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What happens when tech billionaire Larry Ellison, actor Robert De Niro, and chef Nobu Matsuhisa team up? A hotel is born. The Nobu Ryokan Malibu hotel, located along Larry Ellison’s Malibu’s Carbon Beach, will open April 28.
“Renovated from a historic 1950s-era motel [the Casa Malibu Inn] and named after traditional Japanese inns, Nobu Ryokan offers a unique blend of Japanese hospitality and Californian coastline. Located on the shores of Malibu's Carbon Beach, the hotel’s naturally stained teak and ipe woods eases the eyes and mind with their warm, earthy tones and clean, linear form,” the hotel adds.
Ellison bought the hotel (along with just about everything else in Malibu over the following years) in 2007 for $20 million. He then reached out to Matsuhisa to convert the property into a "Japanese concept."
“Larry Ellison and I are planning something next to the Nobu Malibu property,” Matsuhisa told Haute Living in 2013. “Larry wants to try for a Japanese concept hotel. They say it’s going to start construction in September. He already has a design, but it won’t start being built until later this year.”
Matsuhisa and De Niro have previously opened a Nobu hotel in Las Vegas (with another coming soon in Chicago), however, this will be the first Nobu Ryokan brand hotel.
“[Larry Ellison] loves Nobu,” Matsuhisa continued. “The first time I met him in one of my restaurants was a long time ago. He loves Japan and he loves Nobu’s food—he likes the sashimi and crispy rice best, but really likes everything—so we had something like a marriage. We moved to his property and he supports us.”
The 9,200 square foot, two-story hotel has 11 suites and five oceanfront bungalows. Rooms start at $1,100 a night, and jump to $2,000 a night during “preferred travel periods”, notes the hotel’s website.
The Nobu Ryokan Malibu Hotel is at 22752 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu.
