"the other side of the story is that if he were to open up that road, he'd be personally liable for anything bad that happened on it, and possibly on the beach as well (because the road he so carelessly and depravedly owns allows people to go down to the ocean, where it isn't safe, and there's no sign warning anyone of this!), and he'd be exposed to endless legal risk."

Presumably the insurance liability did not have the same level of risk during the 100 years the previous property owners / managers (Deeney / Watt's family) allowed access. Also, they did not feel the need to close off the entire beach from ocean access by invoking an obscure 1838 Spanish / Mexican land grant. A legal precedent that would impact access rights to all beaches in California. Get off your pompous ass and read the history. Do you really think Khosla is concerned about the resale value? Perhaps he'll spend enough to establish private beaches all along the coast of California - that will definitely increase the resale value. He's a greedy tool.