UPDATE: The Topanga Ranch Motel burned down in the L.A fires during January 2025.
Built in 1929 by William Randolph Hearst, the abandoned Topanga Ranch Motel remains located across the street from Topanga Beach. This bungalow-style motor court contained thirty rooms that once housed the Pacific Coast Highway construction workers. The Topanga Ranch Motel sits at the bottom of the majestic Santa Monica Mountains. It operated as one of Malibu’s first motels.
Sifting through photos I shot from a recent visit to Topanga Canyon and Malibu I ran across the Topanga Ranch Motel images. I love the sign. The 70s TV show Mannix filmed various episodes here. The motel also served as a shooting location for over a dozen films. It’s been abandoned for twenty years. It still retains a wild energy. As I photographed the doors, windows, room numbers and the sign, I realized the Pacific Ocean smells different than the Atlantic.
Liz and I drove by a vacant area in Topanga where the old Topanga Corral was once located. Neil Young, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Lowell George and many other musicians played low-key shows at the Corral. We also checked out Canyon Bistro & Wine Bar, the Topanga Community Center, the Malibu Feed Bin, Topanga Seed & Feed and Will Greer’s Theatricum Botanicum. No chain restaurants exist in Topanga, which certainly contributes to its rural appeal where geodesic homes can be seen across the jagged canyons. Crows fly overhead.
The dramatic landscape–mountains overlooking the Pacific–amplifies the hairpin turns on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Ocean mist hovers over the sycamore, pepper, and cottonwood trees. A scent of California honeysuckle floats in the air. I remember re-reading the Charles Bukowski novel Women on this Los Angeles trip. It’s a long way from Georgia.
Woody Guthrie, Gram Parsons, Marvin Gaye, Big Joe Turner, Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Wallace Berman, Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell called Topanga Canyon home. I’m sure a few of them checked into the Topanga Ranch Motel. What a hideout.
(Photographs by James Calemine)
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I loved the Topanga Ranch Motel. I stayed there about ten times always in different cabins.
My Mom and I as well as my Aunt and Uncle and two cousins stayed there a few times. Great memories, I always wanted to stay there again but found out it was sold and condemned. Heartbreaking, we had so much fun there. I wish there were more photos from the 60’s available. This article brought back great memories.
Just shy of a year later, I’m hoping to find this place is still there after the fires. So much if the surrounding areas along PCH are gone, but maybe.
Jannene. The Topanga Ranch Motel was destroyed in the Palisades fire. Google it for a USA Today story.
I am following Touring the aftermath: Malibu’s fire -ravished coastline along PCH (on you tube ) Most of the area has been burnt down. However The Signs of the Motel are still standing. .