Malibu Beach Wars
There's a classic battle being waged between the haves and the have-nots.
CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reports that what the haves have is access to some of the most beautiful beaches in America -- and they're doing everything they can to keep the have-nots out.
The Malibu coastline is only 13 miles along the Pacific Coast Highway but it may be the quintessential definition of California. Malibu is the place where movies stars and media moguls pay millions to settle into a little slice of heaven.
With residents like Steven Spielberg, Pamela Anderson and Goldie Hawn, Malibu is a community of homeowners who expect privacy -- but live in mansions with front yards that open onto a public beach.
"They don't really like people," says activist Steve Hoye.
Hoye says that with houses lined up like a barrier wall, the Malibu elite try to create private beaches by making it impossible to get there -- even posting illegal signs and locking public gates.
"There is no such thing as a private beach in the state of California," Hoye says.
Turf battles in Malibu over what is public and what is private have been going on for decades and this summer is no different. For years, movie mogul David Geffen blocked off the sidewalk that ran along the side of his house to "Billionaires Beach." But in June, facing daily court fines, he finally gave up and handed over the keys to the public.
In theory, everything on California beaches is public up to the average high-tide line. But nobody really knows where that is. And to complicate the situation, just this summer, homeowners three miles up the road at Broad Beach in Malibu hired bulldozers to build an 8-foot sand berm in their backyards.
One woman told Hughes that she was "shocked" and "upset" when she saw the barrier.
Homeowners drew a line in the sand when they hired those bulldozers to build the berm. At high tide everything below their backyards is underwater – it's not very easy to put a towel down there.
Homeowners would only respond in writing, saying they were trying to restore the beach. But that's usually done in the winter not right before summer tanning season. Even the normally laid-back surfers had had enough.
"I'm not going anywhere," said one disgruntled surfer.
The homeowners who hired those bulldozers now face fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the meantime, the tide is washing away their privacy berm -- and the battle over the beach is getting hot all over again.