The Foxes Next Door

Deer, coyotes, the occasional bobcat. Malibu’s wildlife usually makes an entrance. But one of our oldest neighbors prefers to keep a low profile, and it happens to have one of Point Dume’s most famous streets named after it.

Meet the gray fox

Gray foxes are small, quiet, and most active after dark, making them easy to miss. You can recognize them by their gray fur, reddish legs, and bushy tail with a black tip.

They can climb trees to find food or escape predators, and sometimes even make their homes in hollow trunks.

They were here first

Gray foxes have called this coastline home for generations. Frederick Hastings Rindge, whose family once owned much of the historic Malibu Rancho, wrote about foxes on the property. Researchers believe they were most likely gray foxes.

By 1990, National Park Service researchers were radio-tracking them in the mountains above Malibu.

A fox on the street sign

That brings us to Point Dume, where the gray fox may have left its name on the map.

Grayfox Street has been around longer than you might think. The 1947 aerial photo pictured above shows Grayfox Street and Wildlife Road surrounded by mostly open land, back when foxes likely had much more room to roam.

The fox’s path to the beach

Gray foxes know their way around Malibu, and Grayfox Street has a special pathway of its own.

Certain Point Dume homes have private access to Little Dume Beach through gated pathways, known as the Point Dume beach keys. Grayfox Street is connected to the Riviera III beach key, with a pathway near the end of the street leading down to the beach.

With limited public access to Little Dume, having a “Grayfox key” is a special perk of living in this neighborhood.

Big addresses, small namesake

The road that once ran through fox country is now one of Malibu’s most sought-after streets. Not bad for a name borrowed from a shy, five-pound neighbor.

Currently for sale on Grayfox

A few homes on the street are on the market now, each with its own path to Little Dume.

Being a good neighbor

As for the original residents, they’re still around. Gray foxes eat small mammals, insects and fruit, and their appetite for mice and rats makes them genuinely helpful to have nearby. It also puts them at risk when a poisoned rodent becomes dinner, something National Park Service researchers have documented across the Santa Monica Mountains.

If one crosses your path, give it room and enjoy the moment. Keep pets close, don’t leave food out, and consider rodent control that skips the poison.

The story behind the sign

Sometimes Malibu’s best discoveries are the little things: a fox sighting, an old street name, or a hidden path to Little Dume Beach.

We may never know exactly how Grayfox Street got its name, but it’s fun to imagine the foxes still roaming the neighborhood at night, exploring the street that shares their name.