Malibu in Redwood City Closes
Malibu: 90s child dreams for sale
Malibu, whose name alone beckons nostalgia, has finally closed after 35 years of speeding around the track and hustling coins. The “Gypsy Castle” was home to birthday parties, PGA qualifiers, boat races, arcade competition, batting cage sessions, cart racing, and lots of fun. The Palace Entertainment company opened many tracks including that at Malibu around the nation, in an effort to promote the Indy 500. Despite a depressing and out of date vibe, it seemed to attract many families and young teens in the area. Although Malibu had business on the weekends, it could not keep up on its rental payments due to decreasing business, upkeep expenses, and an expensive real estate market. Concurrently, a new age of at home video game players and wifi kids have arrived. Video games have now become overtly de-socialized and the arcade lost its appeal due to inconveniance and expense. Your parents may remember the cash that seemed to vanish from their wallets when it was a Malibu night. At least the pizza was worth the trip. Well, that is if you enjoy scorching cardboard. But nonetheless, everyone has a small place for Malibu in their heart. Kiana Cacchione ’14 reflect on “days where had putt putt contests”. The golf team now will have to go all the way to Sunnyvale to enjoy mini golf. Through research and interview, I have learned that Malibu was a little more than the arcade and race track I thought of it to be. Every Easter Malibu held a 14 acre wide egg hunt. Also, those go carts, the big kid ones, were modeled after Indy 500 cars. They were custom designed and go significantly faster than any other outdoor track’s cars. Riley Freeman ’15 reflects on the thrilling day “my brother passed his license test and the first thing we did was go to the Malibu track to ride the sixteen and over carts”. As for the castle, a group of street musicians are currently squatting in it and can often be seen swimming in the old bumper boat pond.
Malibu, whose name alone beckons nostalgia, has finally closed after 35 years of speeding around the track and hustling coins. The “Gypsy Castle” was home to birthday parties, PGA qualifiers, boat races, arcade competition, batting cage sessions, cart racing, and lots of fun. The Palace Entertainment company opened many tracks including that at Malibu around the nation, in an effort to promote the Indy 500. Despite a depressing and out of date vibe, it seemed to attract many families and young teens in the area. Although Malibu had business on the weekends, it could not keep up on its rental payments due to decreasing business, upkeep expenses, and an expensive real estate market. Concurrently, a new age of at home video game players and wifi kids have arrived. Video games have now become overtly de-socialized and the arcade lost its appeal due to inconveniance and expense. Your parents may remember the cash that seemed to vanish from their wallets when it was a Malibu night. At least the pizza was worth the trip. Well, that is if you enjoy scorching cardboard. But nonetheless, everyone has a small place for Malibu in their heart. Kiana Cacchione ’14 reflect on “days where had putt putt contests”. The golf team now will have to go all the way to Sunnyvale to enjoy mini golf. Through research and interview, I have learned that Malibu was a little more than the arcade and race track I thought of it to be. Every Easter Malibu held a 14 acre wide egg hunt. Also, those go carts, the big kid ones, were modeled after Indy 500 cars. They were custom designed and go significantly faster than any other outdoor track’s cars. Riley Freeman ’15 reflects on the thrilling day “my brother passed his license test and the first thing we did was go to the Malibu track to ride the sixteen and over carts”. As for the castle, a group of street musicians are currently squatting in it and can often be seen swimming in the old bumper boat pond.