MALIBU (AP) — A beach that's supposed to be open to the public remains locked behind a barbed-wire fence with no-trespassing signs, serving instead as a private enclave for rich and famous property owners who live nearby.

El Sol County Beach was purchased 30 years ago with taxpayer dollars but has remained closed to the public ever since. At the time county officials promised the beach would be used "for public recreation in perpetuity."

However, the only people who have had access are adjacent property owners which include Michael Eisner, former chief executive of Walt Disney Co., and Gregory J. Bonann, co-creator of the "Baywatch" television series.

State officials have offered hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to build a public stairway to the beach, including a state grant of $700,000. The county used the money instead to improve access to Dan Blocker Beach down the coast.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who represents the area, said the county's decision not to open the beach had nothing to do with neighborhood opposition. Yaroslavsky said he is a strong proponent of public access to beaches and even told Eisner personally that "we are not going to sell it."

"It's an issue of money," Yaroslavsky said, adding that state funds were better used elsewhere.

Eisner, through a spokesman, denied he was involved in efforts to purchase El Sol and declined to comment further.

The county applied for state park bond money to purchase the land for the public beach in 1974.

But the county has repeatedly postponed opening the beach even as other pocket beaches were made public. El Sol neighbors mounted an aggressive campaign against opening the beach arguing that the public would harm the fragile environment and that the hillside was dangerously unstable.

Records show that state officials offered more and more money to build the staircase and to pay for the initial operation of El Sol. Each time, however, county officials said the state's offer was too low.

"The department was unwilling to overcome the political pressure not to do anything on the site," said Joe Chesler, a longtime county employee who just retired from the Department of Beaches and Harbors. "The supervisor was not that interested in seeing the neighborhood change, despite the benefit to the public from public access," he said.