They say the ocean is good for the soul. So I was thrilled to head out to Palos Verdes Estates last week on a gorgeous Southern California morning to do some stalking. It is the second season of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story that led me out that way. Not only is the supposed La Jolla Shores house Betty (Amanda Peet) moved to post-separation from her philandering husband, Dan (Christian Slater), located in the beach city, but so is Malaga Cove Plaza, where Betty Christmas shopped with her friend Karen Kintner (Missi Pyle) in the episode titled “More to It Than Fun.” I first stalked the Italianate complex years ago after it appeared in a Season 2 episode of The O.C and have been back numerous times since. So I recognized it on sight when it popped up on Dirty John. Strolling through the sprawling marketplace on my recent visit, with striking blue skies overhead, salt from the nearby ocean crisp in the air, and the warm sun beaming down on my face, was indeed good for my soul! There’s a reason Malaga Cove has long been one of my favorite places to spend a breezy afternoon.
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Malaga Cove Plaza saw its beginnings in 1924 with the construction of the Gardner Building. The Spanish Renaissance-style structure, designed by Webber, Staunton and Spaulding, sits at the complex’s western edge and is pictured at the far right of the photos above and below. Palos Verdes’ first commercial building, it initially housed the local post office, as well as a few other businesses. You can see what it looked like in its early days here.
Six additional buildings, each designed by a different architect, were added to the complex in the decades that followed. Malaga Cove Plaza, as it stands today, was completed in 1963. Considering that seven different individuals had a hand in its design, the center is surprisingly cohesive and beautiful.
Declared a historic site by the Rancho de Los Palos Verdes Historical Society in 1981, the marketplace is easily one of Southern California’s most picturesque shopping centers.
Featuring exquisite brickwork,
sweeping archways,
countless adorable decorative elements,
well-placed greenery,
a plethora of tucked-away spots to sit and relax,
a smattering of charming shops and restaurants,
and a gorgeous mountain backdrop,
Malaga Cove Plaza is an idyllic venue to shop, dine and wander.
And at the center of it all is a towering fountain representing Neptune, Roman god of the sea.
The Carrara marble effigy, inspired by the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna’s Piazza del Nettuno, was constructed in the 1700s and initially stood at a villa in Venice, Italy. It was acquired by a Los Angeles gallery in the 1920s and then later by Malaga Cove Plaza developers, who dedicated it on February 16th, 1930. Sadly, Neptune soon became a favorite of vandals who broke, trashed and desecrated the piece to the point that it was removed in 1968. A smaller replica stood sentry in the years that followed, until 1999 when the original sculpture was returned to its post after an extensive $103,000 repair project spearheaded by the Malaga Cove Plaza Beautification Project.
The group gave the complex itself a facelift around the same time, performing much-needed repairs, planting new foliage, and generally upgrading the sexagenarian site.
Today, Malaga Cove Plaza is a gorgeous marketplace bustling with cute shops, restaurants and cafés.
It is there that Betty and Karen do some window shopping on Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story.
While wandering the plaza in “There’s More to It Than Fun,” Betty informs Karen of how much her marriage with Dan is improving. But throughout the segment, the scenery intermittently shifts to Dan’s office, where he is simultaneously meeting with a divorce lawyer, discussing how to stiff Betty financially. The bit brilliantly showcases the lengths which Dan went to mislead Betty during his affair.
In the scene’s opening, the ladies are shown walking in front of Malaga Cove Ranch Market. They then proceed to make their way east along the plaza.
It’s not hard to see how Malaga Cove Plaza came to be used on the San Diego-set series as it looks very much like the shops in downtown La Jolla.
The complex boasts a couple of other onscreen appearances on its filming resume.
A group of young skateboarders washes their faces in the plaza’s fountain in the 1965 Academy Award-nominated short Skaterdater.
And, as I mentioned above, it also pops up in an episode of The O.C. In Season 2’s “The New Era,” Malaga Cove Plaza portrays the Newport Beach bus stop where Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) and Lindsay Gardner (Shannon Lucio) finally admit that they like each other.
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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Malaga Cove Plaza, from the “More to It Than Fun” episode of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, is located at the intersection of Palos Verdes Drive West and Via Chico in Palos Verdes Estates.
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