Surfrider hotel promoted concert it promised city to skip Play

The Surfrider Malibu hotel advertised an outdoor concert to be held on both sides of PCH yesterday. It's not clear if the concert actually went off.

If so, it would be a massive violation of Malibu zoning rules — and, no doubt, yet another traffic jam in what is becoming Malibu's daytime nightclub district.

The manager of the Malibu Surfrider promised the city last week that his business would not have anything to do with the outdoor concert at the pier. But he appeared on Los Angeles television yesterday inviting people to enjoy the concert from the rooftop bar at his hotel at Surfrider Beach.

On CBS LA, a reporter asked manager Corey Da Silva how his hotel was involved. "Yeah, so we're set up to be the hospitality home base for the weekend, where people can kind of get away from the event for a little bit and come relax on the roof deck bar and restaurant," Da Silva said. "Anyone that wants to come to the event that is looking to stay over the night, that's where we set ourselves up."

Da Silva stopped just short of saying that tickets were available for admission to the rooftop bar.

There were no city event permits issued for any of this. The city granted a permit for outside events on the pier, but not in its parking lot. The city tells us there were no permits pulled for the beach, the beach parking lot, the parking lots at Malibu Surfrider, or outdoors at Aviator Nation. Outdoor concerts are not allowed ever at Malibu Surfrider or Aviator Nation.

Last week, the manager of the hotel told the city in writing that "The Surfrider Malibu will not be hosting a stage or participating as an event venue for Sunday Sessions." He also told the city in writing that "no Sunday Sessions programming, performances, or event-related activities will be hosted on our property."

Yet there was Da Silva promoting the event on CBS Los Angeles yesterday morning. "Last year was super successful. It was the beginning of it so we just wanted to make the awareness happen throughout LA and make sure that everyone knew that Malibu was still here," he said. "We expected it to grow, we're really excited it has gained traction. We have heard great feedback. People are really enjoying the music, the vibes. Malibu just gives off a very laid-back surf culture beach environment so that's what we're trying to give off to any of the ticket goers that haven't been out to Malibu or anybody that's coming to stay with us at Surfrider Malibu. We really just want them to experience that Malibu culture."

Last week the city of Malibu asked Da Silva to not identify the Surfrider Malibu as a participating venue. The city said that based on Da Silva's written representation, The Surfrider Malibu was not going to be conducting an event requiring a city permit for Sunday Sessions.

Despite promises made to the City of Malibu, the manager of a hotel on the land side of PCH was on TV promoting his event. No reaction yet from the city.