The caption on this photo read “Twenty-Five Mile Ocean Drive, Santa Monica” but Ocean Dr is only a few miles long and it doesn’t hug the Santa Monica coastline like the road in this photo does. So I’m guessing it was actually taken just north of Santa Monica on the road that is now known as PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) which is a six-lane highway that runs along the water all way up to Point Magu. This photo is circa 1915, so I don’t know what this intrepid motorist would do if his car broke down.
** UPDATE ** – The vintage photo was taken near Big Rock area of Malibu. Below is a circa 1910 photo:
This is PCH as seen in January 2021:
You could follow the streetcar line and cross over it at Long Wharf, thence proceed past the Ince Studio site. A car could get to Malibu even before they cut the first rough road. The actual improved highway came after and I believe it was shifted inward somewhere. This view looks like it may be just approaching the point at Malibu, with the surf rider’s future beach on the left.
The 3/10/2021 posting looks to be the southward view from the north side of this bluff. So they should match dates if it’s the same photographer, and this car is likely returning from wherever the road ended up there.
A few years back, I had a plein air oil painting done by a (John?) Black in c.1940 looking down from the bluffs. The stretch of houses (“beach shacks”) ran out and the road curved to the point. He depicted some buildings on a spit where that rock in the surf was before. Now I can’t vouch for the total accuracy, but Malibu is often represented by two palms and his work showed a single large palm by the structures. No one believed me when I told them it was Malibu. But so far, I can’t find any mention of houses that might have been built on that point at the end of Surfriders Beach. Anyone ever heard of a history at that time? Could a storm have been involved?