Old guy here, grew up in Topanga Canyon and surfed with my dad from Tin Can to Palos Verdes from 1965 to 1988. Many spots have disappeared over the years. Big Rock, Boneyards, Castle Rock, Thousand Steps, even Malibu has changed significantly since the late 1950's. Little Dume used have a world class sand bank till that winter and it never recovered either. Zuma however has grown due to sand coming from the Big Dume headland and Latigo, Trancas used to have a small rock reef too but it was washed away in the winter of 1977-78. Zuma was a shit wave till the mid 1970's, I saw footage last year of some lefts that I would never see back in the day.

Bay Street, POP pier, Seaward and other dead end spots had more rips and ocean action up to around 1969. The winter of 1969 changed almost every spot from Malibu south to El Porto. We lost most of the rock reef at Big Rock, a good part of the beach at Castle Rock and there was a left over a flat rock reef just north of Topanga Point that was washed away. My dad says that the jetties out around Will Rogers put an end to the drifting sand that replenished much of Santa Monica and Venice beaches down to Marina Del Ray. The large parking lots didn't help either.

The work they have done over the years to Malibu Lagoon has helped that wave stay world class. From 1970 to around 1974, the point was split hard into three separate waves. Blowing out the lagoon and limiting development up the creek has kept the sand flowing. The creek at Topanga used to blow out at the first hard rain and create a 300 yard wave for a few days after if the swell was on. I once saw a friend get a wave from the top of the point to within yards of making it around Chart House.

They really were the good old days.