Who Signs Off on a Party at Malibu Pier? Not Malibu

In a twist of bureaucratic irony, the city of Malibu has virtually no say on what happens on its Pier.

Holly Bieler · August 12, 2026 · Malibu

The Sunday Sessions music event at Malibu Pier drew a [wave of complaints](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baetGrRnfzk&t=4210s) last weekend — not about the music, council members said, but about the PCH traffic jam it produced on the last weekend before school starts.

The complaints spotlighted an interesting twist of bureaucratic irony; the city of Malibu has virtually no say on what happens at the Malibu Pier.

Owned by the state and run by the Parks Department, the Pier can be rented with little to no oversight from the city. Event coordinators don’t need any permits from the city in order to hold an event at the Pier, or to even notify the city at all.

Malibu only recently arranged to be notified when the state even issued an events permit at the Pier.

“We don’t even own the road that gets to the pier,” one council member observed.

Mayor Pro Tem Steve Uhring urged that any event on that stretch of PCH come with a traffic-management plan, and the council directed staff to report back on what legal authority the city actually has over events held on other governments’ property inside city limits.