By Monday night, October 19, the sand in front of The Sunset Restaurant had become a six-foot vertical cliff. It was 30 to 40 feet from the front door. About a third of the pavement in front of the restaurant had fallen into the surf by that Sunday. As Malibu.FM reported the next day, crews were dumping rock down that sand cliff into the water, and about 95 percent of the beach width in front of the restaurant was gone. The restaurant's water had been shut off when the line along Westward Beach Road was exposed. Malibu.FM reported that service was restored and the restaurant reopened late that Tuesday.
Gray whale season at Point Dume opens in December. Los Angeles County lists the viewing season there as December through March. California State Parks extends it to mid-April. As of the county's October 30 update, the usual way onto the headland from the beach is closed, and the county has posted no completion date for the repairs around it.
The bottom of the headland sits behind a closed road
According to the Los Angeles County Beaches and Harbors page for Point Dume Beach, last updated October 30, the beach access road is closed to vehicles at all times, starting at the intersection of Westward Beach Road and Birdview Avenue. Pedestrians and cyclists are barred from active construction areas, and work there generally runs from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Restrooms 1, 2 and 3 are closed because of damage to the water service, and temporary toilets and handwashing stations stand in for them.
The closed road is not a side entrance. The same county page describes Point Dume Beach as more than a mile of ocean frontage, 34 acres of sand and 373 parking spaces, at 7103 Westward Beach Road. Those 373 spaces are the lower lot, and the State Parks notice for Point Dume State Beach says road access to it is currently unavailable. The beach itself remains accessible.
The closure matters most for the whale season because of where the trail starts. State Parks puts the start of the Point Dume Nature Preserve trail at the cul-de-sac at the end of Westward Beach Road. From there, a gradual trail climbs to an ancient coastal bluff sand dune and a summit that looks over all of Santa Monica Bay. That cul-de-sac is past the closed segment, so the trail now starts behind the closure.
The Malibu Times clarified one point on October 21, after the City of Malibu corrected an earlier announcement. Westward Beach Road and Birdview Avenue themselves remain open to traffic. Only the road into the Point Dume Beach parking lot is closed to vehicles. Parking along Westward Beach Road has shrunk as well. Malibu.FM counted about a dozen spaces lost to the ocean as of October 20, though most of the road was still open for parking.
"Substantially complete" refers to the road project, not the beach
City Hall had better news at the October 26 City Council meeting, and on its face it sounds like the problem is solved. The Malibu Times account of that meeting quotes City Manager Joe Irvin:
"The city and county substantially completed their shared work on Oct. 23. Minor items are remaining on that scope of work."
That shared work was the emergency rock revetment near Birdview Avenue. It protects the roadway, a water main, a fire hydrant and access to the beach parking area. The Malibu Times reported an estimated cost of $766,025. The City of Malibu pays 70 percent, or $536,217.50, and the county pays $229,807.50. Irvin also said the county's contractor had done protective work beyond the original construction area, where more erosion had recently occurred.
The county runs its own repair program at Point Dume Beach, and that program is not finished. Its timeline shows the following:
- Completed: about 235 feet of revetment in Area 1 and a replacement water main and meter. Between September 8 and October 23, about 230 feet of new revetment went in at Area 2 and about 230 feet of existing revetment was repaired at Area 3.
- Under way since October 26: work to protect the lifeguard building and two restrooms.
- Still planned: repairs to about 325 feet of revetment in Area 4, installation and reconnection of the remaining water line, and roadway and drainage repairs that are still being designed.
The county gives no completion date for the ongoing or planned work. The access road itself still needs road and drainage repairs, and those are still in design.
The Los Angeles Times reported in August that high tides and high surf, including swells linked to Hurricane Genevieve, caused the first round of damage. Another section gave way on October 19, just west of the existing rock. It undermined part of Westward Beach Road and broke a county water main. At the same October 26 meeting, Irvin said heavier rain was expected "in the near future."
Above the closure, the bluff-top lot is small
State Parks lists a second way onto Point Dume, from above. Free two-hour parking is available at the top of the headland, and the agency calls it extremely limited. Parking is not allowed in the surrounding residential areas. Some disabled parking runs along Cliffside Drive next to the bluff-top park area. The cul-de-sac trail is the longer climb to the summit. Starting from Cliffside Drive skips most of it, but the viewing platform still involves "a slight grade," in the agency's words.
That platform is the best spot for whales in wind. State Parks describes a boardwalk just below the summit that leads to a viewing platform, which "tends to be more sheltered on a windy day." From the top, on a clear day, the view takes in Santa Monica Bay, the north Malibu coast, the inland Santa Monica Mountains and Catalina Island.
The lower lot holds 373 spaces, and State Parks calls the free parking at the top extremely limited. A bus avoids the parking problem altogether. The county lists Metro Bus 534 service to the Cliffside/Dume stop. Dogs are not allowed at Point Dume State Beach.
Two work schedules shape a whale morning
Two work schedules now run in the western half of Malibu, and both end at 3 p.m. The county's crews at Point Dume generally work from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Pacific Coast Highway, the City of Malibu's October 27 traffic advisory says the paving project from Malibu Lagoon to the Ventura County line works weekdays from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., with at least one lane open in each direction. That project, which also covers curb ramps, guardrails, signals and striping, is scheduled to run through winter 2029/30.
The PCH crews work weekday mornings and early afternoons, and the Point Dume crews generally work from before dawn until 3 p.m. A practical whale morning this season looks like this:
- Pick a weekend or a weekday after 3 p.m. That keeps you clear of the PCH paving window, and Point Dume's construction day generally ends at the same hour.
- Plan to start from the top. Bring an alternative in case the two-hour spaces near Cliffside Drive are full, such as Metro 534 to Cliffside/Dume or parking along Westward Beach Road.
- Head for the boardwalk platform if it's windy. It is the sheltered spot below the summit.
- Check the county page before going. The Point Dume Beach advisory is updated as work moves from one area to the next.
For a count to compare against, the American Cetacean Society's Los Angeles chapter returns to Point Vicente on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on December 1 for its shore-based gray whale census. Its volunteers count from December 1 through late May, during daylight hours, seven days a week, and the chapter posts its latest count online. The whales passing Palos Verdes are moving along the same coast that passes Point Dume.
At Gary Glass Estates, we follow the changes to the Malibu coastline, including access points like Point Dume. If you are weighing a property near Point Dume or Westward Beach and want to understand how access and the repair schedule could affect daily life there, we are glad to talk it through privately. Request a Private Showing, and we will plan the visit around the hours and routes that work this season.
