Closer to Malibu is the Fairmont Miramar hotel on the corner of Wilshire and Ocean http://www.fairmont.com/Hotels/Index_SM.html.
There you're only 1 block from 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Right across the street is a fabulous park with a view to die for--as you face the beautiful, blue Pacific, you can see all the way to Malibu on the right and all the way to Palos Verdes Peninsula to the left.
If you'll have a car, right across the street is an entrance to PCH, which will wisk you to Malibu in 10-15 minutes.
If you stay here, the rooms in the tower are small, so if you don't mind not having an ocean view, stay in the Palisades Tower and ask for a view over the bungalows. Of course, if money is no object, stay in one of the bungalows. Have fun.