Malibu

It's all crossovers these days. From the polo grounds of Malibu to the campgrounds of Maine, nearly a fifth of all vehicles sold in the U.S. last year resided somewhere in this netherworld between a car and an SUV. So the stakes were high for Toyota's overdue redesign of the RAV4, a pioneer of the segment in the mid-1990s that had grown stale in comparison with competitors. Often resembling small sport utility vehicles, crossovers are truck-like vehicles built on front-drive car platforms.

Actor Nick Nolte has put a Malibu compound up for sale that has seen a galaxy of stars come through its arched entryway. Besides Nolte, other notables to have owned the house include comedian Tommy Chong, Don Felder of the Eagles and music producer David Foster. Priced at $8.25 million and set in the Bonsall Canyon area, the two-acre retreat is covered with sycamore and pine trees. The main house, built in 1963, features 19-foot vaulted ceilings, skylights, six stone-and-carved-wood fireplaces, marble floors and mahogany French doors.

Auto leasing deals abound these days, with offers that often seem too good to be true. How about a well-equipped Honda Accord for $250 a month with no down payment or any other drive-off fees? Or better yet, $199 a month for a Chevrolet Malibu? So, what's the catch? There isn't any if you know what you're getting into. There are always details. You need top-tier credit to qualify. You pay a penalty if you turn that Honda in with more than 36,000 miles. And the payment is not $250 a month because of that little matter of tax. It is more like $275, depending on where you live.

On busy Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, some well-kept facades conceal a secret. Behind the Mediterranean with wooden doors, the white stucco two-story with a red tile roof, the long wall obscuring a three-structure compound, hides a singular, massive wealth fueled by obsession. This is Larry Ellison territory, where a Bay Area billionaire with seemingly endless patience and resources is buying up the best spots along Malibu's 21 miles of coast. PHOTOS: Expensive things Ellison has bought The Oracle Corp.

On busy Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, some well-kept facades conceal a secret. Behind the Mediterranean with wooden doors, the white stucco two-story with a red tile roof, the long wall obscuring a three-structure compound, hides a singular, massive wealth fueled by obsession. This is Larry Ellison territory, where a Bay Area billionaire with seemingly endless patience and resources is buying up the best spots along Malibu's 21 miles of coast. PHOTOS: Expensive things Ellison has bought The Oracle Corp.

This Spanish-style contemporary sits on a bluff overlooking a Malibu surfing beach. The single-story house is in MariSol , an 80-acre community of 17 estates. Location: 11768 Ellice St., Malibu 90265 Asking price: $15.9 million Year built: 2013 Architect: Barry Berkus House size: Five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, 7,088 square feet Lot size: 1 acre Features: Covered courtyard of 2,500 square feet, 60-foot-long great room with 16-foot ceilings, home theater, office, gym, wine room, two wet bars, five fireplaces, twin master suites, security system, 50-foot-long infinity pool, spa, parking for 10 cars, stone perimeter walls, garden fountains, patios About the area: Last year, 259 single-family homes sold in the 90265 ZIP Code at a median price of $2.035 million, according to DataQuick.

The Malibu Community Center has gone public, changing its status from private, nonprofit corporation to community services district, which will be part of the state government. The Board of Supervisors formed the Point Dume Community Services District on Tuesday. About 980, or 80%, of the registered voters in the Point Dume area had signed a petition supporting establishment of the district.

Two small earthquakes hit the Malibu and Moorpark area on Friday. Both quakes were magnitude 2.4 and occurred around 12:10 p.m. The one along the coast occurred six miles west of Malibu. The other one occurred several miles to the north in the Moorpark area of Ventura County. It is unclear whether the quakes were strong enough to be felt. ALSO: Bobby Brown wearing ankle monitor for DUI sentence Bell trial: After mistrial, next steps for attorneys unclear Chef who killed wife, then cooked body to be sentenced

High on a steep, terraced mountainside in Malibu, with a spectacular view of the Pacific, perches the largest and probably the only commercial planting of loquats in the United States. A pome fruit related to apples and pears, the loquat is one of the great pleasures of spring in Southern California. It has firm but juicy flesh with the texture of cantaloupe and a sweet-tart flavor evoking cherry. The irony is that it is so well-adapted and common as a backyard tree that there's little local demand for the fruit.

