating and/or filling?
We are building a community based on love, compassion, and trust. We value good people doing good things. This is about building something beautiful. In this day and age we have lost a lot of core simple things that are vital to human existence. Local shops/artisans have been the heart of any community throughout history. In Malibu we have none, and there are clear reasons for this that I won’t go into detail about right now. But this City and this Community needs to start prioritizing local businesses and figuring out how to initiate sound principles of urban planning and architecture. We need beauty, we need art, we need people making things with their hands. We need to learn how to start taking care of each other and supporting each other.

Fourth question: How much is Surf Canyon? How many spaces do you have and what does it cost to use them?
The rent here is affordable for people, and we value bringing in individuals and businesses that we feel like are a big win to Surf Canyon and the Malibu community, instead of being simply focused on signing leases and charging the highest possible rents.

Fifth question: To quote Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap: "What are the hours?" When is the Surf Canyon open? Does it ever close and stay open for late-night midnight oil burners working on projects?
We’re open every day, but right now our busiest times are Wednesday through Saturday. 

Sixth question goes back to the original: Where is Surf Canyon going? What is the master plan?
Surf Canyon is a set of values, there is no master plan. The downfall of a lot of other properties is they all have been built based on a master plan: mangled together by a small group of people behind closed doors, with an avant garde architect on an ego trip. Look all over California, it’s nothing but Suburban Sprawl. 

Oh yeah, I know all about that. I call it “Suburban Gack.” It’s awful. There are more people living between Santa Barbara and Mexico than in all of Australia. Los Angeles County has 10,000,000+ people.  
This is the problem our society faces. Beautiful urban spaces can only be built by groups of normal people, not consultants and architects with master plans. Think of any beautiful village or town, they were all built by many people over a period of time, naturally and authentically.

I have a word for that: “Agouraphobia.” The fear that Malibu will become indistinguishable from the rest of Southern California. This is the last, best place. And you’re absolutely right to want to preserve a philosophy that goes back to the original Malibu Film Colony: A quiet, sunny place for creatives.

A lot of the commercial developments/buildings  that have been built in the last 30-40 years in Malibu look a lot like Agoura to me, and it’s the same all over California and the United States. Americans for the most part build cheap, ugly, buildings, and we build suburban sprawl. 80% or more of this entire country is suburban sprawl - shopping centers and tract homes.  

It’s gross. I lived in Orange County for 10 years. In a beautiful house on the nicest street in San Clemente and I wanted to kill myself. Orange County is a classic example of suburban sprawl: It’s a non-stop strip mall from Seal Beach to Camp Pendleton. Yuck.
This started predominantly in the 1950-60s when modern architecture and single-use zoning/suburban sprawl became the name of the game. Now 80+ years later we’re just now beginning to realize that this form of development and urban planning creates places that are ugly, not walkable, and have no sense of place or beauty.
Malibu mountains and beaches are beautiful, but in terms of its built environment, it’s almost the same as anywhere else in America, shopping centers and suburban sprawl. 

You may use “Agouraphobia” if you like.
Agoura is just one city that is an example of that but look at all over Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Look at Orange County, look all over California. It’s all the same form of development, single use zoning/suburban sprawl. People have seen this almost century-long trend of development and they have almost forgotten what beautiful buildings and beautiful urban planning looks like. People are anti-development for good reason, they have seen so many ugly projects get built, they don’t want this trend to continue in their communities. 

I have another word for that. I call it “mallaise.” That sick feeling when you walk around a shopping mall.  I don’t think I’m the only one that feels that way. Although I must admit, I liked going to Fashion Island in Newport and South Coast Plaza. They had a store for the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art that had cool stuff.

But if you feel that, the good news is, shopping malls are dropping like poached rhinos. They’re dying.

That being said, simply being against building or development of all forms isn’t the solution. We have to learn how to build beautiful buildings and urban areas again. We have to reawaken these skills. Humans know how to do this naturally, and we built beautiful towns/villages for thousands of years.