From Ranch to Roads

On a weekend-morning drive, a chance meeting with a 97-year-old cowboy turns into a history lesson on the early days of Malibu, California.

- ELANA SCHERR

Malibu, California, is famous for beaches and surfers, but to us car folks, it's all about the roads. There are more than 80 miles of twisty, tangled asphalt threading along the coast and through the Santa Monica Mountains, like a Daedalus labyrinth of sage and steep cliffs.

Driving this maze can be done with carefully mapped turns to achieve the most apexes with the least traffic, or it can be done willy-nilly-turn west when possible and figure you'll eventually get to the sea. Both ways are good, and both have dangers. In the first, one must watch out for potholes, and in the second, the deep, time-stealing pleasure of falling down a rabbit hole.