What if you were asked to write your failures on a wall, in indelible ink, for everyone to see? Would you make a confession? Would you bare your soul? What if the person doing the asking was your boss? Jeff Stibel, chief executive of Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., likes to keep his Malibu headquarters hopping. He came up with the Failure Wall one night late in 2010 when he was having a glass of wine with his wife. They were toasting a business success. Stibel said he found failure more fruitful.

A shallow magnitude 2.7 earthquake was reported Friday morning one mile from Malibu, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 1:37 a.m. PDT at a depth of 6.8 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was six miles from Malibu Beach, nine miles from Agoura Hills and 10 miles from Agoura. In the past 10 days, there have been two earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby. Read more about Southern California earthquakes . ALSO: California fires: Thousands of acres burned, PCH shut down After meth arrest, O.C. authorities may bill hikers for rescue Photos of Jackson's messy, clothes-strewn bedroom shown to jurors

Re "A deep divide at Malibu Lagoon," April 30 California's "restoration" of the Malibu Lagoon has turned a nature preserve into what one activist called a "manufactured wetland theme park. " Part of the reason for the restoration was to eliminate pollution ostensibly caused by human waste. However, a study by the U.S. Geological Survey found no evidence of such pollution. Rather, much of the pollution in the lagoon is caused by droppings deposited by the thousands of birds that hold conventions there each day. This will not change.

Before the bulldozers arrived last June, Malibu Lagoon was a fully grown habitat for egrets, voles and tidewater gobies, studded with sycamore trees and clusters of tule reeds. Today, the lagoon's islands appear almost barren, covered by a sea of tiny red and blue plastic flags marking young plants just taking root. Depending on whom you talk to, the lagoon has been restored - or ruined. On Friday, bureaucrats, biologists and birders will descend on the state beach at the mouth of Malibu Creek for the ribbon cutting to mark what state officials are calling "the long and successful journey toward restoration.

The PTA at Point Dume Elementary in Malibu is a fundraising machine. Parents collected about $2,100 per student in the 2009-10 school year, money that helped pay for music and art programs, as well as a dedicated marine science lab. But now the Santa Monica-Malibu school board wants to funnel much of that money away and, in the name of educational equality, give it to other district campuses. The move has sparked an effort in Malibu to secede from the district, igniting a battle between one wealthy community and its less wealthy neighbor that echoes across the state.

Soap star Drake Hogestyn is ready to sell the Malibu retreat where he has no doubt spent many days of his life. It is up for sale at $4.995 million. The Tuscan-style two-story, built in 2002, features wood-beam ceilings, French doors, hardwood floors, decks and balconies. There are fireplaces in the living room, family room and master suite of the 6,616-square-foot house, which has a total of five bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms. The grounds of about an acre include a circular driveway, a swimming pool, sycamore trees, fruit trees and an herb garden.

Actor Nick Nolte's celebrity pedigree home in Malibu is for sale at $8.25 million. Among former film and music industry figures to own the house are comedian Tommy Chong, Don Felder of the Eagles and music producer David Foster. Set in the Bonsall Canyon area on two acres studded with sycamore and pine trees, the main house features  19-foot vaulted ceilings, skylights, six fireplaces, marble floors and mahogany French doors. There are four bedrooms including the master suite, which has its own sitting area, office and library, and two of the fireplaces.

Al Martinez's June 13 column calls Eris the goddess of strife and that's OK because strife is synonymous with discord. However, he leaves out the key word "mischief." My Greek mythology book called Eris the goddess of mischief and discord. This newfound knowledge when I was a teenager was a glorious revelation. Mischief adds a little levity to the title--her mischievousness led to discord (look it up). Malibu will be much better off with Eris as a logo. Dolphins are much overused and the overexposure isn't good for them.

Los Angeles County Fire Department officials were considering using a station in Malibu as a temporary replacement for a conservation camp on Mt. Gleason that was destroyed last summer by the devastating Station fire. But when residents of the beachfront city realized that the camp would be staffed by prison inmates, they began organizing to stop it. They succeeded Wednesday, when Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman announced that he would look elsewhere. FOR THE RECORD: Malibu: A Jan. 22 editorial said that residents of the city of Malibu blocked a proposed fire station staffed by prison inmates.

A young woman crossing Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu was struck by a vehicle and killed Saturday evening, authorities said. The woman was crossing from the south side of the road near Moonshadows restaurant at 20356 Pacific Coast Highway about 8:45 p.m. when she was hit, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Shawn Ruda. The driver of the vehicle stopped and remained at the scene. Ruda said the dead woman appeared to be in her 20s. Traffic on both sides of the roadway is blocked.