Protesters Rally at D'Amore's to Save Point Pizza

For the second time in two weeks, dozens of protesters gathered to show support for Point Pizza, which will be replaced by D'Amore's Famous Pizza at the Point Dume Village at year's end.

Friday's demonstration was staged in front of D'Amore's along Pacific Coast Highway.

Point Pizza, which is owned by Hye Song Oh, is scheduled to close in December when its lease expires. Point Dume Village owner Zan Marquis has said he opted to replace Point Pizza with D'Amore's as part of an effort to offer healthier choices at the shopping center.

Malibu mom Kim McGee, who was helping collect signatures on a petition, said she disagrees with the replacement of Point Pizza by D'Amore's.

"We consider it to be an issue of right versus wrong," McGee said. "Not so much an issue of who has the better pizza. We love Point Pizza, but D'Amore's pizza is good too. We'd like [D'Amore's to go] anywhere else. They could go to Trancas, they could go wherever they wanted to."

McGee said the petition to save Point Pizza has collected more than 830 signatures, with several people signing their names at Friday's event.

"What would we consider a success, if D'Amores did the right thing and said 'Hey you know what, we started as a local business we get it, we don't want to displace (Hye Song) and be party to the landlord and his strong arm tactics and we'll just open somewhere else,'" McGee said.

Last week, some 300 protesters rallied in front of Point Pizza, compared with around 40 on Friday.

Malibu resident Andy Borenzweig, who has been active on Facebook creating a "Save Point Pizza" group, was not super excited about the turnout but said anything the community can do to show support for Point Pizza is a good thing. On Facebook, the group was 70 members shy of 2,000 as of Friday night.

"Malibu is a very small community as it is, so 2,000 people just in the Facebook group is a very big thing. It keeps growing," Borenzweig said.

The Malibu teenager said they'll consider more rallies, but the next step is likely to write letters and make calls to Point Dume Village owner Zan Marquis and the D'Amore's ownership. 

"They haven't been responsive so far, but I think that if we keep being persistent and actually show how serious [we are], they will eventually have to respond to somebody at least," Borenzweig said. 

Earlier this week, the D'Amore's Team, which is out of town for a funeral, released a statement explaining they had no intention to go behind Hye Song Oh's back when it agreed to open a new location in Point Pizza's space.

The Point Pizza ownership has said they want to stay at the Point Dume Village and increasingly offered healthier choices and high quality ingredients over the years.