Malaga Cove Plaza Runs on Donations. Its Next Change Is a Coffee Permit.

Maria Peters has lived in Palos Verdes Estates all her life. She had walked past the Neptune Fountain countless times before the day she stopped and actually looked. The marble was dull, the paint was chipped and one cherub had lost its head. In Palos Verdes Magazine's account, the project came together after a chance conversation at the Ranch Café with Councilmember David McGowan, who is also president of the PVE Foundation. Craftsmen were at work by May 2025.

Community donations paid the full cost of that restoration, estimated at $75,000. Jere Murray, president of the Malaga Cove Plaza Beautification Project, gave $10,000 of it. The fountain appears in the city's official logo, yet its latest rescue started with one resident's walk and was paid for by her neighbors. The rest of the plaza has been looked after the same way for nearly four decades.

A plaque that waited five years for a rock

Malaga Cove Plaza joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. The plaque marking that honor went up on July 24, 2026, at Olmsted Place Park, as the Daily Breeze reported. The paper called it "an effort five years in the making." It reads:

"Conceived as part of the master plan for the City of Palos Verdes Estates by planner Charles Cheney, and landscape architects, the Olmsted Brothers, this arcaded Mediterranean Revival plaza was built between 1925 and 1964. The builds were designed by several prominent local architects."

The plaque had been made before anyone settled where it would go. Palos Verdes Pulse reported that Victoria Vanhuss of the Olmsted Network encouraged the new local Olmsted group to make the installation one of its first projects. She then took the request to City Hall herself. Landscape architect Marlene Breene worked with city staff and council members to get it approved.

The split of costs follows the pattern. The city donated a rock from Bluff Cove to hold the plaque, and the Malaga Cove Beautification Project paid for installation. The Beautification Project and the nephew of its founder, Moryanne Motley, funded the National Register designation itself. They also funded making and installing three plaques. Two of them have not gone up yet.

Thirty-nine years of private upkeep

Moryanne and Bob Motley owned plaza buildings and lived in PVE. They bought the Del Porto Building, which anchors the plaza's east end, back when the plaza was run down. Moryanne Motley started photographing it, and the record Palos Verdes Pulse quotes lists trash-filled flowerpots, dead trees, leaking pipes, peeling walls, exposed electrical wires, and a worn-down fountain and statue.

Her campaign started in 1987. The plan called for new walkways and trees, repairs to the Neptune Fountain, stone in place of the old street surfaces, and matching flowerpots and trash cans across the plaza. In 1992 the Motleys set up the Malaga Cove Beautification Project with a permanent endowment to maintain the historic features. According to Palos Verdes Pulse, the Beautification Project and the Motley Living Trust have supported the plaza's restoration and upkeep.

Every one of these projects began with residents or owners, and the city's part was mostly approving the work. Only one of the business centers in the original master plan was ever built. PV Pulse reports that the plan called for five plazas. Malaga Cove is the one that got finished, and it still looks much like the first rendering.

A walk past who built it

This loop takes about as long as a coffee. It moves from the newest marker to the oldest building.

1. Olmsted Place Park. The plaque sits on its Bluff Cove rock. It names the 1925 to 1964 building span and the Cheney and Olmsted Brothers plan.
2. Neptune Fountain. The Palos Verdes Project gave it to the city in 1934, and it is modeled on Bologna's Fontana del Nettuno. In the 2025 work, Quinn Construction bead-blasted the marble, added six LED fixtures, buried wiring that used to be exposed and updated the plumbing. A marble specialist carved the cherub a new head. The new lighting changes how the fountain looks after dark.
3. Malaga Bank. The bank hosted the July 17, 2025 donor celebration for the fountain in its courtyard. Community advocate Joan Davidson has asked the bank to host the second plaque.
4. The Gardner Building, 68 Malaga Cove Plaza. It is also called La Casa Primera. Walter I. Webber, Sumner Maurice Spaulding and William F. Staunton designed it, and it was dedicated September 13, 1925, as the first commercial building in Palos Verdes Estates. The Peninsula's first school classes started here in September 1925 and its first library opened here in June 1926. It also housed the Homes Association, the Art Jury, the post office and the Bruce Drug Store's soda fountain. The current owner, the Yang Foundation, has been asked to host the third plaque.
5. Malaga Cove Library. The library outgrew its first rooms in the Gardner Building. Myron Hunt designed its permanent home, which was built in 1929 and placed on the National and California registers in 1995, according to the Palos Verdes Library District.

As of the July reports, the Malaga Bank and Gardner Building plaques were still being arranged, so those two stops may not have markers yet.

The next change comes through a permit

Donors pay for the plaza's monuments. Its storefronts change through the city's conditional use permit process, and the next one has already been approved. On June 16, 2026, the Planning Commission voted 4–0 to approve a coffee shop at 22 Malaga Cove Plaza, with one commissioner recused. The city staff report names the tenant as Misc. Coffee, a café serving specialty coffee and tea along with pastries from outside bakeries.

The space is about 1,762 square feet. Plans show 32 indoor seats and about 12 outside, with proposed hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. The report says the space "has been vacant for years." That long-empty storefront is about to become a café open well into the evening.

The commission added two conditions aimed at keeping the plaza the way it looks now. Employees may not park in the Malaga Cove Plaza lot, and outdoor tables and chairs must stay within 10 feet of the building's façade. City staff expect the busiest times to be breakfast and lunch, and much of the traffic to come from nearby businesses. The permit is reviewed every year, so the commission can add conditions if parking becomes a problem.

Misc. Coffee already operates on Deep Valley Drive in Rolling Hills Estates, according to its website. We could not confirm an opening date for the plaza location. Until the café announces one, treat it as approved but not yet open.

It would be the second new food stop at the plaza in about a year. Our South Bay reported in November 2025 that Neptune's Frozen Treats, a family-run soft-serve shop, had opened in the old RE/MAX space.

Reasons to be at the plaza this fall

The Gardner Building's first tenants included a library, and the library is still what brings most people to this end of the plaza on a weekday. These Malaga Cove Library programs are on the calendar for this fall:

• Friday, October 23, 6 to 8 p.m. An ACOTAR fan night with trivia, themed mocktails and crafts, plus a pop-up from Ember & Ink A Romance Bookshop.
• Saturday, October 24. Nick Brooks speaks to open PV Writes Together, a writing program for teens and adults that runs through November 25. Malaga Cove writing sessions follow on November 4, 6 and 7.
• Saturday, October 31, 1 to 3 p.m. A chess meetup for all ages, open to adults and junior players from third grade up.
• Saturday, December 5, 2 to 3:30 p.m. The monthly book club, which meets on the first Saturday of every month and welcomes drop-ins.

The district's approved 2026/27 budget names the Malaga Cove roof as its main capital project. The budget does not say when the work will happen, so keep an eye on the branch's notices for any schedule changes.

When the second plaque goes up at Malaga Bank, or Misc. Coffee posts an opening date for 22 Malaga Cove Plaza, The Stucker Group will be glad to pass the news along. Juanita has watched this plaza change since 1983, and we always enjoy talking about the history of the Peninsula's oldest buildings with neighbors who care about them as much as we do.