Nicolas Cage told a Los Angeles Comic Con audience over the weekend that he is “currently a little bit homeless” because of the sinkhole that opened in his Malibu driveway, and the line has traveled as a story about one movie star’s bad luck. The public record says something less glamorous and more useful: the same hole has kept all 31 properties on his private street red-tagged since Sept. 8, and the repair estimate that came with the emergency order ran out more than three weeks ago.
The headline version
One actor, one house, one driveway. Cage says he is “sort of living in hotels,” and NBC News reports his reps did not respond to a request for comment.
The city’s version
Malibu declared a local emergency and evacuated 31 parcels, red-tagging every one for hazardous conditions and lost access for fire and sheriff crews.
The Clock You Can Check
Start with the date on the notice. The collapse was reported at about 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8, when coastal erosion from high waves and tides tied to Hurricane Marie dropped a beachfront driveway into Sea Level Drive, a street with exactly one way in and out. The hole ended up 25 to 30 feet deep and roughly 30 by 60 feet across, according to the city’s proclamation as NBC describes it, and it caused a gas leak. SoCalGas shut off gas to the street and the water district shut off water. The homeowners association that controls the private road began repairs within hours under city permits, and the work was expected to take about five weeks, depending on conditions.
Count forward. Five weeks from Sept. 8 is Oct. 13. Cage’s remarks came over the weekend of Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, and NBC’s Nov. 3 story repeats the five-week figure without noting that it has lapsed. On Nov. 3 the evacuation was 56 days old, which is eight weeks, and 21 days past the estimate. Nothing we found, from the city or the association, gives a new date.
“Something happened in my house in Malibu.”
Nicolas Cage, Los Angeles Comic Con panel, as relayed by NBC News
Fourteen Permit Approvals for Thirty-One Homes
What has been approved since is modest. An October report summarizing city records says Cage obtained four permits for soil-sample excavation, debris removal and sandbags to protect his house from erosion, and city staff approved ten more for other Sea Level Drive residents over roughly two months. The same report says the first contractor assigned to the road repairs was dismissed and a replacement hired, that it gives no date for lifting the evacuation orders, and that one resident is weighing a move while another asked her insurer whether sinkholes are covered.
We think the coverage has the wrong protagonist. A star in a hotel is a punchline, and he can afford the hotel. Thirty other households are locked out of their homes by a private road, a changed contractor and an estimate that lapsed without comment. The people who owe them a date are the homeowners association, which officials say is responsible for the repairs, and a city that red-tagged the whole street on day one. Ask both for a reopening date, and print what they say.