Checking out hotels and restaurants in Malibu or within 15-30 minutes from the beach. What are your top picks? Thanks!

You might want to Google "Woolsey fire" before making plans.

Yes, a lot depends on how soon you plan to visit... The Woolsey fire burned all the way from Thousand Oaks in the Conejo Valley (Ventura County) to Malibu (L.A. County). If there is any good rainfall (up to 2 inches are forecast for later this week), there could be mudslides in all of the burn areas.

There are very few hotels actually 'in' Malibu. "30 minutes from the beach" could be north of the Santa Monica Mountains or in Santa Monica, if the traffic gods are happy. Mudslides after rain could close one or more of the canyon roads between the valley and the beach as well as Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Monica and Malibu.

Malibu is actually not a very good place to stay if you plan/hope to do much sightseeing in L.A. Even without fires and mudslides, a minor fender-bender on any of the roads in/out of Malibu can cause huge traffic delays with ripple effects to every other ingress/egress.