Jenny Price's detailed directions on how to find and get into Malibu's less-well-marked beaches pretty much nixes any chance that David Geffen would give up his quixotic quest to buy the Los Angeles Times and embrace the online future by swallowing our newsy little website. That's OK. Her Guide to Malibu's hidden beaches proved to be the summer's best-read and most-linked-to entry at Native Intelligence. Now she's back with Part II, a Thanksgiving edition with the inside scoop on how to walk off your dinner on the sand at Latigo Road, Malibu Road and the Malibu Colony. Remember, all non-military beaches in California are public up to the mean high tide line, no matter what the neighbors might say.

This is a great time of year to go. The sea turns to painterly grays and dark blues, and crowds are nonexistent. And the winter months bring spectacular super-low tides, generally around the full moon. Check the tide tables in the L.A. Times (look for negative ##s, esp. lower than -1), or on one of the tide prediction websites.

And do check the tables, because these beaches are very narrow--as are all the beaches east of Broad--and along many stretches, the tide often comes up to the houses. The obvious downside is that you often can't use them at high tide. The good news, though, is that while all these beaches are public to the "mean high tide line" (working definition: the wet sand), there often isn't a lot of private dry sand to worry about.

Continued at Native Intelligence...

Price, a regular LA Observed contributor, is the author of Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America and is at work on a new book, 13 Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A. She had an op-ed piece recently in the New York Times on the cultural symbol of the plastic pink flamingo.

Speaking of autumn in Malibu: Veronique de Turenne at Here in Malibu photographs egrets, hummingbirds and the dominant local species: a new home development.

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