The Malibu surfing community is mourning the loss of one of their most iconic members, after Randy “The Craw” Miod was killed in the Palisades Fire last week.
Miod, 51, who was also known to many “The Malibu Man of Mystery,” had lived in the same little red house along the Pacific Coast Highway for decades, turning it into a popular destination for surfers who needed a break from the waves.
Friends say that Miod lived his passion, which was surfing, so much so that he embraced anyone who shared that love.
One of those friends was Todd Proctor, who knew Miod for decades, after meeting him on the water when he was just 12. Years later, when he was supposed to go to college after graduating from high school, Miod shared his own thoughts that molded Proctor’s future.
“He’s like, ‘Well that’s easy, you need to quit school and make boards man. This is what you’re supposed to do,'” Proctor recalled.
They called him “The Craw,” because his arms had a natural inward arch, similar to what they thought looked like a crawfish. He embraced his nickname, eventually naming the house he moved into in his teenage years “The Crab Shack.”
Proctor says that Miod had an open door policy for anyone looking for a place to rest or who needed a place to stay for the night. He only had one condition — good vibes only.
“He loved people. You hear that word thrown around, but he really did,” Proctor said.
KCAL News
In the decades that he lived in “The Crab Shack,” Miod experienced a litany of natural disasters, including mudslides, other fires, tsunami warnings and rock slides, including the one in Feb. 2024, when he spoke with KCAL News after a massive boulder narrowly missed his home.
Proctor thinks that’s why he didn’t evacuate when the Palisades Fire broke out on Tuesday.
“His few things was, ‘I’m fine,’ and he was joking, ‘I’ve been through this before, don’t worry about me,'” he said.
Unfortunately this time, the flames reached his home, completely destroying the structure and leaving the remnants of “The Crab Shack” behind. Including a singed garden chair sitting on the hillside, where he likely spent countless nights with friends and strangers alike.
Proctor says his loss is an immeasurable one for the Malibu community.
“Thank you Craw, brightened up my life, encouraged me,” he said. “Brightened up everybody’s life.”
