Early on Sunday, August 23, City Manager Joe Irvin and members of his staff were in the Malibu City Hall parking lot. They were working with Farmers Market founder Debra Bianco and her vendors to get a hastily arranged market running on Stuart Ranch Road. Two days earlier, the City had announced that the market could no longer operate at Legacy Park. For one weekend, the 27-year-old market set up in a lot it had never used before.
A week later it was back where most of Malibu remembers it, in the Los Angeles County lot at the Malibu Library, 23555 Civic Center Way. For anyone in Serra Retreat, the market is again a short trip down the hill at the Civic Center. The move back looks like a homecoming. The record suggests something else. Since late 2022, the market's address has been set by what else needed the County lot and by the rules governing the City's park. The market's own preferences rarely decided it. The return itself came on a temporary permit.
Five Moves, and None of Them the Market's Idea
The Malibu Times account of the return gives the full sequence. Each move had a clear outside cause:
- November 2022, to Legacy Park. Construction of the Santa Monica College Malibu campus and other Civic Center activity shrank the space available at the County lot. The City Council authorized a temporary move to Legacy Park, and the City processed a Temporary Use Permit for it.
- February 2024, back to the Library lot. The market returned to the County property and stayed there through that year.
- After the January 2025 Palisades Fire, back to Legacy Park. The County property was needed for fire recovery operations, so the market went back to the park.
- August 2026, to City Hall and then home, two moves in eight days. As recovery work wound down and the County lot became available again, the Cornucopia Foundation began working with the County and City on a return. On August 21, the City said the market could no longer use Legacy Park, citing public safety, parking, permitting requirements and limits on commercial activity in the park. After one Sunday at City Hall, the market reopened at the Library lot on August 30.
In each case the market was fitting around something larger: a college campus, a regional disaster recovery, a park with its own rules. The Library lot is County land in the middle of the Civic Center, and Cornucopia has never had it to itself. The Los Angeles Times described the summer dispute as a disagreement with the City over Legacy Park. The paper reported that an official described the park as meant to be a temporary home all along.
What the August Return Was Built On
The return was quick because the paperwork that would normally make it permanent was not finished. Los Angeles County issued a temporary day permit for the County-owned lot. Meanwhile, the Cornucopia Foundation continued renewing its longer-term license and completing the agreement it needs with the City of Malibu, as The Malibu Times reported on August 29.
Several parties worked on it. The City's own announcement credited the Cornucopia Foundation, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and her team, and Santa Monica College. The college's place on that list shows how many parties share this corner of the Civic Center. A campus that once squeezed the market out is now part of the arrangement that brought it back.
Irvin's update to the City Council the week before, as quoted by The Malibu Times, showed how close the timing was:
"We are continuing to work with the farmer's market to get them back into the county approved lot where their approval had been. I think we're getting very close."
He said that if the temporary arrangements came together that week, the market could return as early as August 30. Otherwise, City Hall would remain available as a fallback. The arrangements came together. The paper noted that despite disagreements over the timing of the Legacy Park decision, everyone involved said they wanted the market to continue and to return to the County property. Bianco, who has repeatedly called the County lot the market's home, has said she remains committed to working constructively with the City and County while the remaining agreements are completed.
That shared intent sits alongside a long record. Every move since 2022 started with a decision made by someone other than the market's operator. That makes the longer-term license and City agreement the most important document behind a Sunday routine on Civic Center Way.
Planning a Sunday Around It Now
For now, the market is open weekly in the Library parking lot. The Malibu Times calendar dated November 7 lists it every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering local produce, artisan foods and specialty goods from farmers and vendors. The City's August reopening notice listed 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., so check the hours on malibufarmersmarket.net before heading down. The market's site also lists its Vegan Experience and Wine Garden as paused.
The two remaining Sundays this month are November 22 and November 29. Several things within walking distance of the stalls are worth fitting into the same trip:
- Sea and Stone at the Malibu City Gallery. The Malibu Arts Commission's exhibition of work by artist Nancy Wise is on view at Malibu City Hall, 23825 Stuart Ranch Road, through December 23. The art draws on the sea and coastal landscapes. Details are on the Malibu Arts Commission's exhibition page.
- The Friends of the Malibu Library Holiday Used Book Sale. It runs the day before the November 22 market, Saturday, November 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Library Meeting Room, the same building as the market's lot. Adult fiction, nonfiction, children's books and DVDs start at 50 cents, and proceeds support Malibu Library programs.
- City Hall, the market's fallback. The upper lot at City Hall hosted the market for one Sunday in August, and Irvin named it as the backup if the County lot fell through. The same lot hosts City programs throughout the season, including the drive-through rain barrel distribution with West Basin Municipal Water District held there on November 14.
Taken together, the Civic Center blocks around the Library and City Hall now work as one Sunday destination again. The market, the gallery and the library programs are all within a short walk. When the market was at Legacy Park, it sat apart from the library's calendar. Back in the County lot, it shares a parking area and a weekend with the Friends of the Malibu Library and the Arts Commission.
The Document That Decides the Next Move
The market's location has changed five times since late 2022. In each case, the deciding factor was a decision about the land beneath the stalls, made by a college, a recovery effort or a city council. The next decision rests on the longer-term County license and the agreement between the Cornucopia Foundation and the City of Malibu that The Malibu Times described in August. Malibu City Council agendas are posted in the City's Agenda Center, and that is where a City agreement covering the market would appear. The August 30 return rested on a temporary County day permit, and the longer-term license and City agreement are the documents that would make the Library lot more than a stopgap.
Small things shape a Serra Retreat week, like where the Sunday market sets up, who controls the Civic Center lots and which agreements are still being finished. They are part of how Irene and Sandro read this hillside for the families who live on it. If you are thinking about what your Serra Retreat home is worth in a Malibu that is still rebuilding its routines, Irene Dazzan-Palmer would be glad to discuss it. Request a Private Market Valuation.
