Rhoda May Knight Rindge and
Frederick Hastings Rindge conceived of the pier when they caught word that
Southern Pacific intended to connect their
Santa Barbara terminus with
Santa Monica, which would entail running tracks right through the Rindge's 13,315-acre Malibu property. The couple planned to take advantage of an obscure Interstate Commerce Commission law that stated if one railway ran through a property, there could be no other railway doing the same. Hence the Rindges decided to build their own private track—a utilitarian one to service their cattle ranch. Frederick died before the plan could be carried out, but Rhoda May took over, building the Malibu Pier and 15 miles of standard gauge track, known as the Hueneme, Malibu and Port Los Angeles Railway, that ran down the length of the pier, where a steam-powered crane lifted cattle hides and walnuts During
World War II, the end of the pier served as a
U.S. Coast Guard daylight lookout station until a storm destroyed the pier's southernmost part; the remains of the pier were subsequently sold to William Huber's Malibu Pier Company for $50,000 with the proviso that he would construct a building for the Coast Guard to re-occupy. At war's end, Huber expanded the pier and built the twin buildings at the end of it for a bait and tackle shop plus a restaurant. The pier was eventually restored and reopened in 2008. Though it was partially damaged by
Baja's
Hurricane Marie, the pier survived and was repaired by 2017. In January 2025, the winds behind the
Palisades Fire damaged the pier, serving as the impetus to close the pier's ocean-end restaurant and souvenir shop temporarily. ==Film and television==