When your beach shack is worth more than your life
Randy ‘Crawdaddy’ Miod, a Malibu Surfing Legend, Dies in LA Fire at 55 - wsj.com
When the fires hit, he was determined to stay behind to protect his house, his cat and the life he loved
Since he was a kid, Randy Miod wanted to be at the beach. Once he got there, he never left in the 30 years since.
Growing up in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, Miod skipped school as a teenager to take the bus to Malibu’s famous Surfrider Beach. He was missing so many classes in high school that his mother was worried he wasn’t going to graduate, so she hid his board.
She had reason to be worried: Instead of a high-school diploma, he got his GED, and instead of a 9-to-5, he worked restaurant jobs that afforded him maximum time at the beach. In his 20s, he started renting an apartment in a faded red house in Malibu that was built in 1924. It sat right on the Pacific Coast Highway, across from the beach and a short drive to Surfrider and its famous Malibu Wall. He never moved. Over the next 30 years, he became a fixture in the Malibu community, described by friends and locals as both a character and an icon.
“Malibu has a pier and it’s got many, many, many different pilings in it that hold the pier up,” said Jean Pierre “Peli” Pereat, a Malibu-based therapist who uses surfing to help patients. “And Randy was one of those pilings.”
Randy ‘Craw’ Miod surfed every day he could
Randy Chris Wizner, a friend who serves on the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce board of directors, says there were two Randy Miods: The first was just “Randy,” an organized, reliable employee of Malibu restaurants where he worked as a server and manager.
The second was known as “Craw” or “Crawdaddy”—a guy who surfed every day that he could. He knew everybody. The party at the beach might migrate to a local bar or restaurant, but, inevitably, it made its way back to Miod’s house, known as the Crab Shack.
Malibu is known as an exclusive enclave that’s home to the rich and famous. But Miod was part of a constituency of surfers, bartenders, and blue-collar and middle-class workers who lived in RVs, trailers, studios, spare rooms—even a van parked along the street—if it meant they had easy access to Surfrider. All of them were welcome at the Crab Shack. They’d stop in for a drink, a party, to get some shade, take a shower, even spend the night.
“Thousands of people have stayed in that house over the last 20 years,” said his friend Jen Bel, who added: “His house was just open to everybody and all he ever asked of everybody was, ‘Don’t let the cat out,’ and that was it.”
Miod’s landlord eventually made him a deal and sold him the house in 2005 for about $400,000. Even at the time, it was a bargain. Over the past 20 years, Miod had tenants who helped him pay the mortgage, but there wasn’t much money around for other improvements.
Bel says the house was falling in on itself and hadn’t been significantly updated since it was built. Miod’s mother, Carol A. Smith, called the house a “shack” and wouldn’t spend a night there. But it was everything to Miod.
Andy Lyon, a lifelong Malibu resident who sells real estate, called the house Miod’s alter-ego. “The Crab Shack was Randy,” Lyon said, “and Randy was the Crab Shack.”
The remains of the Crab Shack, Miod’s home on the Pacific Coast Highway.
Unwilling to move
Despite years of trying, Smith couldn’t get Miod to sell the house that was falling apart so that he could build a life for himself somewhere else. Selling the home and walking away a millionaire didn’t interest Miod. Malibu did. Surfrider did. The Crab Shack did.
So, when the Palisades fire made its way toward Malibu earlier this month, he didn’t leave. He had ridden out fires before and was determined to stay behind to protect his house, his cat and the life he loved.
On Jan. 7, Smith spoke to Miod on the phone. He said he could see smoke, but he wasn’t leaving. The last thing he told his mother was: “Pray for the Palisades and pray for Malibu. I love you.”
On Jan. 9, Smith learned that her son’s remains had been found outside his home. He was 55 years old. When Bel heard the news, she found it hard to believe: She had never thought of Miod as being 55.
“He was like Peter Pan in a way,” she said, “because they say he’s 55, but he was like 25.”
In the days since Miod’s death, Smith says her phone hasn’t stopped ringing with his friends calling to tell stories about Randy, Craw and the Crab Shack. “I’m going to miss him for the rest of my days,” Smith said. “But he was such a blessing to so many people, and that’s what God put him here for. Mission accomplished.”
On the Malibu Wall, two phrases in graffiti have appeared. “Rest Easy Crawdaddy” and “Crab Shack Forever.”
The wall at Surfrider Beach, where Randy Miod was remembered in the days following his death. |
