Last year’s devastating Woolsey Fire spared Neptune’s Net while ravaging other restaurants and homes, though it did knock out the restaurant’s internet, phone, and power for weeks. Of course, not everything is always picture perfect, despite the postcard views. It’s not always picture perfect at Neptune’s Net, despite the postcard views For adults, rows and rows of coolers in the back come lined with beers, including lots of craft varieties, marking Neptune’s Net as the largest seller of beer in the area. Grilled fish is also a staple in its various forms, either as a platter with sides or in kid-friendly fish tacos. During chillier summer months, they’ll go order clam chowder heaved into bread bowls. More than half-a-million visitors line up every summer to score seafood samplers and fish and chips trays. The best-selling dishes are as enduring and predictable as the restaurant itself. Those numbers stem from a wave of tourists who flock to Southern California, family adventurers who already call the state home, high school and college-age kids on break, and anyone local who just wants a day at the beach and a tuna melt. While the restaurant is technically open all year round (except for one day off: Thanksgiving), the owners estimate that roughly 80% of the annual business comes in the warm summer months, when ocean breezes cool off the open patio out front. That makes sense, given the generations that have made Neptune’s Net a famous place, particularly during the summer months. Reps for the restaurant say they have no plans to sell any time soon, and are actively seeking historic landmark designation for the restaurant. The current owners are actually two families, the Lees and Kims, who have held onto the property since the 1990s. Over the years, the Jacobs family ran their roadside diner in much the same way, before selling off in the ‘70s to the Seay family who continued to tack on additions and square footage, including much of the outdoor dining space and separate non-restaurant seafood ordering counter. The restaurant sits just over the county line, in unincorporated Ventura County. The city wouldn’t formally incorporate until 1991, and even today, despite what most Angelenos may say or think, Neptune’s Net doesn’t actually reside within the city of Malibu itself (that ends at Leo Carrillo). The restaurant property, and its former attached office space and gas station, was first known by the name Panorama Pacific, though many locals simply called it Jake’s Diner.Īt the time, Malibu was mostly a craggy oceanside community that mixed artists, surfers, some wealthy types, and folks looking to live outside the urban sprawl. The restaurant’s humble 1956 beginnings came by way of a retired aerospace engineer named Eastman Jacobs, though most folks simply called him Jake. Neptune’s Net began life during the early days of the American road trip, when Los Angeles was bustling with burger stands and drive thrus. In the 1950s, Malibu was mostly a craggy oceanside community that mixed artists, surfers, some wealthy types, and folks looking to live outside the urban sprawl
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