The museum inside the Adamson House offers a wonderful and moderately accessible view of local history. Parking for the museum is in the Surfrider Beach lot next to PCH, but if you show your disabled parking placard you can drive through the gate to the Adamson House. If you park in the lot and walk to the house, you can enjoy the gardens and views of the lagoon and read the interpretive signs along the path.

The Adamson House, a registered historical landmark, was built in 1929 as a showcase for Malibu Potteries. From the front drive, a two-inch step leads to a concrete patio and the kitchen courtyard. From there a ramp allows access to the first floor of the house.

From the main courtyard (with uneven but navigable stone paving) you enter a museum of ceramic art and design in the former garage. You must go up a steep two-foot-long ramp to get into the garage.

The rear courtyard (one three-inch step up from the path) is filled with vibrantly colored hand-painted tiles. Look carefully for the spider and web in the metal tracery of the screen doors, and try to find the one asymmetrical tile in the fountain wall. The unofficial record time for finding it is 23 seconds, but many people spot it only after several visits.

A stone path circles the house, but you have to cross some uneven grass in the back. If you can get down the grassy hill west of the house (the path has steps), you will find a picnic table shaded by large trees close to the beach.

Restrooms

Large restrooms with grab bars are in the garage.

MALBU LAGOON

The entrance to Malibu Lagoon is at Cross Creek Road, about .2-mile west of the museum. From the parking lot (two blue spaces), packed dirt trails lead through a 13-acre wetland preserve, and solid wooden footbridges cross Malibu Creek channels. Displays describe the flora and fauna that live above and below the water line. Bring binoculars for watching birds or whales. Gray whales pass by between late November and May.
The trails are overgrown in some places, but in dry weather most are passable. If you explore shortly after rain, your casters might sink into puddles and your chair can become a muddy mess.

Restrooms

A picnic table and two accessible chemical toilets are at the parking lot.

MALIBU LAGOON STATE BEACH, also known as “Surfrider Beach,” has no accessible facilities or features. Nearby Malibu Pier is closed for restoration. It is scheduled to reopen in 2002.