The Neptune Fountain at Malaga Cove Plaza has stood since 1930. Its most recent restoration was paid for with $75,000 that the Palos Verdes Estates Foundation raised from residents, and the work covered new plumbing and wiring, stripped paint and a repaired cherub's head. The arcades around it were built between 1925 and 1964. The plaque at Olmsted Place Park says they were planned by Charles Cheney and the Olmsted Brothers as part of the city's master plan.

The city tree goes up in this plaza every December. The 2026 lighting is set for Sunday, December 6, at 4:30 p.m. The plan city staff prepared for the City Council's November 10 meeting lists the PVE Foundation, the Malaga Cove Business and Professional Association and Temple Ner Tamid as the parties adding to the event. The city's own contribution is the same as in past years.

The Number That Stayed the Same

The staff memo for the November 10 meeting is short and specific. Its budget lines show how small the city's share of the evening is.

The memo says the city budget includes a $5,000 contribution "as in years past." The staff time is listed separately because the city usually absorbs it as part of normal operations. So the city's commitment did not grow this year. The memo also says staff were holding even that amount back. Citing "the ongoing election results," staff "held off on committing resources and funds toward the event in an abundance of caution to safeguard limited City funds."

The memo describes this year's event as "larger than in prior years." That growth comes from outside the city budget.

Who Has Been Paying for the Light

This did not start in 2026. The Malaga Cove Beautification Project was founded in 1992 by Bob and Moryanne Motley. The Daily Breeze reported in July that the group has helped maintain much of the plaza's history, and that it supported the research behind the plaza's 2021 listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The plaque marking that listing was unveiled at Olmsted Place Park on July 24, 2026. It was hosted by the Palos Verdes Olmsted Foundation, a new group formed this year.

The PVE Foundation started in 2020. On its website, the Foundation says it funds community projects that matter to the city but fall "outside the budget commitments of PVE," with donations coming almost entirely from residents. The holiday lights are one of those projects. The Foundation says that at the December 7, 2025 tree lighting, it "once again raised the funds to light up the plaza." It credits donors for lights at both Malaga Plaza and Lunada Bay, including:

• Malaga Bank
• Malaga Cove Beautification Project
• Malaga Cove Ranch Market
• Neptune's Frozen Treats

Last year, local high school students volunteering through community charities served as Santa's helpers and handed out candy. The 2026 plan builds on that history, naming the Foundation as the city's partner along with the plaza's own business association.

What the Proposal Adds on December 6

The usual program stays: remarks from the Mayor, cookies and hot cocoa, food trucks, letters to Santa, crafts for children and parents, and the lighting of the city's tree. The memo then lists six changes, all coming from the community:

1. The Foundation as co-host. Volunteers have helped in past years. This year the PVE Foundation proposes running the event with the city and raising money for it.
2. A better-lit tree. The Malaga Cove Business and Professional Association asked the vendor, Beach Cities Lighting, to light the tree in a way that shows off the tree itself.
3. The whole plaza, open to foot traffic. The proposed closure of Via Chico between Palos Verdes Drive West and Via Campesina would let the entire plaza take part, beyond the tree and its immediate surroundings.
4. Vendor parking in the plaza. The Foundation asked for vendor parking in front of the Post Office and Malaga Bank. Without it, vendors would park at the school district and ride a shuttle.
5. A menorah from Ner Tamid. The temple will deliver and set up a menorah. The Foundation has asked for lighting on the Friday and Saturday before the event.
6. More food vendors. The memo notes that vendor participation and the related arrangements were still being finalized.

The memo describes the Foundation's sponsorship flyer, which has four levels:

One Platinum sponsor would bring in $1,000, which is more than the banner and shuttle lines in the city budget combined. In the memo, staff framed all of this as a "receive and file" item and asked Council for direction on the collaboration and operating details, if it had any. In that memo, the closure, the parking and the menorah lighting are all proposals.

Why the City Was Waiting

The election the memo refers to is Measure PVE. It would extend the city's special parcel tax for six years to fund the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department and help pay down the city's unfunded pension liability. The Daily Breeze reported on November 8 that the measure needs two-thirds support and stood at 68.14% as of 4 p.m. that Sunday. Ballots were still left to count, and certification was tentatively scheduled for November 27. The Los Angeles County results page showed 4,925 yes votes and 2,303 no votes in the same count.

The amounts are large. The city's page on the expiration of Measure E says the current parcel tax brings in about $5.1 million a year and expires June 30, 2027. It puts the proposed measure at about $8.7 million a year. Voters approved Measure E in 2018 with 70% support.

Against figures that size, a $5,000 holiday budget is a rounding error. Staff still treated it as money to protect until the count was settled. Meanwhile the Foundation, the merchants and the temple kept planning a larger evening with their own resources. The Foundation's other work shows the same pattern. Its website lists a playground at the Valmonte Early Learning Center as in planning and a fundraiser for fire protection gear bags for the Police Department. In July, Foundation President David McGowan, who also sits on the City Council, told the Daily Breeze that "a couple $100,000" had been raised toward a $700,000 playground goal.

The First Weekend of December, Laid Out

Here is how the weekend looks under the plan in the staff memo:

• Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5. These are the menorah lighting nights the Foundation requested, the Friday and Saturday before the event. The memo describes them only as a request.
• Sunday, December 6, 4:30 p.m. The tree lighting at Malaga Cove, with the Mayor's remarks, cocoa and cookies, food trucks, letters to Santa and children's crafts. The city budget includes a PVP Transit shuttle line for the event. If the Via Chico closure goes ahead, the stretch from Palos Verdes Drive West to Via Campesina becomes part of the event space.
• The same weeks at Lunada Bay. The city's $3,650 lighting line covers both plazas, and Foundation donors paid for lights at Lunada Bay last year.

Malaga Cove Library at 2400 Via Campesina sits on the street that marks one end of the proposed closure. The Palos Verdes Library District lists its fall and winter storytime series as running through December 26, with Rhyme Time sessions on December 3, 10 and 17 at 10:15 a.m. For more on the plaza through the rest of the year, see our earlier post on summer Wednesdays around Malaga Cove and our Palos Verdes Estates neighborhood page.

At Kristin Warrick, we follow these plaza traditions because the Peninsula is our own community. If you are hosting family that first weekend of December and want help planning a Malaga Cove evening, or want to talk about life near the plaza, we would be glad to schedule an appointment.