Friday's New York Times has a real estate feature on aspiring Hollywood types who can't afford to buy an escape in Malibu but pretend they belong by renting an apartment on the beach for weekends. Shauna Robertson (right), a producer of "Elf" and "Anchorman," gets off cheaply by paying $2,800 a month for a shoebox one-bedroom on Las Flores Beach. Many pay $3,000 to $6,000 for those tiny apartments wedged between PCH and the water. "People go through this beach house period at a certain time in their lives," shrugs real estate agent Ann Eysenring.

