A Day in Malibu: Art Among Sun, Sand, Surf, and Ashes

After visiting the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I went to two villas in Malibu, not far from each other and about as different as you could imagine. There’s the Getty Villa, the Getty’s antiquities museum built by J. Paul Getty as a full-scale reproduction of the Villa of Papyri, a deluxe Roman home buried by volcanic ash in a.d. 79 when Mount Vesuvius blew its top. The other, infinitely more modest but more endearing and picturesque, is the Adamson House, a house museum, home of the tiny Malibu Lagoon Museum, and America’s Alhambra, as it’s called for its exquisite and prolific tile. The house is a hidden treasure. The Getty Villa is stately and tops a steep hill. The Adamson House is on Malibu’s Surfrider Beach, one of the world’s best surfing beaches. The house is Mission Revival, and the tile covering many of the walls and floors is Art Deco.

The last time I visited the Adamson House was in 2022 right after California allowed museums to open in the wake of the Chinese coronavirus mass hysteria, vacation from reality, and power-abuse orgy. Its website said it was open that day, but the two-person staff hadn’t gotten the memo, so no tour, and visitors can walk through the impressive, tile-bedecked house only with a docent. I was left to wander the grounds — the two tiled fountains, the exterior, and the sweeping beach I saw were hors d’oeuvres for this visit. Things seem less podunk these days. A park ranger greets visitors, and our volunteer docent was decent. Docents usually compose their own tours and get a wide berth.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

After visiting the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I went to two villas in Malibu, not far from each other and about as different as you could imagine. There’s the Getty Villa, the Getty’s antiquities museum built by J. Paul Getty as a full-scale reproduction of the Villa of Papyri, a deluxe Roman home buried by volcanic ash in a.d. 79 when Mount Vesuvius blew its top. The other, infinitely more modest but more endearing and picturesque, is the Adamson House, a house museum, home of the tiny Malibu Lagoon Museum, and America’s Alhambra, as it’s called for its exquisite and prolific tile. The house is a hidden treasure. The Getty Villa is stately and tops a steep hill. The Adamson House is on Malibu’s Surfrider Beach, one of the world’s best surfing beaches. The house is Mission Revival, and the tile covering many of the walls and floors is Art Deco.

The last time I visited the Adamson House was in 2022 right after California allowed museums to open in the wake of the Chinese coronavirus mass hysteria, vacation from reality, and power-abuse orgy. Its website said it was open that day, but the two-person staff hadn’t gotten the memo, so no tour, and visitors can walk through the impressive, tile-bedecked house only with a docent. I was left to wander the grounds — the two tiled fountains, the exterior, and the sweeping beach I saw were hors d’oeuvres for this visit. Things seem less podunk these days. A park ranger greets visitors, and our volunteer docent was decent. Docents usually compose their own tours and get a wide berth.