Nestled along the iconic Pacific Coast Highway is Malibu Seafood. It started off as a small fish market in the early ’70s by Wayne Caywood, shortly after Mark Ridgway joined him.
Caywood was a commercial fisherman who focused on lobster and swordfish. At first, he had a retail market on the Malibu Pier. One day, he was fishing with Ridgway and convinced him to get on board with his business.
“The rest is history, and we are still partners and good friends for over 50 years,” Mark explained.
It then expanded into a restaurant in 1977.
Born and raised in Culver City, Ridgway started his fishing career as a kid in the Marina del Rey jetties, and his future career path kind of just fell into place.
For five decades, Malibu Seafood has proudly been a family-owned business.
“My wife and I, and Wayne, worked together side by side for years. My wife and I worked together, day in and day out. She developed a lot of the recipes, putting things together, moving things forward, making things better all the time, like recipes, menu items,” he gushed. “She still is involved in keeping things current and fresh, and now my daughter Alette is here, and my other daughter, Kendall, also works for us while she’s getting a master’s in speech therapy…My brother-in-law came on about 20 years ago, John Christensen, so there’s always an owner with a vested interest as how things run and keeping the patrons happy.”
Alette reminisced about going to the restaurant as a kid, with her father bringing her as early as 6:00 a.m.
“I went off to school, and I worked here a little bit in between. After I graduated, I decided that I wanted to be here full time and be an owner and just make this my career,” Alette explained. “My favorite part about working here would be just everybody that I work with. We all have a lot of fun. We joke around, and it’s just a good work environment. Looking at the ocean all day doesn’t hurt.”
“She likes the dolphins!” her dad exclaimed. “They come by almost every day.”
To add to the amazing ocean view is the food. When it comes to Malibu Seafood’s menu, the fan favorite is their fish and fries.
“Almost everybody who comes orders it,” Alette said. “With it always comes our tartar sauce, which most people ask for seconds and thirds of. It’s just what people come here worldwide for.”
The black steamed mussels in garlic butter broth are perfect for those wanting something light with a lot of protein. The traditional New England Clam Chowder in a bread bowl is popular year-round.
A couple of years ago, Malibu Seafood added a lobster roll on a brioche bun, which immediately became a favorite as well.
The eatery also offers grilled plates, which comes with two sides. Their Patagonian shrimp plate comes with a garlic butter on top alongside their famous cocktail sauce.
While the menu has evolved over the years, the Ridgways like to keep the establishment itself “old school.”
“We’re not using tablets inside. Everything’s handwritten, goes to the kitchen that way, picnic tables outside. I think people come to expect that it’s kind of a warm, homey feeling,” Mark said.
He’s still amazed the business is still here, half a century later.
“We’ve survived a lot of fires, floods, highway closures, and of course, what’s going on now with the aftermath the Palisades fire, which has been the most devastating of all,” he explained.
In the aftermath of the devastating fire, Alette recalled how important it was to reopen as soon as possible to serve the community.
“We really tried to just be here for the community. We opened as soon as we could, even though we were just mostly serving people who were living in Malibu, and in our small community,” she said. “It was important for us to just be here, for people. We have a fresh fish business that a lot of people rely on to plan dinners and lunches, and then also to be able to feed everybody working here. We had so many firefighters, so many police, sheriff’s deputies, and even now, we still have everybody that’s picking up all of the rubble from the fire. So it’s important that we’re here and that we can give them some food.”