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Malibu surfside news | July 19, 2018 | 5
Keeping the past close to home
Reflections of
Malibu’s history live
on in Pepperdine
archive collections
Suzanne Guldimann
Freelance Reporter
Ephemera, printed material
like matchbooks and
postcards designed for
limited service have become
a hot collectable in
recent decades, but these
items are more than that:
They open a window into
the past, offering researchers
a fascinating perspective
on the minutiae of everyday
life.
Melissa Nykanen, associate
university librarian
for special collections
and university archives at
Pepperdine University, describes
it as a way to “expand
history.”
“Ephemera is increasingly
important,” Nykanen
explained at a July 10
community presentation at
the Malibu Library.
Nykanen and Kelsey
Knox, the archivist for
the collection, brought a
selection of Pepperdine’s
ephemera to the talk entitled
“Local History: Malibu
Postcards, Menus and
Matchbooks.”
In addition to discussing
the items, they encouraged
event participants to join
the conversation and take a
closer look at the everyday
objects that can hold so
many clues about the past.
Pepperdine University
libraries’ holdings include
rare books and a film and
television archive, but they
also include the Malibu Historical
Archive, an umbrella
title for a diverse assortment
of smaller collections that
range from local newspapers
and archival photos, to
real estate brochures, postcards,
matchbooks, event
tickets and programs, and
even drink coasters and
cocktail napkins.
The objects Nykanen
and Knox selected for
the event included tickets
from the 1984 Los Angeles
Olympics water polo venue
at Pepperdine; a phone
directory from the 1950s; a
matchbook from Top o’ the
Sea, the first restaurant on
the Malibu Pier; and one
from Alice’s Restaurant,
which occupied the turretlike
gatehouse building
from 1972-1995.
Nykanen explained that
ephemera can offer insight
into aspects of everyday
life that could be almost
impossible to find in more
traditional archival materials
like newspapers. She
pointed to how menus can
reveal food trends and economic
data — allowing
researchers to track everything
from when items
like fresh coffee or apple
pie become popular menu
items, to the availability
and price of oysters over
time.
The postcards presented
at the talk offer a snapshot
of architecture, cars and
even clothing.
Some also provide a
glimpse of lost landmarks.
One such postcard of Malibu
Pier from the late 1940s
shows the wall decorated
with Malibu Potteries tiles
that once extended from
the Adamson House to the
pier. Only the section immediately
adjacent to the
house and beach parking
lot survives today.
Another postcard of the
pier, this time from the
late 1950s, showed the
sports fishing boat Lenbrooke,
much to the delight
of audience member
Pete Haynes, who used to
captain the boat as a young
man.
Haynes provided background
information on another
item of ephemera, a
pair of tickets sold at the
pier for bait.
“Each anchovy was five
cents,” he recalled.
Postcards of the Las
Flores Inn revealed its evolution
from 1915, when it
provided refreshments like
ice cream to early motorists
hoping for a glimpse
of the famed Malibu Rancho,
off limits to anyone
without ranch business, to
the mid-century modern
Sea Lion — boasting the
“longest oceanfront dining
room in the world,” and a
tank with the restaurant’s
captive sea lion.
“Her name was Josephine,”
a member of the
audience volunteered.
The Sea Lion and Lenbrooke
postcards weren’t
the only items that generated
discussion. Haynes
and his childhood friend
Jim McHenry used a 1950s
Malibu phone directory to
look up their old phone
numbers — just four digits
in those days, without
a three-number prefix, or
area code.
McHenry, who grew
up in western Malibu, described
his neighborhood’s
“party line,” a single phone
line loop that served multiple
families, and could
only be used when another
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neighbor wasn’t chatting.
“We love to talk with our
donors and the people in
the community [about the
objects in the collection],”
Nykanen said, adding that
personal recollections like
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Sport fishing boat Lenbrooke returns to Malibu Pier in
the 1950s. The boat took passengers out for half-day and
full-day fishing trips from the end of the pier. From the
Eric Wienberg Collection, Pepperdine Libraries Special
Collections and Archives
Please see history, 10